If you could have a super power, what would you choose?
So, I have a confession to make. When I introduced myself to you nearly 3 months ago I told you that I have one secret power – and that is my ability to forget anyone’s name. And that is still true. But I what I didn’t tell you is that I also have a second secret power. I think it is a kind of side effect, perhaps of the first one, though I am not sure. I just know that I do have this second secret power, and I think that you need to know what it is.
You see, I can make people invisible. I can make them invisible.
It’s a little funny, though, this power. It mostly affects only me. I am the only one who can’t see them. They are right there. Others can see them. They can see themselves. But I can’t see them.
Sometimes that power kicks in because of my first secret power. I forget someone’s name with whom I have had wonderful conversations with and I should know their name. And I see them in that crowd of people just beyond the ones I am talking with. But because I don’t remember their name, I make them invisible. Then I can walk by without engaging them and not have to deal with my embarrassment over forgetting their name. Making people invisible is a scary super power.
The rich man in today’s gospel had that power as well. He didn’t see Lazarus. Oh, he knew he was there. He would have had to step over him on his way in and out of the house. He allowed him beg by his door rather than have him run off by the police. He even knew his name as we discover, when he asks Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger in water to comfort him. But he never SAW Lazarus. He had made him invisible – so he wouldn’t feel guilty. So he wouldn’t have to deal with a situation that would confront his eating comfortably, his dressing in wealth and finery.
So, here the even more frightening thing about my other secret power. I suspect a lot of us have that same power. I saw it all the time on college campuses – when you are the second one to show up to a classroom or a Newman Center event, and there is that ‘odd’ student sitting there, the first one in the room. Rather than taking the risk to be associated with them, you make them invisible and sit across the room. We know that sometimes in our own families/apartments, when our spouse or sibling or roommate has angered us by any one of a countless number of things -–and we grow tired from being healthy and confronting them with what we need and what we can tolerate and what we are willing to budge on – so we make the problem invisible and ignore them until it blows up in our face…
Sometimes we even make ourselves invisible- because we don’t trust that people will want to hear what we have to say – so we hold back – and our friends never get a glimpse into the things that we hold sacred in our hearts…
And those are just the easy times when we do that. Because I know there are times when, if we work hard enough, we can make other people invisible, not just to ourselves, but to our friends and neighbors and peers. Listen to the debate in this election year – “build a wall, strip away defenses from the unborn, keep the refugee out, discriminate against the bi or gay or transgendered kid.” If you don’t ‘see them’ then it is easy to do. But to see them, and to see them as our brothers and sisters – well, that would have consequences. It is easier to make people invisible rather than deal with the complex issues associated with the work of justice. It was easier for the rich man to make Lazarus invisible than to do what mercy would ask of him.
Super powers. I always thought it would be so cool to have one. Now I know that I have TWO. And I realized that I have used that second one to the detriment of the kingdom. I encourage you this week to examine the ‘super powers’ that you have. Perhaps, like Superman, you can see beyond appearances to the heart of what people struggle with. Use that power this week as you listen to folks with all your strength. Perhaps, like me, you have made people invisible. Learn to ‘see’ them this week –invite them to lunch or talk a walk with them…
Lazarus knew what it was to be made invisible. I know what it is to make people invisible. Lord, give me the power, not to make other invisible, but rather, to ‘see’ all the Lazarus’s you put into my world – perhaps to help them, perhaps to journey with them – but always, always to see them as you do, with great love and care…