The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

Lazarus and the Rich Man

33 Lazarus and the Rich Man Berlin, First sunday after trinity, May 29, 1932 (?) z Bonhoeffer did not have his own pulpit during his ministry in Berlin; rather, his opportunities to preach came when a colleague needed a substitute. For whom and in which church he was substituting was not always recorded with his sermon manuscripts, as they have been preserved. In this case, the date also is uncertain. Bonhoeffer found preaching an awesome responsibility, and often sought to share sermon ideas with colleagues. In 1931, the Swiss theologian Karl Barth, whom Bonhoeffer had been excited to hear lecture in Bonn, had preached on this text and his sermon had become famous. However, after obtaining a copy and reading it, Bonhoeffer in his usual way decided on his own emphases in his interpretation of the text. He quotes repeatedly in this sermon from Luke’s version of the Beatitudes —both the blessings and the woes that follow. Because purple dye was very expensive in the ancient world and few besides kings could afford it, purple clothes were a sign of wealth in Jesus’ time. Bonhoeffer’s “woe to you who dress in purple” implicates the rich in his time as well. “Our 34 • tHe CoLLeCted serMons oF dietriCH BonHoeFFer pride, our race, our strength” echoes the rhetoric of the pro-Nazi “German Christians.” z Luke 16:19–31: There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” z One cannot understand and preach the gospel concretely enough. A real evangelical sermon must be like holding a pretty red apple in front of a child or a glass of cool water in front of a thirsty person and then asking: do you want it? We should be able to talk about matters of our faith in such a way that the hands reach out for it faster than we can fill them. People should run and not be able to rest when the gospel is talked about, as long ago the sick ran to Christ to be healed when he was going around LAZArus And tHe riCH MAn • 35 healing (but Christ, too, healed more than he converted). That is really no stock phrase. Shouldn’t it really be that way wherever the good news of God is spoken of? But it just isn’t that way—we all know that. At the same time, one shouldn’t content oneself with this state of affairs. Rather, there can be basically just one thing, namely, that one repeatedly asks oneself anew why this is so. And here is one—admittedly only one—of the reasons that we simply hesitate to accept that the gospel is as concrete, as close to life, as it is. We...