There are three gaps or separations that we find in the readings for this weekend. The first one is rather obvious, and Jesus mentions it specifically in the Gospel. It is a gap revealed as a permanent separation between the rich man and Lazarus. Immediately following the death of that poor man, Lazarus is carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham. Seeing him there from his own sorry space in the netherworld, the rich man implores Abraham to send Lazarus to console him. Abraham responds that no such connection will be possible, because of an eternal gap:
“Between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours” (Luke 16:26).
That is the first gap, and we can come back to that one at the end. For now, I would like to look at another, very different, gap. It is the one that St. Paul alluded to in our Second Reading this morning, in His First Letter to Timothy. He describes Christ as “King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light and whom no human being has seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:15). There is an infinite space, then, between God and humanity. He alone is immortal, unapproachable. There is nothing that we could ever do to close that gap. It is a total separation that no human ingenuity, no amount of goodwill or benign intention could ever remedy.
But there is something God could do, and has done, to close the gap. By a completely gratuitous act of self-giving love, the infinite and immortal God steps into time and becomes man. It is the miracle of the Incarnation, and in the person of Christ the God “whom no human being has seen or can see” suddenly stepped into our world and changed everything. He made it possible to live and love again, and he brought humanity into communion with God and with each other.
Of course, because we are free we do not have to recognise that communion. We could choose to remain separated from God and separated from each other. That is the tragedy we find in the parable this weekend and it constitutes the third gap: sin. Lazarus was known to this man. He walked by Lazarus each and every day, but he deliberately choose to do nothing to alleviate his suffering. We often make the same choices, remaining distant from those around us, and failing to close the gap.
It can certainly happen when we fail to recognise Christ in the poor and the afflicted. That is the very point of the Gospel for this weekend. But it can also happen in the life of community, or in a lack of love for those we are called to serve. It can happen by our neglect of prayer or an unresponsiveness to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Christ has come into our world and into our lives to bring us closer together and closer to God. The Sacrament of the Eucharist that we celebrate is the greatest sign and reality of that communion. Christ comes before us in all humility, making himself poor even like Lazarus, inviting us in the gentlest of ways to close the gap while there is still time.
Which brings us back to that first gap once, again, the “great chasm” established between the rich man and Lazarus. It is not surprising that the rich man, from his place of condemnation, can no longer do anything to change his lot. It does come as a bit of a surprise, though, that this lack of mobility extends in both directions. There is no longer anything Lazarus or Abraham can do, either!
This life alone is the place where we can exercise the gift of faith. After this world, we will see God, see each other like never before; only here can we do good for the poor and needy, because in heaven there will be no more sorrow, no more pain (see Revelation 21:4). Which means that we must use all the time we have, sparing no effort to love, to live completely our faith, and to allow God to close the gaps that still remain in our lives. This is the only chance we will ever have to do that.
What are some of the very practical ways that we can close the gap? First and foremost, we pray. We open our hearts to that dialogue that is always initiated by God, allowing us to become more open to the presence of Christ and the way He is revealing Himself in the world around us and in the lives of others. Secondly, we allow Christ to close the gap through the power of the Sacraments. In the Eucharist He leaves no more space between us and God, and gives us the spiritual strength we need to live and love like never before. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation we allow His healing love to reorient our lives, making us available to God and to others. In the daily practice of our faith, and through all the opportunities that God provides for us, we seek to make the Incarnation of Jesus Christ a fruitful reality in our personal vocation, in the Church and in the world.
