Christmas at the Movies: Week 2, Day 7
by David Joynt on December 16, 2017
Get Real November 23 Devotional
November 23, 2024
The warning story of the rich man and Lazarus is a shorter
version of "A Christmas Carol." It reminds us that empathy is not
automatic. Lazarus is poverty stricken and ill and living just
outside the rich man's gate, but the latter offers him no aid.
Later, we find out he did know his name but never helped him.
Why? Perhaps the rich man believed that the poor deserved their
poverty or that suffering indicated divine displeasure. Perhaps he
had compassion fatigue or had come to think progress was
unattainable and suffering unsolvable. Maybe his own comfort
and ease desensitized him to the plight of others. He did not
harm Lazarus, but neither did he lift a finger to alleviate his
struggle. When he is consigned to suffering in Hades, he
discovers a startling truth—our acts of omission, the things we
could have done and did not do, are part of our legacy. Failure to
act is itself an act that can bring condemnation.
Do you regret more things you have done or things you did not
do?
