Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.” Luke 16:25

I think the subject was about hell, or maybe, it was the afterlife. I can not remember. Whenever we have Janaina over for lunch, our conversations never stay in one place. It has been years since we had her over for lunch. Two or three years, I think. Before that, she was here at least once a week. I always found her to have a curious and perceptive mind. She shared that she feels like she can share her thoughts and doubts with us freely without being judged. We are forever grateful for this. Eventually this parable came up in our conversation. At that time, I was not aware that it was going to appear again in our Sunday lectionary. She mentioned that she heard pastors use it to describe the nature of hell or the afterlife. Poor Lazarus is always getting left out. He was neglected in the parable by the rich man and now even in the interpretation of this text, religious leaders are paying more attention to the pretext than on the actual protagonist. People should always be our focus! There were two significant figures in this parable. They have something important to say to us today but it was almost time to go the streets. Janaina was planning to join us today. It was her first time after many many years. She said that she was a little nervous. It was strange to hear this.

As we stepped out of our building, many Lazarus of various degrees were waiting for us. I think this parable is closer to our reality in many ways. Thankfully, none of them had sores nor were dying of hunger. It was strange that Jesus was quite specific about the details in this one. He even gave his character a name unlike his other parables. It is possible that he knew a beggar named Lazarus, someone who the rest of the world would neglect. Sad to say, we have seen beggars with open wounds and other gory details that I am going to skip for the sake of decency. Many times, we avoided such people not because of a sense of superiority. It is just too distressing. In our context, most of them are people whom the city terms collectively as crack addicts. It sounds like they are a bizarre tribe of people. They have names too. They are people. I look away sometimes despite knowing all this. I don’t think that the rich man was a mean cold hearted person. Jesus never said this about him. Perhaps he is just like us. He did not want to think about the distressing things which existed in the world. He wanted to be in a place where he was safe from everything which made him feel uncomfortable. In the end, it ended up robbing him of his life.

Finally, we got to where we usually meet the young people. We have been experiencing unusual cold weather recently. Consequently, many of our children have been staying in their hiding place for longer period of times. It is usually warm there. I don’t blame them. We warned Janaina that she might not meet anyone today. No matter what happens it is good for us to be there waiting for them just in case someone ventures out. Sometimes hunger drives them out. It gives us an opportunity to get them something to eat. We sat and waited. Suddenly, a huge number of teens approached us. Many familiar faces but some new as well. They came over and gave us a hug. Usually the homeless youth are not so expressive with their affections. I suspected that maybe the police were watching them and they wanted to be close to us to feel safe. The police usually don’t bother them when they are with us. There were no one watching them. It was true affection. Shame on me, I thought to myself. They sat next to us and started talking. A little girl, Anna, who is third generation homeless, sat next to me. I asked her if she wanted to color. She said, “not even a bit!” It was quite amusing to hear her say this. I took out a book and started coloring, hoping to entice her to do the same. She didn’t take the bait. Instead, she watched me do it and then she rested her head on my arms. Perhaps she just wanted affection from an adult.

For some strange reasons, we were surrounded by girls with variations of the same name. There was another Ana. She has never spoken to us before. She is about 13 maybe even less. She sat and started coloring with us. She was particularly interested in Mary. Janaina sat there listening to the conversations of the other kids. It was quite amazing. Everyone wanted to talk with us or be near us today. This doesn’t usually happen. Most of them did not even notice Janaina except for Ana Paula, our third “Ana”. She is a little person. We have known her since she was a young child. I don’t believe this girl has ever lived in a house before. Her mother is homeless too. Her physical condition made it impossible for people not to take notice of her. Thankfully, no one teases or makes fun of her. Among the homeless, there is a tenderness towards people with different physical conditions. Ana Paula is very serious and interacts with us on occasions. I think she likes us but is a little reserved showing her affections. Janaina intrigued her. Finally she stood up and asked how we met her. This is a curious question. No one has asked us this before whenever a friend comes with us to the streets albeit not a frequent occurrence. We asked Janaina if we could share her story. Permission was given.

We told Ana Paula that we met Janaina in the streets in 1994 when she was about eleven years old. Back then, she was one of the children that we came to meet in the streets. My most vivid memory of her was eating a Christmas dinner together in the streets organized by Franciscan friars. It was a small and quiet affair. For some reason, most of the homeless were not around in that area where we had the meal. There were just a small group maybe thirty. It made the meal even cozier. We sat and talked together for hours. It was beautiful; an eternal moment if I could add. Janaina remembers that meal too. Thankfully, when she turned 23 or so, she decided that it was time for her to move on. She struggled for many years to find some stability. She got married and her first child helped her to decide once and for all that the streets was no longer an option. However, she still has many friends who are like family to her still living in the streets. In her heart, they will always be precious to her. Today, Janaina is a dear friend to us. We cannot imagine our lives without her presence. She brings so much light and joy to our lives. Ana Paula listened but didn’t say anything.

As we got up to leave, Janaina reached out and hugged Ana Paula. Later we had a cup of coffee together and she asked if she could go to the streets again with us. It is important for her not to forget her “family” in the streets. I know some people might think that the others will look at her and have hope for themselves. In reality, it does not work that way. They might be fascinated that she was once from the streets. Then it just ends there. They do not make the connection to with their own personal struggles. Janaina knows this. She has been there. However, she wants to go the streets because she realizes that it does not take much to bring joy and love to these children. In the parable, Jesus said that Lazarus just wanted the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. He did not expect the rich man to adopt him or buy him a nice house. He just wanted a little attention and consideration. Janaina wants to give more than crumbs.

We went back to our comfortable home later on that night. We ate our meals. It was cold outside and even colder in our homes. Homes in São Paulo don’t have heat nor running hot water. Nevertheless it could be worse. We looked out of the window and there were quite a few sleeping in the streets with just blankets to keep themselves warm.

It is quite an uncomfortable parable.