The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) seems to summarize Jesus' entire message in the book of Luke, beginning with the Sermon on the Plain when Jesus said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
(Luke 6:20-26)
MODERN SUMMARY OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS
There was this rich man who lived in a nice house with a nice yard, but at the same time, there was this beggar, named Lazarus, who sat in front of his house on the road, begging for money as cars went by. The rich man never gave to Lazarus and tried to ignore him. One day there as a tsunami that killed them both. The rich man ended up in hell, but Lazarus went to heaven, even to the very highest place in heaven, next to Jesus.
The rich man who lived in eternal torment, saw how the beggar got the best of eternity while he got the worst. All of his llife he expected things to be much different, and was sure that he would fare well in the afterllife. He believed that his wealth was a gift from God, because he was smart and was a good person.
He asked Jesus to send the beggar back to earth to relieve his pain, even a little bit. In life the man was very good with management and knew how to ask people for things and how to get what he needed to get. But Jesus told him that he could not help him.
So the rich man asked Jesus to send the beggar back to earth to warn his family - to the people he loved - so that they might better prepare for eternity. But Jesus told him, "They have the Bible to warn them and to tell them to help the poor."
But the rich man answered, "They won't listen to that part of the Bible, if you send the beggar back, they will listen." But Jesus refused to send Lazarus, saying, "If they don't hear what the Bible says over and over, they won't listen to someone who rises from the dead."
In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus painted a picture of the future blessedness for the poor and the final destination for those who have it all. Note several things:
There was this rich man who lived in a nice house with a nice yard, but at the same time, there was this beggar, named Lazarus, who sat in front of his house on the road, begging for money as cars went by. The rich man never gave to Lazarus and tried to ignore him. One day there as a tsunami that killed them both. The rich man ended up in hell, but Lazarus went to heaven, even to the very highest place in heaven, next to Jesus.
The rich man who lived in eternal torment, saw how the beggar got the best of eternity while he got the worst. All of his llife he expected things to be much different, and was sure that he would fare well in the afterllife. He believed that his wealth was a gift from God, because he was smart and was a good person.
He asked Jesus to send the beggar back to earth to relieve his pain, even a little bit. In life the man was very good with management and knew how to ask people for things and how to get what he needed to get. But Jesus told him that he could not help him.
So the rich man asked Jesus to send the beggar back to earth to warn his family - to the people he loved - so that they might better prepare for eternity. But Jesus told him, "They have the Bible to warn them and to tell them to help the poor."
But the rich man answered, "They won't listen to that part of the Bible, if you send the beggar back, they will listen." But Jesus refused to send Lazarus, saying, "If they don't hear what the Bible says over and over, they won't listen to someone who rises from the dead."
In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus painted a picture of the future blessedness for the poor and the final destination for those who have it all. Note several things:
1. The name Lazarus means "God is my helper."
2. No other charactor in any other parable of Jesus' had a name.
3. Lazarus was given the highest honor in the afterlife.
4. Lazarus' eternal reward was based soley on his poverty in this life, which reflects the message of Luke 6. He had no works or righteousness to speak of. He had nothing in life, so his life was meaningless and empty of any gift toward God or humanity.
Here's the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. (Luke 16:9).
Lazarus did not say a word throughout the entire parable. Because the rich man did not give Lazarus the time of day during this life, Lazarus did not and could not help the rich man in the next. He did not help the rich man and he did not plead with Abraham (Jesus in my version) on the rich man's behalf.
THE LAW AND MONEY
This parable is surrounded by verses that direct the reader to the Law of Moses. Before the parable Jesus told his audience:
“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Luke 16:16-18).
Note that marriage and the Law were frequently mentioned together in the Bible, because in the minds of Jesus and Paul (later on) the Jews were bound to both by a covenant until death. In other words, marriage was used symbolically to illustrate the binding nature of the Law upon its followers.
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
“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.’ ”
(Luke 16:27-31)
Luke definately wanted us to know that Jesus' message about money was very clear in the scripture. But people in Jesus' day didn't see it. Why not? To a degree, as it was then, even so now, people saw what they wanted to see in the scripture. Actually, a more accurate statement is that people didn't see what they didn't want to see in the Bible. Giving money as generously as Jesus called us to give was something that most people did not want to see, nor do they now.
Our world views and our theological world views are created in a large part from the community that we live in. So if my community says that God wants us to be prosperous and that the poor deserve their lot because they are lazy or ungodly, then that's what I will see in the Bible. Anything else in the Bible is foreign and mysteriously invisible, because it does not fit into the way I perceive the world - a world view that my group has created through the years and continues to recreate.
Neglecting the poor as the rich man did, was a personal sin; but his personal sin was given birth by and nurtured on a system and a culture that justified wealth and made his lack of action a virtue.
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