THE PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS
(Luke 16: 14-15, 19-31)

14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering[1] at Jesus.
15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts.  What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.
19 There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury[2] every day.
20 At his gate[3] was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores
21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.  Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.[4]  The rich man also died and was buried.
23 In hell[5], where he was in torment[6], he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
24 So he called to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.”
25 But Abraham replied, “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”[7]
27 He answered, “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house,
28 for I have five brothers.  Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.”
29 Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.”
30 “No, father Abraham,” he said, “but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.”
31 He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

THIS STORY WAS ADDRESSED TO THE PHARISEES (14-15)

Jesus suggested that the rich man represented the Pharisees with their self-righteous pride who “boasted of their own goodness before men” (verse 15 Weymouth).  Like the Pharisees, the rich man “loved money” and made it his god.  The story focuses on two main themes: the misuse of wealth and the danger of blindness to God’s Word.  There is a serious warning here for affluent Western societies with a Christian heritage.  The story also illustrates Luke’s theme of Jesus’ compassion for the poor who are marginalized and put down by “respectable” society.

The Pharisees believed that wealth was a sign of God’s blessing while poverty meant the reverse.  However, in this parable, Jesus showed the opposite to be true in God’s kingdom: “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.”  Or, “for there is nothing more loathsome to God than human pride.” (Verse 15 Barclay).  Wealth does not necessarily lead to hell or heaven, any more than does poverty.  Abraham, who figures in this story, was a wealthy man.  Instead, a person’ eternal future depends upon his relationship to God through Jesus Christ.

It is tragic and ironic that the legalistic Pharisees, who were so careful to “search the Scriptures” (John 5:38-39), were so opposed to Christ.  They often criticized Jesus for caring for the outcasts of society like the beggar Lazarus.  It is surprising how blind and prejudiced religious people can be!

Perhaps this parable, recorded only by Luke, is the most solemn and the most soul stirring of all the stories the Master told about human destiny for it gives us a glimpse into life after death.Remember the story is a parable with details that are part of the story line so it is difficult to decide where the symbolic language ends and the literal meaning begins. 

EXTREMES OF POVERTY AND WEALTH

Jesus made a sharp contrast between the man who had all he wanted and another man who had nothing.  The rich man lived in flamboyant pleasure and extravagant luxury “everyday”.  Life for him was one continual party.  His clothes were made of expensive material; “purple” was cloth dyed with an exclusive dye from the shellfish murex.  God was not the centre of his life although he had an orthodox faith for in Hades he addressed Abraham as “father” three times.  He trusted in his descent from Abraham for his entry into heaven, yet after death he was separated from Abraham. 

His sin was not his affluence; it was his lack of concern for the sufferings of the poor.  He used his God-given money only for self-indulgence and consequently he had no “treasure in heaven.”  He ignored God’s command to “love your neighbour as yourself” and this disobedience was judged severely by God.  James makes a similar comment on the luxury and callousness of the wealthy (5:1-6). 

This is the only parable in which a personal name occurs.  Lazarus, whose name means “God helps”, is described as a lonely, hopeless bundle of rags and disease, and perhaps unable to walk.  Dogs were regarded as unclean animals and scavengers of the streets, but they had more compassion than the rich man, as they licked the sores of Lazarus.  The Greek word for “covered with sores” is literally “ulcerated” which a doctor like Luke would use to describe an ulcerous state of the whole body. 

Although Lazarus longed to eat justifyovers from the rich man’s table, what was given to him did not satisfy his hunger.  His silence throughout the story is impressive: he does not complain about his lot in life or criticize the rich man.  Nor does he rejoice over the rich man’s fate or protest at being asked to be the rich man’s servant.  Lazarus had something that the rich man did not have; he had a name.  Although downtrodden and marginalized, Lazarus was not unknown for he had friends in high places. 

A REVERSAL OF FORTUNES AFTER DEATH

Some people refer to death as the great equalizer.  However, this story teaches the opposite for when the two men died, a law of retribution reversed their fortunes.  The rich man is punished in the next life for his lack of compassion in the present life and he now reaps what he had sowed.

After a lavish funeral, he was buried and experienced “torment in Hades”.  “Torment” was his permanent condition and his modest request for a drop of water indicates the extent of his pain.  He is so much pain that he seeks help (ironically) from Lazarus, for whom he had previously done little or nothing.  In agony he begged for a drop of water, as Lazarus had begged for crumbs of bread.

There is no mention of the beggar’s funeral and his body may have been thrown on a rubbish heap.  Yet the poor man had a completely different afterlife to the rich man as “angels carried him to Abraham’s side.”  Lazarus seemed to have a father-son relationship with Abraham.  The rich man was in hell and Lazarus was in heaven and “a great chasm” existed between them; it was a “gulf” in character as well as in condition “so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”

Even in hell the rich man’s character was unchanged; he arrogantly treated Lazarus as his servant.  He even has the audacity to tell Abraham what to do.  Abraham’s first refusal argued that those who enjoy good things in this life suffer evil things in the next life and vice versa.  His second request on behalf of his brothers showed that he was still only concerned with the welfare of his own family; he was not concerned about other lost sinners.  Abraham’s refusal of both requests indicated that the rich man’s time for repentance had passed and his judgment was fixed.

LIFE AFTER DEATH

As it is not the purpose of the parable to give information about “hades”, or “hell” it is difficult to know how far Jesus meant the details of this story to be a literal or a pictorial description of the next life.  Symbols, however, are the shadows of realities. 

Paul gives a clearer picture of the situation of the believer after death.  Apparently, once Paul “departs” he is “with Christ” (Philippians 1:21-24).  The apostle does not fear death because he knows that “to be absent from the body” is “to be present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8)  The saying of Christ to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” also implied an immediate transfer to heaven of the righteous at death. (Luke 23:43)

Although the language is symbolical, for example “Abraham’s bosom” (AV), it speaks of the eternal realities of heaven and hell.  The parable emphasizes that decisions and actions made in this life have significance in the next life and the gospel of Christ teaches that there is a fundamental difference between believers and unbelievers, in this world, and in the next.

MIRACLES IN THEMSELVES DO NOT CONVINCE SINNERS

The rich man’s request to “send Lazarus to my father’s house” implied that he had not been warned about God’s judgment, and that if someone had returned from the dead, he and his brothers would have believed.  However, the last verse of the parable has a dreadful irony.  No miracle can convince anyone to repent.  Jesus refused to throw himself from the Temple or produce “signs” that would confirm his claims to be the Messiah (Luke 11:29).  When Jesus raised another man named Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees planned to kill both Jesus and Lazarus! (John 11:45-53; 12:10-11).  That miracle brought no repentance.

The Scriptures are sufficient for salvation, and those who reject their message will rationalize miracles as well. Miracles do not in themselves produce faith.“Moses and the Prophets” (the Old Testament) encouraged care of the poor and warned that God is more concerned about how we care for them, than about religious ritual.  Isaiah had warned, “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him?” (58:6-7)

The rich man’s brothers either knew God’s commands or should have known them since Abraham reminded him, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.”  If those who claimed to believe the Old Testament failed to live as they should, even a resurrection, (and Jesus points ahead to his own) would not persuade them to believe.  Thus the Scriptures did the five brothers no good, as they did not respond to it in faith.

Those who ignore the Bible are not likely to change their ways when given some special revelation.  We are all equally responsible to read the Bible and obey it.  Am I deaf to God’s warning?  Note that Abraham did not suggest any occult practice.  The Bible forbids any attempt by people on earth to communicate with the dead.

THIS LIFE FASHIONS AN ETERNAL DESTINY

While this parable leaves many questions unanswered, it makes these points:

CONCLUSION

The Anglican Bishop of Liverpool comments:

“The souls of believers are especially cared for by God in the hour of death.  We shall be like those who journey into an unknown country, but best of all we are “with Christ” (Philippians 1:23).  All who fall asleep in Jesus are in good keeping. 

Hell is real and eternal.  There are few more fearful passages in the whole Bible than this.  There is a hell for the unrepentant as well as a heaven for believers.  Unconverted people find out the value of a soul after death when it is too late.  There is no skepticism or unbelief after death.  Hell is truth known too late. 

Faith, simple faith in the Scriptures, which we already possess, is the first thing needful to salvation.  The man who has the Bible and can read it, and yet waits for more evidence before he becomes a decided Christian, is deceiving himself.  Except he awakens from his delusion, he will die in his sins.”[8]

FOR REFLECTION

(1)   “How can a God of love allow such an awful place as hell and send people there permanently?”  How would you answer that question?

(2)   What is my attitude to the poor and those ostracized by “respectable” society?  Have I ever done anything to help needy people?  The place and time of opportunity is here and now.

(3)   There was a popular belief in Jesus’ time that wealth was a sign of God’s approval.  Is this belief still popular today?  What about the “health and wealth gospel”?

(4)   Given the emphasis on material things in our culture we should ask ourselves: “Which am I more interested in – being set for life or set for eternity?”

(5)   It was the grace of God rejected or accepted that reversed their circumstances in the next world.  Like his brothers the rich man had God’s Word; like his brothers he ignored it.
(6)   “Parables about the future are not intended to satisfy curiosity.  They are intended to alter life in the present.”
(7)   We are left with the mystery of why a good man like Lazarus lived in permanent poverty and disease (if God was his helper) while a self-centred man was allowed so much wealth.
(8)   Karl Marx, one of the founders of communism, said, “Religion is the opiate [sedative] of the people.”  Yet a genuine faith requires that the poor be cared for.  Nor does true religion teach passive suffering in the face of injustice and oppression.
(9)   Death is a mystery yet it is the one certainty in life.  How can I adequately prepare myself for it? 

PRAYER

Lord, give us an eternal perspective on life, especially money, and help us to understand the needs of poor people, whether in our city or elsewhere.  May we have a greater concern for lost sinners and practise personal evangelism.  Amen.

Jim Peacock MA (Hons), Diploma of Teaching.