Luke 16:19-31 This life is Not The Life
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 16, verses 19-31, page 876 in the pew Bibles.
This morning we are going to faced with a test, whether or not we can remember that the main things are the plain things and the plain things are the main things.
We are going to be looking at a parable from Jesus and it is a potentially tricky one. But it’s only tricky if we make it that way, so let’s not do that.
Every parable from Jesus was given to real people in real time in a real context. This parable that we are going to look at was given in a series of parables that we have been looking at for the last few weeks that all have generally the same theme.
That theme is found in verse 13 of this chapter where Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and money.”
The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things and ridiculed Him. Sneered at Him, turned up their noses at Him.
It was to them and those who think like them that He delivered this parable.
19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 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, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
Let’s pray.
In the first three verses of our passage Jesus describes two men that could not be further apart on the socio-economic spectrum.
The rich man was clothed in purple. Purple was the color of kings, mostly because the source and process for dying fabric purple was so expensive. He was also clothed in fine linen, this was a kind of Egyptian linen that was sold for twice its weight in gold. This was the good stuff.
The rich man also feasted sumptuously every day, every day a feast of the fatted calf, living a lavish and luxurious lifestyle, what you might call, “wicked rich.” King of the mountain to be sure.
The commentators agree that not just a few of the Pharisees lived like this, and a lot more of them aspired to.
On the other hand we have Lazarus. Lazarus is the only character in any of the parables to have a name, and it’s an ironic name at that. Lazarus means, “God has helped me.”
See how ironic that name would have been in the eyes of those that see material possessions and wealth as special blessings on the faithful. This man was a poor, lame, starving man, covered with sores, absolutely miserable.
Jesus said that he was laid at the gate of the rich man, literally deposited there by somebody else. Whether it was in hopes of benefitting from the rich man or to torment the rich man we don’t know.
Lazarus longed to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table, he would have feasted on his garbage if he could only get up to get to it but he couldn’t. And what was worse, the neighborhood feral dogs licked his sores. Gross.
This guy was the absolute bottom of the heap.
It’s been said that death is the great equalizer, and there may be some truth to that. These two guys, on opposite ends of the spectrum both died. The rich man, verse 22 says, was buried, like any respectable person would be, while nothing is mentioned about Lazarus’ burial, probably dumped in a mass grave for the poor or dropped in a ditch.
But here is where things change for them both, Lazarus was carried by angels to Abraham’s side, some translations say, “Abraham’s Bosom,” while the rich man found himself in torment.
Now let’s get this straight before we get lost in the weeds. This is not Jesus’ sum total teaching on life after death, we must be very careful not to start to build doctrines based on one verse alone while separating it from the rest of Scripture.
We also have to remember that Jesus’ original listeners had certain understandings of what happens when people die based on the Old Testament, Moses and the prophets. What Jesus is describing would not have been new ideas to them as far as the place of the dead is concerned.
We talked about this back in August, what the Bible actually says about Hell.
What Jesus is describing is neither Heaven nor Hell, but rather, Hades, or Sheol, the place of the dead both righteous and unrighteous. Abraham’s Bosom, also called Paradise, on one side of a great chasm, and Gehenna, a place of torment on the other.
All of that is interesting but none of that is the point.
The rich man had everything that this world had to offer but he was still lacking what was necessary. Lazarus had nothing but misery during his life but he still had the one thing that counted: faith.
Here are some things we can learn about this picture:
First, no one enters Paradise based on their physical relation to Abraham.
The rich man is proof of this as he called out in verse 24, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’
The second thing we can learn from this picture is that what we might consider blessings on this earth do not guarantee blessings in the next world. Proverbs 11:7 says, When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too.
Now, just be clear again, there is nothing wrong with being rich or having material possessions, compared to many in the world we are all filthy rich, we live in lavish luxury compared to many. Abraham was one of the richest people in the Bible but that wasn’t what got him there, it was faith!
JJ VanOosterzee wrote, “The poor Lazarus rests in the bosom of rich Abraham, as if to show that not poverty or riches in itself, but faith and obedience, constitute the ground of their blessedness.”
There is also no promise here that just because a person is poor that they are somehow more virtuous than a person that is not. In fact, that’s one of the main points of this parable, wealth is not a measurement for righteousness, there is only one way into Abraham’s Bosom, and that is faith, faith in God the Father and in His Messiah Jesus.
That is what Lazarus had that the rich man did not.
What they both did have, however, was opportunity for faith through the Old Testament.
27 And [the rich man] said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send [Lazarus] to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
The rich man was certainly not a self-aware man. He was not grieved by his sin, only by its consequences. He even goes so far as to indirectly excuse himself for his sin as if he had not been sufficiently warned. He even thought he had a better way to save his brothers from his fate.
“No, no, Abraham, God’s way doesn’t work. I’ve got a better plan…” This jerk’s pride knows no end. Even the greatest miracle will have no effect on those determined to not believe.
John Calvin wrote, “All that is here affirmed by Christ is, that even the dead could not reform, or bring to sound mind, those who are deaf and obstinate against the instructions of the Law.”
Again our friend JJ vanOsterzee wrote, “No sufferer can reckon upon being saved by God in extraordinary ways if he has despised the common way described in God’s Word; and could even the sign of Jonah be again repeated, it would be in vain for him that despises the preaching of Jonah.”
So what is the plain and natural meaning of this parable?
Of all the things one could have in this world, the one thing that determines what we will experience in the next world is whether or not we have faith in Jesus Christ according to God’s Word.
The Pharisees measured life by wealth, but Jesus, our Savior and Judge, measures life by faith in Him alone.
Amen.
