Lazarus still cries out…

This reflection was written in response to President Donald Trump being asked about homeless people camping outside the gates of the White House….

Watch the video here: Facebook Life.

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There was once a rich man

who feasted every day,

dressed in fine clothing,

living behind tall, gleaming gates.

And outside those gates,

Lazarus cried out—

hungry,

wounded,

unseen,

just trying to survive.

Lazarus’ cries were ignored.

Until it was too late… for the rich man.

Jesus told this story not just to shock us,

but to warn us.

To hold up a mirror.

To ask what kind of people we are.

Today’s gates are just as

polished, guarded, and sanitized.

And there are still people just outside them.

Hungry. Wounded. Unseen.

Trying to survive.

Lazarus still cries out.

As powerful leaders speak

of people as problems to be “swept away,”

of humans without homes

as blemishes to be cleared from the view of the powerful,

as if dignity were a luxury

and suffering a crime.

But the gospel will not let us look away.

The gospel reminds us

that God is with Lazarus.

That heaven hears the cries rising from the sidewalk.

The moral measure of a soul

is not how close we sit to power,

but how close we dare draw to those who suffer.

If we claim to follow Jesus,

we must love people more than property.

We cannot criminalize the poor.

We cannot sweep away the sacred.

We cannot pretend this is mercy.

Because Christ is there.

In every makeshift shelter and sidewalk bed.

In the eyes of the unhoused and the unheard.

Christ is there with Lazarus.

Lazarus still cries out.

Do we hear him?

(Luke 16:19-31)