Today’s Sermon in a Nutshell: “The Sin of Indifference”

Today’s Sermon in a Nutshell: “The Sin of Indifference”

As is often the case, today’s parable portrays a dichotomy by contrasting the life to two men. One man was rich, lived in a nice house, feasted on exotic foods, wore expensive clothes, and in general lived very well. The other man, named Lazarus, was poor, homeless, had sores all over his body, and fed off the leftovers that the rich man threw out. When they died, Lazarus in effect went to heaven, and the rich man to hell.

However, the story Jesus told was not meant to condemn those who are rich and exult the poor, nor to show that those with wealth will automatically go to hell while those with nothing will be welcomed into heaven. Rather, it was intended to show that being indifferent to the suffering and plight of others is a grave sin.

Amidst his wealth and comfort, the rich man failed to take notice of the poor man at his doorstep. To him, Lazarus was of no concern; he was part of the landscape, a non-entity, no one of consequence. Thus, the rich man went to Hell not because he was evil, but because he was indifferent.  

Fr. Alexander Elchaninoff, who lived and died in the early part of the last century and is famously known for his diary that was published after his death (“The Diary of a Russian Priest”), wrote that “the indifference of believers is a far more dreadful thing than the fact that unbelievers exist.” 

In much the same manner, George Bernard Shaw stated that, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them, for that’s the essence of inhumanity.”

Because today’s mass media inundates us with victims of wars, natural disasters, famines, violence, and other atrocities with such regularity, we too have become indifferent, desensitized, and immune to the suffering and pain of others. Yet as followers of Christ we must overcome such emotional numbness and cultivate empathy through love. God never calls an individual to rescue the whole world and alleviate all its suffering, but He does expect each of us to do his part and help the need where we find it by ministering to those in our own backyards.

Fr. John