The Rich Man and Lazarus - A Bible story whose message is often missed or misinterpreted. 

The Rich Man and Lazarus is a story found in Luke chapter 16, verses 19-31. It has become controversial in recent years as people debate the meaning of these verses. The main problem that both sides of this debate is that both sides come to this parable looking at it through 21st century eyes instead of 1st century eyes. In doing so, both sides sermons have become lacking or so it seems to me. This is my attempt to briefly show what I see in these verses.

To see the message here, you must first go back to Luke 15:1 and see who is here at this time. When looking at this verse, you see that along with Jesus and His disciples, there were Tax Collectors, Sinners (A word that is used to describe Jewish people whom the Pharisees and and Experts in the Biblical Law condemned because of their unholy lifestyle.), along with Pharisees and Experts in the law. The rest of chapter 15 is devoted to Jesus telling parables (fictional stories that teach Biblical Truths) that defend Jesus' association with the Tax Collectors and Sinners and describe what His mission is to them. 

At the start of chapter 16 Jesus turns to His disciples and tells them the parable of a dishonest steward.  This is a parable that teaches - "make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth, so that when it runs out, you will be welcomed into the eternal homes."

This offends the Pharisees.  This brings us to verse 14 and 15 which is key to understanding the upcoming parable. These verses say  - "14 The Pharisees (who loved money) heard all this and ridiculed him. 15 But Jesus said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in men’s eyes, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly prized among men is utterly detestable in God’s sight." You might want to reread verse 15 because this is key to the upcoming verses.

Going from verse 15 we skip down to the text for this post.

"19 “There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 But at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus whose body was covered with sores, 21 who longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. In addition, the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “Now the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And in Hades, as he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far off with Lazarus at his side. 24 So 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 because I am in anguish in this fire.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. 26 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ 27 So the rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, father—send Lazarus to my father’s house 28 (for I have five brothers) to warn them so that they don’t come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they must respond to them.’ 30 Then the rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 He replied to him, ‘If they do not respond to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Now the first thing that I want to discuss is the question of whether or not this is a parable or a true story.  Both sides make valid points to their case, but in the end by making their point, they miss the truth that this teaching brings. The first thing that I want to point out is that this story is in the form of a parable. The starting words, "There was a" is much like "Once upon a time" in the American dialect, which means that this is a fable or more truthfully a parable. However, in the upcoming verses, one of the characters is named Lazarus. That is rare in parables and many believe that shows that this is a true story that Jesus is telling. People who argue these viewpoints do so because of how they want to interpet verses 22-31. More on that later.

The first thing that I want to look at is "the rich man". Who is this man. The first thing that is very oblivious.  He has wealth. He dresses in the finest clothes. He not only eats everyday, but his everyday meals are feasts, much like our Thanksgiving feasts.  What is often left out in sermons is that this is a man whom the Pharisees would praise and honor.  That means that the rich man is a good Jewish man. He does all the right things. He goes to and participates in the Jewish festivals.  He would demonstrate his spiritual cleanliness by going into a Mikveh and then into Synagogue or the Temple. 

Now the second main character in this story is Lazarus. He is on the other end of the spectrum. He is very poor. His body was covered in sores, which would make him spiritually unclean  and unable to gather and/or worship with others. He was reduced to having to beg for food and found himself sitting at the gate of this rich man's house. Now someting that is often missed in the telling of this story is the meaning of the name Lazarus. His name means "whom God helps". The meaning of this name would not be lost on Jesus' audience and adds to the meaning of the story.  Now the main desire of Lazarus is for table scraps from the rich man's table. These would be the crumbs that were often ate by the animals. ( It is tempting for me to go a goose chase to Mark 7:28, but I will not do so here).

Now we get to their deaths and again we see the extreme differences in how this is carried out. The Rich Man died and was buried. His funeral would have been a royal one full of mourners and a large procession going to his burial where he was sealed inside a tomb. The poor man also died. What the story doesn't say and that would have been understood by the original audience is that Lazarus' body would have been casted in a burning garbage pit in a place called Gehenna. A place full of maggots, and fire.  

Nest we get to see the other worldly destinations of the two main characters. The rich man is in an eternal Gehenna with fire and worms and Lazarus (whose name means "whom God helps") is carried to Abraham's side or bosom. 

Now we meet a third character in this story. Father Abraham. This term of God points out that both of these men were descendants of Abraham. They were both Jewish men, but now in the ultimate role reversal -  the one (who was highly praised in life) is in torment and the one (who was highly despised in life) is by the side of God and God is holding him like one would a child or someone when you are comforting them in their grief. And we see here what Jesus was talking about in verse 15 ( For what is highly prized among men is utterly detestable in God’s sight.).  The rich man is now the beggar (desiring a drop of water from Lazarus) and Lazarus is now in wealth.  We could end the post right here because that is the main point. The difference between the values we put on people and what God values. However if we did that we would miss the dueling viewpoints and their arguments over verses 23 - 31. The people who generally want this to be a parable do so because they want to dismiss this description of Hell or Judgement. However even if they are right about this as a parable, they miss that God gave His judgement in the afterlife and not this life. Also from what I have noticed is that this viewpoint waters down Jesus words - "utterly detestable" to the point where they do not carry any meaning or consequence. 

 Now the other side of this debate is the literalists who take this as a literal place of judgement. (Those who know me know that I come from this side of the debate). However many of these people miss what these verses teach.  This teaching comes from verses 27-31.  (27 So the rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, father—send Lazarus to my father’s house 28 (for I have five brothers) to warn them so that they don’t come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they must respond to them.’ 30 Then the rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 He replied to him, ‘If they do not respond to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’). 

 The rich man's request for someone to rise from the dead points out to him wanting someone to go and describe this place of torment to his family who is still alive. In other words, the rich man was wanting someone to go back and speak with authority about judgement, and thee fire and brimstone of Hell.  This is the message of a lot of evangelists, preachers, teachers, and pastors of today. Now the danger of this is that they all miss what Jesus is teaching in the next verse. They have Moses and the Prophets. Moses is referring to the first five books of what we call the Old Testament, the first major division of that Testament. The Prophets refer to the last 17 books of teh Old Testament and the last major division (Sometimes this division is further divided into Major Prophets and Minor Prophets). This phrase Moses and the Prophets is a synonym for the scriptures. Jesus would demonstrate the worthlessness of this teaching by literally raiseing people from the dead and no where in scripture does it say that anyone became a disciple of Jesus from these men. You see people who preach these sermons do so to produce converts, but Jesus isn't looking for converts. He is wanting disciples.   A convert may say the sinner prayer, but seldom has the works coming from their hearts that show love and faith. As James would later say in his letter - their faith is dead. a disciple who commits his life to the following of Jesus. They learn what Jesus says and they strive daily to become more like him so that when someone sees them they see Jesus through them.  

So the proverbial question here is - where do you find yourself in this narrative?