This strange parable of Jesus appears only in the Gospel of Luke, and it has to do with how in shape we are in the spiritual life.

It begins with a rich man calling out to Abraham after his death. Why Abraham? Abraham is the covenant-bearer, he received and accepted God’s promise. In Genesis chapter 12, he is told, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you… all the families of the earth will find blessing in you.”

As the father of the covenant, Abraham appears at the final judge of those who truly lived in God’s covenant. What is Abraham looking for in people? What is the measure?

In this parable, Jesus is teaching the disciples that what is needed is a faithful and committed obedience to God’s promise, not wealth or external status.

In the covenant of the Old Testament God promises his faithfulness and calls his people to remain faithful to Him, which didn’t always go well. Through baptism, Jesus gives us the grace that we needed in order to be faithful not only to God, but to each other. This new capacity to love is what makes us children of the New Covenant, where our repones is not only love of God, but love of neighbor, they become inseparable.

The main question here is: What is needed to motivate someone to be fully committed to their faith received in baptism?

One of the main concerns of the covenant, both Old and New, is for the dignity of the person created in the image of God. The rich man thinks that he has fulfilled his commitment to the covenant. He thinks that his wealth is God’s blessing for his good life. But he discovers that he has deceived himself. In his desire to increase his wealth, he has failed to be concerned for the dignity of people around him.

And he is so comfortable with seeing his wealth as blessing, as needing nothing else, that he becomes completely oblivious to Lazarus the beggar, a person suffering right on his doorstep every day. Even dogs roaming the streets show more care for him than the rich man does, so he has failed at one of the most basic parts of the covenant.

When the rich man realizes that he’s failed, he suddenly becomes concerned for his family. He wants to help them so that they do not make the same mistake that he did. He says: “Father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father’s house and warn my family about this suffering, so that they don’t end up where I am.”

Abraham responds: “Well, they have Moses and the prophets already, so why don’t they listen to them?”

In other words, people should not be faithful to the covenant relationship simply out of fear, simply because they don’t want to end up in hell. God’s promise is clear, we have to choose to be faithful to him because of the quality of life that the covenant relationship offers us.

Then the rich man says: “Well, if a dead person warns them, they’ll change their lives.”  Abraham says: “If they don’t hear the promise of God in the Word of God, they will not change even if somebody goes back from the dead to warn them.”

No one can force us to live the covenant. It must be a free decision. Even if you were to see a vision of a dead family member, that vision is only going to last a short while. But you’re going to have to make the decision to live the covenant for the rest of your life, every day, and that is something you have to choose, daily, not dependent on outside motivation.

What is needed to motivate someone to live the covenant they make in baptism? There are a lot more people alive who were baptized Catholic and are not coming to Mass… why don’t we see them here today? If we did we would not be in the crisis we are in of having to share priests and resources with multiple parishes. What does it take to motivate someone to live the commitment they make in the covenant of baptism?

Fear of hell won’t do it. Some might suggest a massive marketing campaign reminding people that not coming to Sunday Mass is a mortal sin, and we all know where people in mortal sin go… maybe that will whip them into shape. But that doesn’t really seem to bother people anymore, nor is it a good approach.

Fear of death won’t do it. People get scared, they run to church… and then they fade away. I’ve seen it after funerals of lapsed Catholics. A few family members come back for a couple of weeks, and then they’re gone. After 9/11, churches were packed. Where are they now? Even today, with the world so unsettled, people say: “I went to church for the first time in decades.” How long will it last?

God wants more from us than that. God wants us to live the covenant not out of fear, but out of the conviction of our love for God and love for the people in our lives.

One of the ways the Letter of Timothy talks about living the covenant is as if training for a sport: “Compete well for the faith.”

The connection between sports and God is ancient. For the Greeks, Olympic Games honored the gods. For the Aztecs, the ball game was a ritual before sacrifice. Even today sports function like a religion: they have rituals, demand sacrifice, require loyalty and attendance… and they often take place on Sunday. How many people skip going to Mass because of a football or soccer game?

When baptized, that child enters the new covenant in Christ. The family makes a promise to the Lord to live the covenant in family life, to use the sports analogy, one has to become a spiritual athlete.

There are three things you need to become a spiritual athlete: you need training, you need to know the rules of the game, and you need a team.

As to Training, 1 Corinthians 9:25 says: “Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable prize; we do it to win an imperishable one.”

Training is essential. And in baptism, parents and godparents promise to be the trainers. Raise your hand if you’re a parent or godparent. That’s your job description: personal trainer in the faith. But the training camp, the family, only works if the coaches are serious about the spiritual life themselves.

A national study of youth and religion found this: No other influence even comes close to the impact of parents on their children’s faith. If you want your kids to keep the faith, train them in the basics: pray together, read the Bible together, go to Mass together. And show them that you do so not out of obligation, but out of the choice to love. I love God, and this is why I go to Mass. I love you, and this is why it is important for you to know this about our faith.

As to Knowledge of the rules of the game, 2 Timothy 2:5 says “An athlete cannot receive the winner’s prize except by competing according to the rules.”

Wait a minute… but Father, you often tell us that as Christians we are not in competition, yet Paul says, “compete according to the rules”!

Correct! Key being “the rules” and the rules of the Kingdom are different. Our competition is not with each other; it is with the powers and principalities of the world. The main rule to grow in the spiritual life is to focus on others, not ourselves, on who needs to lifted up, instead of lifting myself up. Think of it this way: in the sports world we often hear: “No pain, no gain,” but it is all about me, my strength, my victory. In the spiritual life, the saying is: “No cross, no resurrection,” and that is about others, being willing to carry the cross with them.

You come to Mass to sit on the bench, learn the rules of the game, receive nourishment, and then I say “Go, announce to the gospel of the Lord by your lives!” You are not called to be a seat warmer, so you need to actively find the way that God is uniquely calling you to give your gifts for others.

Finally, to be a spiritual athlete, you need a team. Galatians 5:7 says; “You were running the race well. Who stopped you?”

No one runs alone. Every athlete needs a team. We need people to hold us accountable when we stumble. We need people to lift us up when we’re down.

We need people to celebrate with us when we win. That starts at home. Families become teams when they talk, listen, and encourage each other. But if you don’t find that support in your family, look for it, find it here in the parish community.

Family, the words of the Letter to Timothy encourage us today: “As men and women of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith to which you were called when you made, in your baptism, the noble confession of faith in the presence of witnesses.”

         You are baptized. You are called to be an athlete of God. This is what the world needs right now more than ever, people committed not out of fear, but out of love, in service to humanity. So, train well. Play by the rules of Christ’s Kingdom. Stay close to your team, the Church. And then go out, confident, because you know the victory is already won in Christ.