‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen…’’ (Luke 16:19-31)
This parable teaches us a very important lesson that we can easily forget. All too often in life, when certain allegations or claims are made against us, our simple defence is, ‘no, not me, I didn’t do anything…’ and maybe in most circumstances such a defence is enough and will exonerate us from any wrong doing. However, sometimes saying we did nothing wrong is not enough because, quite simply, sometimes doing nothing is not enough.
The rich man in this parable said nothing against Lazarus, he didn’t tell him to move away from his gate and had no objections to him eating whatever fell his way. He wasn’t overtly cruel in any way – he wasn’t anything! And that was his sin. Every single day he passed Lazarus he saw his suffering and need and did nothing about it. He did nothing wrong – he did nothing!