The readings for the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost are taken from Amos 6:1-7; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; and Luke 16:19-31.
Amos delivers warnings again this week to the Israelites who use their power to disregard God and exploit the poor. Amos asks these powerful people to consider whether they are better or more powerful than the nations around them who have been overthrown and destroyed for their wickedness. Israel is an example of all corrupt human nature. Unless we die to sin, we must certainly fall into captivity.
Paul writes to Timothy about the requirements to be a public servant of Christ—to be a pastor. These requirements are the opposite of what the powerful people in Israel were all about. Paul’s list provides an example of what a soul regenerated in the image of Christ is like.
Luke records Jesus telling a single parable that contrasts the powerful Israelites with the humble people of faith. (Remember that faith, belief, and trust are all the same thing, a single word in the Greek NT, which means “to be at rest in honesty about dependence.” This rest in honesty is impossible unless necessity disables our human nature.) Notice how the rich man claims descent from Abraham, but his conduct is the opposite. Lazarus makes no claims, but hopes in God, proving that he is an authentic child of Abraham and is not disappointed when his body dies in this world.