Luke 16:19-31

The Rich Man and Lazarus (16:19-31).

This story deals with two aspects of what has gone before, the danger of possessing riches and not using them rightly, and the danger of ignoring God's true Instruction. Jesus will point out that if only the rich man had heeded the Instruction given by Moses and the prophets he would not have ended up in Hades, and it is equally open to his brothers (and by implication the Pharisees) to hear it too. If they do not then the fault lies with them. It illustrates the fact the one who is highly exalted among men may well be an abomination in the sight of God (Luke 16:15).

The story is closely connected with what has gone before. Had the rich man recognised that his wealth was entrusted to him by God for the purpose of using it in God's service, and had he sought friends in eternal dwellings by having a heart right towards God, so that he used his wealth properly, he would not have ended up where he did (Luke 16:9). But his attitude was like that of the Pharisees (Luke 16:14). He considered that his wealth demonstrated how good he was, and did not realise what it had turned him into. It was a warning to the Pharisees, who had jeered at His teaching about wealth, of what their attitude to wealth could result in. In contrast Lazarus did have friends in eternal dwellings, because by being named he is revealed as one whose name was written in Heaven (Luke 10:20). It was further a warning to the Pharisees that they should listen to Moses and the prophets (Luke 16:16; Luke 16:29; Luke 16:31), and not to traditions that were not genuinely the word of God (Mark 7:13).

Some claim that this is not a parable but a true story, partly on the grounds that the idea of it being a parable is not mentioned, and partly because Jesus does not usually include names in parables. However there are certainly other parables where they are clearly parables and yet are not so described, and it may be argued that the name is given to the beggar in order specifically to indicate his relationship with God. For it is by naming him that Jesus is able to convey the fact that he is a godly man. This is revealed by the fact that his name means ‘God has helped'. Jesus did not want to give the impression that all poor men automatically went to ‘Heaven', but it was only those with a relationship with God. (Lazarus, or Eleazar, was a highly popular name at this period and there is absolutely no reason why we should connect this Lazarus with the one described in John 11). In fact fictional stories of people going into the afterworld and returning to give details of the afterworld were popular in the ancient world, and the characters were regularly named. So thus it was here. (However, it should be recognised that Jesus actually makes clear here that returning from the afterlife is something that is not allowed to happen).

Furthermore we must recognise that most of the details in the story must be metaphorical whether it is a parable or not. They cannot be taken as a genuinely physical description of what lies beyond the grave if for no other reason than that this is before the resurrection so that those in question have no bodies. The vivid detail is in order to convey ideas, not in order to give us the geography of the afterworld, and of the state of those who had passed on, except in the most general terms.

Analysis.

a There was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, faring sumptuously every day (Luke 16:19 a).

b And a certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores (Luke 16:20).

c And it came about that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom, and the rich man also died, and was buried, and in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom (Luke 16:22).

d And he cried and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame” (Luke 16:24).

e But Abraham said, “Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in the same way evil things, but now here he is comforted, and you are in anguish, and besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us” (Luke 16:25).

d And he said, “I pray you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torment” (Luke 16:27).

c But Abraham says, “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them” (Luke 16:29).

b And he said, “No, father Abraham, but if one go to them from the dead, they will repent” (Luke 16:30).

a And he said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31).

Note that in ‘a' there is a rich man with great wealth (who manifestly does not hear God's Law through Moses), and in the parallel if his brothers who are also rich do not hear Moses then no other method will be sufficient to move them. In ‘b' there is a certain Lazarus living in misery, and in the parallel the rich man desires that this Lazarus whom he had left to live in misery go to his wealthy brothers to warn them of the danger that they are in. In ‘c' Abraham comes on the scene in the afterlife, and in the parallel it is Abraham who points to Moses and the prophets and gives the important message of the story. In ‘d' the rich man pleads for help for himself, and in the parallel he pleads for help for his brothers. And centrally in ‘e' is the fact that no message can go to those who are in Hades awaiting final judgment, for none can go there to take it.