Who's your Daddy?

I remember this line from the movie "Remember the Titans" a true story about the 1971 racial integration of the football team at TC Williams High School in Alexandria, VA.  Coach Boone, an experienced African American football coach, is named Head Coach for the perennial football favorite.  There is some serious tension, which leads to him asking the star (white) quarterback who presents his demands about the make-up of the team: "Who's your Daddy?"


Who's in charge here?  Who's got the final say?  Who do you owe respect? Who's your Daddy?

I only bring this up because the rich man in our parable about Lazarus at the gate has his Daddy confused.  He may call Abraham 'Father" but he offers him no respect and is both deaf and blind to the wisdom and desires of the heavenly one. He does not share Abraham's values.

Instead, when he realizes that he is stuck in the flames of Hades, he begs Father Abraham to send Lazarus to 'his father's house' to warn his brothers.  He is serious about saving his 'brothers' from this same fate.  What he doesn't realize is this:  the whole of creation is Abraham's house*, it is Abraham who is ultimately his Father and all of God's children are his brothers.

This rich man cannot see Lazarus as anything but a servant put there to serve him.  He has no compassion for this poor man at the gate because he cannot see him as a brother.  Although he knows him well enough to know his name, he is blind to his hunger and want.

He is deaf to the cry of the prophets reminding all of God's children to care for the poor, the orphan, the widow and the stranger in their midst.  He is deaf to God's words of love active in relationships with our neighbors.  He thinks it is all about him.

For the writer of Luke, our wealth makes us blind and deaf to God's call to love.  We are busy protecting our own instead of trusting in God.  We fail at this all the time, which of course, makes me ever more thankful for Jesus' powerful forgiving love.

At the same time, we might want to keep our eyes open as we go through this next week paying attention to whom we are blind to in our lives - whom do we pass by each day - whom do we think is not a member of our Father's house.

In the end, it's about remembering Who's your Daddy.

* I often get asked why this parable mentions Abraham instead of God.  If you look back into the Old Testament, it is customary to speak of those who die as being 'gathered to their ancestors'.  Abraham was considered the ancestor of all of Israel.  Clearly this is an image of comfort much as we would assign to being in God's house, comforted by God....what many people call 'heaven.'