Am I just a rationalized rich man?

"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' But 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. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' He said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house -- for I have five brothers--that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'" from the parable of Jesus in Luke 16:19-31

Someone had said, "It's not the thing I don't understand about Scripture that bother me; but it's the thing that I do understand!" When I re-read the text with a focus on social justice, the bothersome question is "How and to what extent?" I identified myself with the rich man. Even though I consider myself a faithful follower of Christ; our family tithed beyond what was asked of us to finance for various ministries, we spent all our times outside of work to serve the people of God in the church, we committed to a simplistic life (my boy is not even have Xbox, or PS2 yet, but borrowing someone else obsolete Sega Dreamcast to play), etc. Yet, I am still a rich man with double managerial incomes, a house and two cars. Compare to the third world country I came from, we are beyond rich! Compare to our average congregation, we are rich! My wife could afford the latest brand name fashion (even though she often got them on sales at outlet mall), so in a way we were "dressed in purple and fine linen". I myself loved good food, I watched "Iron Chef" every time I got a chance, and I feel no regret dining in Beverly Hills on vacation and paying for $35 per plate, so in a way I was "feasting sumptuously". One can justify my life style by exegete the word "every day" at the end of verse 19. But if one willing to compare my daily "standard" with those "standards" in the third world countries, then in deed, I am living large "every day", even in my modest days. Some would point to the fact that Lazarus was placed at the rich man's gate as an indicator that contrasts between the rich and poor here happened at the local context. Of course, if we compare ourselves to Haiti and Bangladesh then we all the rich men. But may be we are called to confront the situation at our own gates first as a start. I found comfort in the fact that the Gospel didn't condemn the rich man to hell just because he was rich, or admit Lazarus to heaven just because he was poor. May be the text was not about social justice as "the rich will be punished, and the poor will be rewarded eternally" at all. But it more like social justice in the local context, make sure you respond to whatever opportunities God placed around you. But was that it? I still see myself as the rich man. He knew Lazarus by name, he even allowed the poor beggar to hang out at the gate, he probably gave the poor guy a few coins here and there on a good day. But Scripture seemed to condemn the rich man with the description of Lazarus "longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table." So, when the parishioner who live in the mobile home slump long to have a big house like mine, would I be condemned too? What do I and the rich man were supposed to do? Selling off my house and move into the mobile home slump? Embrace the ascetic life and deprive myself of any good thing in life like the monks would? No! Notice that the message the rich man wanted to send back was not that of, "live a pious life", nor "sell all your possessions now!" The message was "warn them", (Gk. diamarturomai = thoroughly/dia + testify/martureo). He wanted Lazarus to testify what he had been through, that there is an after life, that there is heaven and hell, that there is punishments and rewards. Abraham generalized the message a bit more and said that the Law and the Prophets was enough for living people to listen to already. It is interesting that Jesus referred to the same term Law and Prophet only a few verses earlier in v. 16, and confirmed its eternal validity in v. 17. Jesus also pointed to the Good News of the Kingdom in v.16b which caused a stampede for people to rush in the Kingdom since then. After all, He was the guy who comes back from the dead to carry the message of the tormented rich man (grin, not literally of course). Seeing the parable in this light, I am no longer identified myself as the rich man, or fear condemnation because of I am rich (compare to my other brothers and sisters). If I have the farsightedness to prepare to the next age, if I walked my life accordingly to the Law of God, if I heed the warning of the Prophets, if I repented according to the Resurrected One, I should have nothing to fear. In the mean time, I understood that my blessing (even though coming from God), could cause social barriers to many of my less unfortunate brothers, and that's why we didn't drive a Mercedes nor spending money on unnecessities. I also understood that we would be ridiculed by my less unfortunate brothers too, for sending my kid to private school, and buying top-of-the-line products if they worth the money I invest in. (Especially if I keep my charity giving records private as Jesus commanded me). I realized that my disclosure above would not be an accurate measurement of who I am since you don't know who I am personally in my context. But I am open to your judgment of my thinking on this text. After all, in the next few verses, Jesus said to his disciples about not causing anyone to stumble, and that "if another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender" (Luke 17:3). What do you think? Am I rationalizing my way to have my cake and eat it too? To what extend are we supposed to identify ourselves with the poor?