Well, if you lived in Israel, you would go to the gate in the city wall (the walls had gates to close at night for safety). Sitting 'in the gate' would be one of the wise elders of the community. Sometimes they were called judges, but all of them functioned as judges, helping resolve disputes great and small for members of the community.
If you wanted justice, you went to the city gate. You could count on finding justice there. So it had been since Israel first settled in the promised land. Lazarus sat at the gate of the rich man's estate. Lazarus never found justice at the gate.
The rich man offered fine banquets for his honored guest day after day. The droppings on the floor were there for the dogs to eat.
Lazarus lay by the gate. He would have gladly eaten the crumbs that fell on the floor which were given to the dogs. The rich man gave him nothing.
Day after day after day after day.
Just in case you want to excuse the rich man because there were probably many folks who were begging and in serious need outside his gate so perhaps he overlooked this one..........
the rich man knew Lazarus' name. He knew him....and yet he passed by him in his suffering.
In this parable, Jesus points us to our personal responsibility for others. It is our responsibility to grant justice to those who live just outside our gate, in our community, right next door. It is our responsibility, as a child of God, to be sure that in our lives, justice can be found at our gate. It is our responsibility to live as if we have received our very life (along with a lot of other valuable things) from God. We love because God first loved us.
If the love that you are claiming for youself isn't flowing through you to another, do you really have a relationship with Jesus?
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