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Reflection on this Sunday's scripture readings
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What does it mean to live in a covenantal relationship? The covenant God made with the people of Israel demanded that the people love God and show this through the love of their neighbour. The words of the prophet Amos in the first reading are addressed to the rich and powerful in Judah enjoying lives of pleasure, luxury and self-indulgence. Amos is criticising not so much the life-style but the refusal to notice or care about what has happened to Israel ("Joseph"), the Northern kingdom facing disaster and ruin by its oppressor Assyria. The people were not relating lovingly to the fellow members of the covenant community.
Jesus' parable of Lazarus and the rich man illustrate the continuity of Jesus' teaching with the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). The rich man was not punished for being rich but for not caring about the poor man, Lazarus. The rich man addresses Abraham as his father but his selfish and self-centred life did not make him worthy to be a child of Abraham. The covenantal tradition obliges each one to act with loving-kindness towards their brothers and sisters in need. The rich man's behaviour fell far short of that.
We are in that same covenantal tradition with other members of the parish, the wider Christian community, with our Jewish brothers and sisters and with the whole of creation. The readings today challenge us to reject self-centredness and show care and concern for the poorer members of society