A Sandwich for Supper
A story tells of a man who went to the office every day in his expensive car, and made important decisions and signed big contracts. Often, the important man would enjoy business lunches with his clients, and would try to distract the attention of his influential guests away from the unsavoury spectacle of the beggars on the streets of his city. One evening, after a hard day making money, he packed his briefcase to go home, where supper would be waiting for him. As he was locking his desk for the night, he caught sight of a stale sandwich lying abandoned at the back of the drawer. Without much thought he crammed it in his coat pocket. No need for it to go mouldy and mess up his desk. And on the way out to the car park he saw a street beggar on the steps, huddled in an old blanket. ‘Here my friend,’ he said to the beggar. ‘Here is something for your supper.’ And he gave him the stale sandwich. That night, the man dreamed that he was away on a business trip. After the day’s meeting, he was taken with his fellow directors to the town’s most luxurious restaurant. Everyone gave their orders and settled down with their aperitifs to look forward to a convivial evening. The orders arrived. Pate de foie gras. Medallions of venison. Lamb cutlets with rosemary and garlic. The dishes being brought to the table brought gasps of delight from all the company. Then his own order appeared. A waitress set in front of him one small plate, on which was served a stale sandwich. ‘What kind of service is this?’ the man demanded, enraged. ‘This isn’t what I ordered! I thought this was the best restaurant in town!’ ‘Oh sir,’ the waitress told him, ‘you’ve been misinformed. This isn’t a restaurant at all. This is heaven. We are only able to serve you what you sent on ahead while you were alive. I’m very sorry, sir, but when we looked under your name, the best we could find to serve to you was this little sandwich.’
Retelling of a Jewish folk story, Margaret Silf
Luke (chapter 16 verses 19 to end) tells us about the rich man and Lazarus. It is a stern teaching and word of warning from Jesus; although it is often misinterpreted.
We have a rich man living in luxury and a poor homeless man living right under the nose of the rich man, by his gate where the rich man could not miss him.
These are opposite extremes. The poor man has nothing, wears rags, is covered in sores and lives on the street. The rich man has fine clothes in colours that show off his wealth to the world, a luxurious home and an abundance of food.
The rich man had so much more than he needed, yet, despite seeing the poor man every day he completely ignored him and did nothing.
The poor man was so neglected that those passing did not even chase the dogs away from him.
Jesus has talked in other passages about how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.
However, that is not because of the wealth itself but because of man’s love of wealth and the ignoring of those suffering and in need.
It is the state of our hearts and not the state of our wallets that interests Jesus.
The wealth and luxury the rich man enjoyed was not, in itself, what condemned him.
What condemned the rich man was that he totally ignored the poor man, despite him being right in his path.
We all have opportunities to help others laid in our paths. If we neglect these opportunities we are as guilty as the rich man. As Jesus said, “The poor will always be with us”.
The selfish use of worldly possessions is equally sinful. To do nothing when there are people like the poor man at our gates is equally wicked no matter how much wealth or how many possessions we have.
Spiritual things are also being represented in the different states of good and bad, in this world and the next.
The rich man’s sin was in providing only for himself. The poor man is in the depth of adversity and distress.
We are not told that the rich man caused any harm to the poor man but the rich man did not care for the poor man.
There is a time coming when those who hate and despise the people of God would gladly receive kindness from them. But the damned in hell will not have their torment eased.
Nothing can bring about true repentance without the special grace of God renewing the sinner’s heart.
Jesus is using this teaching to consolidate the dangers of the love of money, the deceitful, treacherous nature of riches; that those not using their property in the right way may not enter heaven, that they ought to heed the warnings from the prophets and their duty to care for and show kindness to the poor.
Both the rich and the poor man die. Jesus does not reveal what the after lands are really like. Instead He uses the preconceived ideas of those He is teaching; The point was to emphasise the total reversal of position of the rich man and the poor man.
The rich man, who lived in luxury whilst alive, now lives in torment and suffering. The poor man, who lived in suffering and torment whilst alive, is now the possessor of abundance and delight.
The rich man now wants from the poor man the help which he refused to give the poor man in life. Each must, however, reap in death what he has sown in life.
How we live our lives here determines life hereafter, the character we make out of ourselves, once set and hardened in this life, cannot be remoulded in the next.
The rich man’s request for his brethren serves only to try and excuse himself by claiming ignorance, and that had he known he would have been different. He tries to put the blame on insufficient warnings instead of owning it himself.
However, the teachings of Moses and the prophets are sufficient, holding a divine message for those who wish to listen.
It is not a lack of warnings but the aversion of will.
The rich man is in torment, not because he did not know his actions were wrong, but because he did not choose to do what he knew to be right.
Let us ponder the story of The Long-Handled Spoons:
A rabbi asked God to give him a glimpse of what heaven and hell would be like. God agreed to this request, and asked the prophet Elijah to be the rabbi’s guide on this adventure. Elijah first led the rabbi into a large room. In the middle of the room was a fire with a big cooking pot bubbling away on it. And in the pot was a delicious stew. All around the cooking pot sat a crowd of people. They each had a long-handled spoon, which they were dipping into the delicious stew. But the people looked pale and thin and wretched. There was an icy stillness in the room. The handles of the spoons were so long that no one was able to get the lovely food into their mouth. When the two visitors were back outide again, the rabbi asked Elijah what strange place this was. ‘That was hell,’ Elijah explained. Then Elijah led the rabbi to a second room, which looked exactly like the first. In the middle, a fire was blazing and a cooking pot was bubbling away, full of the same delicious, aromatic stew. People sat around the fire, with the same long-handled spoons in their hands But they were enjoying lively, animated conversations with each other. And the difference? Well, the people in the second room were not trying to feed themselves with the long-handled spoons. They were using the spoons to feed each other. ‘Ah, heaven,’ said the rabbi.
retold by Margaret Silf from an unknown source.
Just because 