Dead Dogs and Assurance
Luke 16.19-31 (Dives & Lazarus), Trinty 17"What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I?" 2 Samuel 9.8
I am reminded of the agnostic, insomniac, dyslexic, who lay awake at night thinking: “Is there a Dog?”
Another question that has worried Christians down through the centuries has been: “Am I a Christian?”
The doctrine of predestination was an unsuccessful attempt to try and give reassurance to the doubting soul, and we have looked at this together in a past sermon.
We saw that if you pursue this doctrine with too much rigour, you end up with a capricious and almost vicious god, and a view of life that is fatalistic. (You remember the Calvinist who fell down stairs and said, “Thank goodness that’s over with!”)
And of course the question is simply transferred to “Am I among the elect?” I knew a number of strict Calvinists in my younger days who were plagued throughout their lives by terrible doubts that, after a life of godly devotion, they might after all, not be among the elect.
Tomorrow the Bishop installs the new Dean in St Paul’s Cathedral, Bishop Graham Knowles. One of his predecessors, John Donne, who became Dean in 1621, was greatly influenced by this strand in Calvinism. You see it in some of his poems as he pleads with God for assurance.
Do you remember the last verse of ‘A Hymn to God the Father’?
I have a sin of fear, that when I've spunOthers have taken a different route to assure themselves of their eternal salvation. They have placed an almost magical emphasis on the sacrament of Holy Baptism. As long as the water has been applied and the words said, then you’re ‘in’. No more worries.
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by Thyself that at my death Thy Son
Shall shine as He shines now and heretofore:
And having done that, Thou hast done;
I fear no more.
Scripture, however, deals with this question of assurance in a very different and much simpler way: showing kindness and love to others is a sign and a confirmation that we have responded well to the love of God shown to us.
And this is the burden of today’s Gospel.
First let’s remind ourselves of the background to our text. It is taken from the OT reading that is suggested to accompany this Gospel reading in the Book of Common Prayer, where it is set for the first Sunday after Trinity.
Mephibosheth was a rather sad figure. His grandfather King Saul had killed himself after a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Philistines. His father, David’s beloved best friend, Jonathan, had also been killed in the battle. And so had Jonathan’s two brothers, Mephibosheth’s uncles.
But he had a forceful and protective nanny. She knew what would happen to young heirs to the throne when the royal dynasty of Saul was giving way to the dynasty of king David.
She took up the 5 year-old boy and fled. In her haste, she fell and somehow the boy’s ankles or feet were broken. He became lame. (2 Sam 4.4)
She had misjudged David, who rarely acted as other ancient near eastern rulers did nearly three thousand years ago.
Some years later, when he discovered the young man was still alive, King David welcomed him into his household and made provision for him for the rest of his life.
Now some would say this was just a shrewd move by David - keep any possible rival to the throne where you can see him!
But this is a cynical view of a passionate man who valued friendships and tried to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
The NT records that God says of David, “This is a man after my own heart”. (Acts 13.22)
Mephibosheth’s response is grovelling, even by ancient near eastern standards: "What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I?"
Perhaps he was simply trying to reassure David that he posed no threat?
Whatever, history remembers Mephibosheth for these words, and these words alone, that have come down to us over the millennia: "What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I?"
We will return to Mephibosheth later.
The parable of Dives and Lazarus is more specific in addressing the issue of assurance that we are Christians. And of course dogs have a walk-on part in that story as well: the graphic image of dogs licking the sores of Lazarus.
Incidentally, this is the only parable where proper names are given, but this is probably to do with their meaning: Dives means ‘rich’; and Lazarus, or Eleazar, means ‘God is my help’.
It’s such a gruesome parable to the modern ear, that we can get too easily sidetracked into a discussion about the afterlife – torment and fire. But that is not the point of the story and certainly, as in other parables, the details may not be pushed to form a credible theology of the life hereafter.
However, neither is the parable primarily about the rich and the poor, although it fits in with other teaching of Jesus about this.
It is about unbelief and hardheartedness, and because of this, it is also about personal re-assurance concerning our own faith.
Dives exhibits four ‘symptoms’ of the disease of unbelief; although these should not be mistaken for the disease itself. As Archbishop Trench of Dublin remarked about the symptoms: “the seat of the disease is within; these are but the running sores that witness the plague.”
The marks of unbelief seen in this parable are:
the pursuit of wealth for its own sakeSo the parable seeks to emphasise that our spiritual state is reflected by our inner attitude and outward actions.
pride - the costly purple and fine linen of dignitaries
callousness - he just ignored Lazarus
and spiritual hardness of heart – not even someone returning from the dead could raise the spiritually dead.
The constant refrain of the prophets, of the epistles and of Our Lord himself is that our hearts must be right. Christianity is a heart religion.
The epistle of John, which accompanies this Gospel in the Book of Common Prayer, puts it very bluntly: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar!” John is concerned with how Christians can be assured that they are in fact children of God, and not deceiving themselves like Dives and his brothers.
And as in our Lord’s parable, the answer is simple. Loving actions as we respond to the love of God, should confirm and convince us in a way, that even someone returning from the dead, would be unable to do.
The five brothers whom Dives wants to warn, would not so much as ask the question ‘Am I a child of God?’ They had the arrogant confidence of the proud and self-satisfied: ‘We are the children of Abraham!’
What is the opposite of faith? Is it doubt? No! It is certainty.
Assurance of salvation is not certainty. It is rather a reasonable and proper confidence in the Gospel.
Intellectually we should be convinced, as we shall say at the altar in a few minutes, that Christ has done all that is necessary to make us one with God; accepted in the Beloved.
But although Scripture encourages us to be assured that we are saved by grace alone, it nonetheless wishes constantly to unsettle us from too arrogant an assertion of that saving grace, lest any man should boast. (Eph 2.8f)
This is where sometimes we find some of our brothers and sisters in Christ a little too sure of a little too much. There should be a godly reticence about our claim to be Christians – to be followers of Christ.
To go back to where we started, the question should be, not so much, ‘am I a Christian’ as, ‘am I living a Christian life?’
And the answer is always to look at the ways in which God is enabling you to love others, with kindness and good deeds.
Of course there will always be failures and inadequacy, and it is a healthy spiritual sign that we are aware of these. There will always be room for improvement. But we must not be too hard on ourselves, for if our love for God results in a practical love for others, then we should not fear as Dives did.
For Mephibosheth there was a degree of astonishment at the King’s love lavished on him, a crippled man, fallen from greatness. Yet there was proper confidence because of all that he had seen of the King’s love and loyalty.
No less for us, as we stand in humility before our great King, with confidence in his love, lavished upon us in this feast, we can say with the wonder, and indeed assurance, of Mephibosheth:
"What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I?" 2 Samuel 9.8
