Crossing the Gate

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Still Jesus says, “neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.” The problem is not lack of evidence, it is a formed heart. The rich man knows Lazarus by name and still steps over him. That gate did not appear overnight. It was financed, built, maintained, and defended, until a threshold in life became a chasm in death.

The parable does not praise poverty. It reveals God’s attention to the one at the gate and exposes what wealth can do to us when it trains us to protect ourselves first. Gates are habits, budgets, calendars, and neighborhoods that keep our comfort intact and our ears closed to Moses and the prophets.

Easter is true, yet resurrection does not persuade a heart that refuses to cross the street. So the question is painfully concrete: Who is Lazarus at my gate? What gate have I built—policy, subscription, schedule, door—and how will I open it this week? The Table shows us how: God crosses to us, feeds us, and sends us. Cross now, while a gate can still become a door.

Prayer

Jesus, open our ears to Moses and the prophets, open our eyes to Lazarus, and help us to open our gate so that we may cross the threshold today. Amen.