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Rich Man and Lazarus
Context in Luke – bunched up with a lot of parables and teachings. Particularly, Pharisees who love money are listening, and Jesus is making a point both about money and about the importance of the Law and the Prophets to the Kingdom of God.
Main points:
- Money: not a bad thing in itself, but not an end in itself either. Won't get you to heaven. Won't necessarily keep you out, but beware.
- God's Word: of absolute and paramount importance. Focus of Jesus' ministry is on the Kingdom of God, but the way in is through the Law and the Prophets (God's word revealed to humanity).
- Prophetic: Jesus will indeed be raised from the dead, but does not expect his listeners (the Pharisees) to accept that as proof that his message is correct. They will not magically start to listen and accept. Moses and the Prophets is enough!
- Human Nature: Miracles, even incredible ones like people rising from the dead, do not convince those who ignore the message of God.
Other points:
- Lazarus is the only character named in a parable. His name comes from Eleazar – God helps.
- We cannot be sure how accurate a picture of heaven and hell this is – how much of it is real, how much is for the sake of the story.
Overall structure:
Valuing the right thing – this life or eternity (app: what does your life say you're valuing?)
The value of God's word (app: do you know and value the whole of God's word?)
The parable points to Jesus
The nature of belief (app: Miracles, even Jesus' resurrection, won't convince people on their own. They need to learn and know about God)
Words
I want to tell you about Richard Branson. He started off life selling a magazine called Student, before selling music records out of the boot of his car to retail outlets, and then later selling them via a mail service. He called his organisation Virgin for one reason or another, and because he followed a business model of undercutting the current market leaders, he was always successful both in making a profit, and also forcing prices to come down in the industry. Whether he was moving into planes, trains or mobile phones, he followed the same process – undercut the business leaders, make a profit, and force price reduction in the industry. He is now even pursuing ventures in space travel and environmentally friendly fuels. Through his dedication to his business ideals and corporate ventures, he is one of the richest people in the world, he is world famous, and he has made lasting impacts on some of the world's biggest industries.
And yet, he has never become a fireman. I could say the same about many other people who have gone on to achieve big things. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a world class bodybuilder, became a famous actor, and is now the governor of California. But as far as I know he's never built a computer from scratch or piloted a submarine. I can go on and on like this – no matter who I choose, and how successful they have been, I'm sure I can name something they've simply never done. Not because it's impossible for them to do it, but because they've never set their mind to it and made it their aim.
Enter now the rich man from Jesus' parable. He doesn't have a name, he is identified only by being a rich man. We don't know why he is rich, or how he made his money. But we certainly know he is pretty darn rich – he dresses in purple, which is the colour of royalty and was very expensive back then. He wears fine linen – no scratchy hair garments for this man. His home even has its own front gate, which is a mark of wealth. Think about wealthy houses even today – how many have a large gate blocking entry to common riff-raff and symbolising big, expensive house. He lives in luxury every day – what more needs to be said? We may not know how the nameless rich man earned his wealth, but we know how he spent it – his goal was to have luxury every day, even I suppose the Sabbath. That was his goal, and he was able to pursue it until the day he died.
Now enter Lazarus. Lazarus is not a rich man. In fact, he is a beggar, whose skin is covered with sores. He's obviously sick with something. He is religiously unclean, because of his sores and because dogs lick his sores, and dogs are unclean animals. We assume he is too sick to fight them off, or perhaps it feels nice. He is a total outcast from society – not even welcome in the temple, because he was unclean. His desire in life is not to dine at the banquets of nobles, or to dress in fine linens of kings. He doesn't wish that he could live in a mighty mansion with its own iron gate. He doesn't even wish that the rich man whose gate he lies at every day would invite him in for dinner once in a while. All he wishes is that he could eat out of the rich man's garbage bin. That is what he longed for – the table scraps of the rich man. But he never fulfilled even those simple desires.
However, there was one goal that Lazarus had, that he strove for, that drove him. Lazarus was a righteous man, and he strove to do God's will. The parable doesn't out and out state it, but it is safe enough to assume it, given what happens to the pair when they die. When Lazarus dies, angels come to carry him to the side of Abraham. Not just to his side, either. Literally, he goes to rest on Abraham's chest, which is where, at an ancient banquet, you would rest your head if you were the guest of honour. Meanwhile, our nameless rich man just dies and is buried. There's not really the same amount of grandeur in that, is there? But it gets worse. Jesus, very matter-of-factly, tells us that the rich man now finds himself in hell, where he is tormented, like being tortured in a fire.
What went wrong? The rich man had it all – wealth, fine clothes, luxurious living, a huge house. Whereas Lazarus had nothing – no food, no house, not even his health. Jesus, master storyteller, has given his parable a twist. The tables have turned on these two men. No doubt those who were listening would have expected that if anyone was going to heaven, it was the rich man. After all, how did he get rich if God didn't bless him? And what about Lazarus? Poor, unemployed, homeless, sick, not fit to go before God in the temple – that is surely a picture of a man who has been forsaken by God. But his name is Lazarus. So what, you might say? The rich man's name might be Richard. What does that matter? But this is a parable, a story. The name Lazarus means “The one who God helps”, and since Lazarus is the only character in any of Jesus' parables who actually has a name, we should take notice of that. The poor man, with sores, who is so poor he wishes he could eat out of the garbage, and has dogs licking his sores, is named “he who God helps.” Is it a sick joke? No! Lazarus was living for God, and he eventually received what he strove for – he was admitted into heaven, and given pride of place.
Meanwhile, the rich man strove for luxury and a comfortable life, and he got what he wanted too. His life was luxurious, and full of plenty, and he got what he wanted. The one snag was that in doing so, he took no notice of what God demanded from him, and so his life resulted in an eternity of torture in hell. He probably wasn't expecting that – maybe he believed that God had blessed him with all his wealth because he was doing what God wanted. Of course, he also had to walk past the beggar Lazarus every day on his way to doing whatever it was he did with his time. He may have even thanked God that he wasn't like Lazarus. And now he's in hell.
The parable is only half done, and Jesus has already presented a strong challenge for us. What's your life aimed at? What is the thing you are striving for? What's your goal? You might have any number of answers. I don't think many people would straight out say, “I'm trying to make as much money as I can as fast as I can so that I can live in the lap of luxury while people starve at my doorstep.” And yet the rich man in Jesus' parable seems surprised that he has ended up in hell. Outward appearances of our lives can be deceiving, even to us. So it is possible, it seems, that we might get even our own life goals wrong. We might unintentionally be living a life that is not preparing us for heaven at all. Recently while eating our cereal one morning, my wife Penny pointed out to me the eschatological nature of our nutri-grain. The box asks the question, “When the time comes, will you be ready?”
A book I read recently had this quote from apparent business guru W. Edwards Deming, “Your system is perfectly designed to give you the results you're getting.” Think about that for a moment. Your system is perfectly designed to give you the results you're getting. After all, that's why you keep getting that result. He gives the result of a car manufacturing system where 50% of the time the bumpers are installed on the cars upside down. It's not the fault of the bumper. Your system is obviously unintentionally designed to deliver that result. You might not be getting the results you thought you would. You might not get the results you want. But that just means that your system isn't designed to give you what you want from it. A system can only produce the result it is set up to produce.
Think carefully about the way you live your life. Is it designed serve God faithfully, and so give you the result of eternity with God, seated at pride of place next to Abraham? Or is it designed, perhaps unintentionally, to give you comfort and pleasure while ignoring God's commands, with the result of an eternity in hell, suffering torment? That system needs changing, if you don't want such a result.
The rich man probably didn't want to go to hell. But his system was unintentionally designed to send him there. His situation has been completely reversed with that of Lazarus! He is now the beggar, begging Abraham for pity, begging for Lazarus to be sent to even dip his finger in water to cool the rich man's tongue for a moment's relief. But Abraham says no – not because Abraham is a loveless man, and not because he doesn't pity the rich man's fate. There are two reasons why he denies the rich man's request. The first reason is that the rich man is suffering the consequences of his life's direction on earth, just as Lazarus is comforted in heaven because of his life's direction, and because of God's help. Note that what Abraham is not saying is that Lazarus's suffering and the rich man's wealth has anything to do with their eternal positions in heaven or the hot place. Of course, Jesus says elsewhere that from those to whom much is given, much will be expected, so in one way the rich man has higher standards to meet than the poor, helpless cripple. But Abraham is simply pointing out that now the tables have turned. The reason, as far as Abraham is concerned, should be obvious, and comes out later – Lazarus lived according to God's words in the Bible, and the rich man didn't.
The second reason is made clear in verse 26. It is not possible for people to cross over from heaven to hell, or the other way around. At this point, it might be worth looking at just how closely Jesus' parable accurately portrays heaven and hell. Is hell really a place of burning fire? Can people in hell really see and talk to people in heaven? The fact is, Jesus' parable is drawing on Jewish myths about what heaven and hell are like, and this is describing pretty fairly the Jewish mythical idea of a 'temporary hell' where people went until the end of the world. It's like if I tell a joke about a taxi driver and a preacher dying and going and standing in front of St Peter at the pearly gates (the preacher doesn't make it because while he preached, people slept, but the taxi driver gets in because while he drove, people prayed) – it's not really biblically accurate, but people know what I'm talking about, because it fits the modern myth of heaven, and so they get the joke. However, if anyone knows the reality of heaven and hell, it's Jesus. At the end of the day, we must realise that Jesus' primary goal in telling this parable isn't to teach people about how hot hell is, or how big the chasm between heaven and hell is.
What he does want to make clear, though, is that our choices on earth have eternal consequences. Once you end up on one side or the other, you can't change. Once you die, your eternal destiny is set – heaven, or hell – forever. And that is what Abraham makes clear to the rich man in this parable, in his second reason – once you're in hell, there's no changing it. So even if Abraham wanted to help, even if Lazarus wanted to help, they can't. Not even to dip a finger in water and place it on his tongue.
So the rich man now has another idea. It might be too late for him, but what about his family? Note that the rich man still is unrepentant – look at the way he treats Lazarus, even now that he's in hell. All he thinks of is his own anguish and torment. And his attitude is centred on himself or his family, at least his five brothers. If Abraham can't have Lazarus assist the rich man in his torment like a waiter, then perhaps it's not too late for Lazarus to act as a messenger so that his brothers get the message. Apparently, the rich man considers that his family are living pretty much the same way he did – probably just living out their lives in a search for security, comfort and happiness, without really considering the demands of God on their lives – so they are just as likely to end up where he is. The rich man has a shrewd idea – if Lazarus is raised from the dead, he can go and tell the brothers what has happened to their rich sibling, and save them from sharing his fate.
But here Abraham makes his killer response. He says to the rich man, “Your brothers have access to the Old Testament, like you did – let them listen to Moses and the Prophets.” After all, Lazarus was too sick to even go to the temple and hear the words of the law and the priests, but he lived a righteous life as far as he could, he relied on God. What's your family's excuse, too many parties? Abraham lays it out plainly to the rich man – God has given people everything they need to recognise the error of their ways, and to know what God expects of them. And this, remember, is before the New Testament! Jesus is talking about Moses and the Prophets – Old Testament only, where they would hear words like, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,” “Love your neighbour as yourself,” “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings,” and “What does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” The truth of where your focus in life should be is laid out plainly in the Bible, even if all you have is the Old Testament. The path to the kingdom of heaven is found through the words of God in the Bible.
So let me ask you, then – How well do you know your Bible? How well do you understand it? There really is nowhere else you will find that holds the key to eternal life. There is no better place to turn if you are seeking to know God, to know what he wants for your life, and what he expects of you. That includes both the New Testament as well as the Old. But we must do more than just reading it, and even understanding it. We have to let the Bible be the first thing in our lives that shapes our beliefs, actions, and attitudes. It must be first. I think for many of us, we build our life up like a collage – a little from here, a little from there, all stuck together to make us who we are. So we might have spiritual views, political views, psychological or philosophical theories, family life, work habits, hobbies and interests – and we take pieces of these and turn them all into a picture of who we are. But that is not how it should be. The Bible is the primary place where God reveals his will to us. As such, we must build our whole life on what it says, and we must interpret everything else in our lives by what the Bible says. We must have Bible-coloured glasses, if you like. And if something doesn't stand up to biblical scrutiny, then it must be done away with, it must not be accepted or tolerated.
It's not easy. In fact, for people who have grown up their whole life exposed to the Bible, it can become something that quietly sits in the background, like the canvas of a painting. Sure, you know its there, but you don't pay attention to it, not with all the fancy swirling colours of the painting. This is what happened to the rich man, and he knew that his brothers were the same. He said to Abraham, “No, I know my brothers. They're like me. They will ignore the Bible. What they need is a special miracle, just for them. Something uniquely shaped to meet their needs. Send Lazarus, who they know is dead, to go and talk to them, and I just know that they will realise the seriousness of the situation, and they will change their lives!” How often have you heard this argument? From the arrogant “Unless I see God himself, I won't be satisfied,” “Let God do a miracle right now, and then I'll believe,” “Why doesn't God just write 'I exist, believe in me' in big letters in the sky so everyone can see them? I'd believe that,” to the mournful, “If God exists, why did he let my mum die of cancer, even though I prayed for her to be healed?” “I call out to God, but I keep on suffering, my life doesn't change,” “Why did God let me lose my job? He knows I have a family to feed. Can't he give me another job?”
But the rich man is going to be in for a shock because of Abraham's reply. “If someone doesn't read and accept what's in the Bible, then a miracle isn't going to change their mind, even if that miracle is someone being raised from the dead.” The truth is that miracles do not exist for the purpose of changing people's minds. When a believer sees a miracle, they are encouraged, challenged, and know that God is working. When an unbeliever sees a miracle, they deny it, change it to fit into their worldview, or attribute it to something else. What they won't do is change their minds about God. Jesus cured a man born blind. The Pharisees didn't believe it. Jesus healed a man with a withered hand, but the Pharisees didn't accept that it was from God, because he did it on the Sabbath. Jesus drove demons out of people, the Pharisees said, “He's using the power of demons to drive out the demons.” Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees wanted to kill him again!
Of course, Jesus here is pointing to himself. He is going to rise from the dead himself, and proclaim the realities about heaven and hell. But in his parable he is making clear that even that won't convince people, not on its own. Jesus rose from the dead, there were hundreds of witnesses, and people were ready to die for speaking about the truth of his resurrection. But just the resurrection of Jesus on its own is not enough to convince people to change their hearts and their minds when it comes to God. No miracle can.
You know, before really getting into this parable, I thought that if I could just convince people of the resurrection, of its historical facts, then they would believe. But Jesus assures us that it takes more than proving a miracle to change people's hearts. Joe Boot, an evangelist and apologist, said that he once gave a stirring presentation of the facts of the resurrection and its historical proofs, and he had a non-Christian woman approach him afterwards and say, “You know, that was a good talk. Very tight. In fact, I don't think I can argue against it. But I have a question.” He thought the question was going to be, “How do I become a Christian?” But it wasn't. Her question was, “So what? So Jesus came back from the dead. What if my uncle Bob came back from the dead? It doesn't mean anything.” Joe Boot had taken for granted all that the Bible tells us about the importance of God's plan, and how the resurrection fits into that plan. Just the miracle of the resurrection on its own, without knowing, understanding, and accepting God's character, his plan, and his call on our lives, doesn't add up to anything. It's just a single occurrence in a random world.
What does that mean for us? It means we have to realise that if we want to see people becoming Christians, we need to be exposing them to the whole truth of God as revealed to us in the Bible. We can't neglect the teaching of biblical truth to our children, to each other, and to the rest of the world. We can't neglect living our lives in accordance with what the Bible says, and being able to back up our beliefs and our actions using biblical truth. Only when we are taking the Bible seriously ourselves, and know God's message in it well enough that it is really impacting our lives, can we expect our lives and our words to impact others.
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