When Chasms Close: Following God to Heal Brokenness
- alisonwale
- Sep 29
- 5 min read
On Sunday 28th September our Lay Worship Leader gave this homily:
READINGS: Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
When I am writing the prayers for use at Christ Church, there is a phrase I often use to describe our world: “broken and hurting”. Everywhere we look we can see divisions, brokenness, fractured communities. There are the divisions of race, wealth and poverty, insider and outsider, rich and poor, the divided heart, divisions within families or nations. It is hard to be optimistic when faced with all of these examples of hurt and separation.
Yet this is exactly what Jeremiah’s prophetic action was all about: it was about optimism, trust in God and having faith that, in everything, God’s promises will prevail. At the time, Jerusalem was under siege; Jeremiah was imprisoned, and the people were divided by fear, judgment, exile, and hopelessness. And yet, even under these conditions God commands Jeremiah to buy a plot of land and to preserve the deeds in an earthen vessel as a “time capsule” for future generations, signalling continuity, covenant, and healing. This would – for those with eyes to see it – symbolise that those who have their heart firmly fixed on God are not forgotten, however hopeless the situation appears and that even in the midst of siege, destruction, and exile, God promises restoration.
However, for those who have abandoned their faith, who do not trust YAHWEH, this action of Jeremiah’s would simply appear to be the irrational act of a madman. The division was there, between those who can echo the words of the Psalm "You are my refuge and my stronghold, my God in whom I put my trust,” and those who do not abide by the covenant made between YAHWEH and Israel.
We see people divided by exile, by lost land, by despair and a God who invites restoration, reunification with land, return to the Covenant. Jeremiah acts to demonstrate that it is possible to bridge the broken relationship between people and territory, between past and future, between God and God’s people.
In both the reading from the letter to Timothy and the Gospel reading, the division that is emphasised is that between the haves and the have nots. It is important to note that Paul doesn’t prohibit having wealth; rather he instructs the rich not to be arrogant or place their hope in uncertain riches. It is when we allow the desire to increase our riches to become more important than our desire to use them for God’s service that the wealth that we have becomes a problem. As one commentator puts it “ a commitment to the accumulation of wealth is a religious commitment that conflicts with the Christian faith.”
Instead, Paul urges his readers to do good, to be generous, to share, thus storing up “treasures in heaven” and grasping “the life that is life.” We are warned that wealth can create spiritual divisions: pride, self-reliance, superiority, and neglect of the needy.
And it is this that Jesus warned his listeners about in the Gospel reading. This story is often used to demonstrate the idea that there are two distinct places in the afterlife, heaven and hell, and that hell is a place of fiery torture for those who have not done what they should have done. Alternatively, there is the suggestion that “the poor will get their reward in heaven”, as though living in poverty was a prerequisite for admission to heaven. I’m not going into that today, but personally I firmly believe that, in this situation, Jesus was not giving a realistic picture of the afterlife, and his listeners would not have taken it as such, in exactly the same way as when someone tells you a joke that features meeting St Peter at “the pearly gates” you believe that the Saint really will be there with a list of those who have gained access to the exclusive club where angels loll round on clouds strumming harps. What Jesus was doing was using a popular folk tale and giving it a new twist to surprise his listeners, to make them see things in a new way.
One of the stark details of the story is the gate that separates Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus could only watch with despair, longing to pick up the crumbs under the table; the rich man lived his life of luxury inside his home without even seeing the beggar. In a manner of speaking, the gate which divided them was as great a chasm as that between them in the afterlife. Neither man, it seems, was able to cross the chasm – the rich man because of his great wealth, arrogance, and lack of empathy, and Lazarus because of his poverty and suffering.
But as gates can separate us, so too can they allow access, liberty and union. Christ described himself as “the gate” showing that through him, humankind is offered freedom from death, and a reconciliation both with God and with their fellow human beings. only Christ can bridge the chasm that is the tragic outcome of unhealed division.
So what does this mean for us?
If we think about Jeremiah’s purchase from prison, buying a plot of land that was, in all likelihood, going to be invaded by the Babylonians, it demonstrates that even when we are “shut in” by crisis, God calls us into redemptive acts of hope. In the same way, we can ask ourselves to what costly acts of trust might God be calling us for reconciliation in the broken spaces of neighbourhoods, marginalized people, racial divisions, economic divides?
In the context of Paul’s letter to Timothy, we can consider if we truly do follow the advice given to not set our hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Do we do good, are we rich in good works, generous, and ready to share? Or do we hang onto our wealth, thinking that in some way, we deserve our good fortune, while the less well-off somehow deserve their poverty?
And in the light of the parable that Jesus told we need to recognise that the parable’s chasm is real — but Christ is the one who opens the gate into life. In Jesus, rich and poor, sinner and saint, Jew and Gentile — all find access to reconciliation. And we are called to open the gate — not blocking others, but welcoming, bridging, inviting.
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Gracious God,You are the One who restores the broken,who brings hope in exile,who teaches the rich to share,and who in Christ opens the gate to life.Heal the chasms that divide us —between rich and poor, neighbour and stranger, fear and hope.Make us generous in spirit, courageous in faith,and willing to follow where You lead,until all Your people are reconciled in Your love.Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
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