Luke 16:19-31 America circa 2019 version
The Rich man and Oscar Alberto Martinez
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in expensive suits and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his country’s border washed up the body of a refugee named Oscar Alberto Martinez and his 24-month-old daughter Angie Valeria 21 He had been longing to eat what fell from tables in the rich man's country.
22 “The time came when the poor immigrant drowned while trying to get near one of those tables so he could feed is hungry little girl, and the angels carried them to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Oscar Alberto Martinez and his little girl Angie by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Oscar to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Oscar received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a Great chasm. You know, it's like a "Wall". It has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Oscar to my family 28 For I have many children from three different wives. Let Oscar warn them and let him warn my supporters too, so that they will not condone my contempt for poor immigrants and refugees.
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Addendum
I can't unsee that picture. It's been two days now and still it burns in my mind. As both a father and teacher for little foreign kids (in fairness I'm the foreigner) I just can't not imagine myself or people who've given me joy in the same situation. Such a way of thinking has been both a blessing and a curse of sorts that for whatever reason I've been saddled with in this life. Trying to ignore or suppress it only leads to inner turmoil so I've found letting it run its course the only way forward.
When was the last time Oscar's little girl had something to eat? How terrified must she have been to go wading into the river with her father? How terrified must he have been? How bad did things have to get for him to risk their lives like that? What if it was me and my little girl? How should I view such a situation?
Like not being unable to unsee the picture, I'm equally unable to ignore values my parents taught me and lessons I learned in Sunday school as a child. What if Christ meant what he said? What did he say? Did he address women's reproductive health issues? Did he rail about abortion or gays and lesbians? Did he promote accumulating earthly riches or using weapons to protect ourselves and our private property? No. Not a word of the former, yet both were present in his day and age. As for the latter his message was crystal clear. It was the exact opposite. Indeed, in his recorded word it’s second most mentioned only to the Kingdom.
Impossibly perfect ideals of rejecting our precious egos (e.g. “yes, even [hate] your own life”); of helping and caring for “the least of these”. The fact that his primary message is all but invisible in many of his most vocal self-proclaimed America circa 2019 followers isn’t the least bit surprising though. Impossibly perfect! What do you do with that?
Change the message! Eternal bliss after a relatively safe life on this earth with full bellies. Just say you believe. But dare not allow his teaching to affect hard-hearted personal ideology in the here and now. That's far easier. Lazy and purely self-centered sure, yet such a human thing to do.
Change the message! Eternal bliss after a relatively safe life on this earth with full bellies. Just say you believe. But dare not allow his teaching to affect hard-hearted personal ideology in the here and now. That's far easier. Lazy and purely self-centered sure, yet such a human thing to do.
For whatever reason I got to a point in life where I just couldn’t do it. A blessing and a curse. Such is me. And so it was with such a mindset that I sat with that picture burning in my mind; that I felt compassion for Oscar and his little girl. It was with that mindset that I recalled Martin Luther King Jr.’s Paul’s letter to American Christians, which led to wondering what the Carpenter would say about Oscar and his little girl—who would he exalt and who would he condemn if here as a guest on an MSM news panel?
Call me crazy but I think his message would be the same now as it was then.
