Last Sunday, Pastor Mat preached on Luke 16:19-31 and Jeremiah 32:1-3, 6-15. He reminded us that the Gospel often looks ridiculous to the world, yet it is in that “foolishness” that God’s power is revealed. He began with a story from the days of slavery, when enslaved men and women, forbidden to pray or worship, would steal away to the “hush harbors” at night. There, they sang songs of liberation and cried out to God in hope, believing that even in chains, God was with them and would deliver them.
That upside-down truth runs through Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16). To the world, the rich man was blessed and Lazarus cursed. But Jesus flips the script: the poor man is carried to Abraham’s side, while the rich man suffers in torment. The very one ignored at the gate was the one who carried God’s blessing. Pastor Mat reminded us that Lazarus wasn’t a burden to the rich man, he was a gift. He was there to challenge comfort, to speak truth, and to reveal God’s kingdom.
This parable, Pastor Mat said, is apocalyptic, a wake-up call. It asks us: who are the Lazaruses at our own gates? Will we notice them, or will we keep walking by? The Gospel insists that discipleship means standing with the poor, the oppressed, and the forgotten. It may look foolish to tie our salvation to the suffering, but that is where Christ is found.
Jeremiah modeled this hope when he bought a field in the middle of a Babylonian siege. It was foolish and impractical, yet it declared that God’s promises were stronger than despair. True hope acts, even when it looks silly. Hope is building an ark in the desert, standing before a giant with only a sling, or singing hymns at midnight in chains.
Hope may look foolish, but it is holy. Like the single candle lit in a struggling church during the Great Depression, even the smallest acts of faith push back the darkness.
So let us keep on hoping, keep on believing, keep on shining our little lights. For in God’s kingdom, the Lazarus at the gate becomes our brother, despair turns to joy, and every foolish hope will one day be fulfilled in glory. Amen.
