The Stories Jesus Told: The Rich Man and Lazarus
Sunday, August 18, 2024
Luke 16:14-18 (NIV)
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.
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.”
What did Jesus mean in this passage, and why is this the reason Jesus tells the Parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus?
- First, Jesus is defending that his “kingdom of God” teachings were not a replacement of the Law, but a fulfillment of the Law. And for the Pharisees that were so much for the defense of the Law, they were very loose with the Laws had to say about divorce.
- But the main reason for the story of “The Rich Man and Lazarus” is found in the one line of Jesus, “…God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”
Luke 16:19-31 (NIV)
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
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.’”
What Jesus is NOT Saying:
- Heaven is for the poor and those who were materialistically humbled here on earth; Hell is for those who were wealthy and “lived it up” here.
- This was in direct conflict with what the Pharisees believed… Wealth was a sign of God’s favor; Poverty the results of God’s judgement… It’s obvious who goes where in the afterlife!
What Jesus IS Saying:
- God values “other” things when it comes to eternity. Eternity is NOT based on the value of what is seen (physical wealth/blessing), but on the sincerity of what is not seen (repentance).
- Jesus also pulls back the veil on what had been an ongoing mystery of the Jews… the afterlife.
- Three prominent “parties” of Jewish culture: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes.
- -Essenes, focusing primarily on religious issues, abstained from government involvement.
- - Sadducees, focusing primarily on governmental issues, denied many of the spiritual aspects of Jewish life, including not believing in an afterlife.
- - Pharisees, …somewhere in the middle. Fully believed in the spiritual aspects of Jewish life, including the reality of the afterlife, while also engaging in the governmental affairs of society. Both Pharisees and Sadducees made up the Sanhedrin (ruling body of Israel).
Words/Concepts to Understand:
- Sheol – the underworld where everyone goes when they die.
- Genesis 37:35 (NIV) All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “in mourning will I go down [to sheol] to my son.”
After this first use, sheol is used 65 more times in the Old Testament.
Somewhat “vague”… a real place or just a concept? Does everyone go there? Are there different places/neighborhoods dividing the righteous/unrighteous? - Hades – the unseen place; abode of departed spirits.
Matthew 16:18 (NIV)
“…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Commonly interchangeable with “hell”, or the place where tormented spirits reside.
- Paradise – a “garden” paradise.
- Luke 23:43 (NIV) “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” What Jesus calls, paradise, the Jews referred to it as “Abraham’s Bosom”… the safe place within Sheol, awaiting eternal deliverance.
Understanding the Parable:
- There is a Place of Eternal Rest, and a Place of Eternal Torment
- Your Destination is NOT Determined by Material Means, But Spiritual Surrender
- Death is the Point of NO Return
- Jesus Changes Everything!
“…they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
Matthew 12:40 (NIV)
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Revelation 1:17-18 (NIV)
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One. I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
I Peter 3:18-20 (NIV)
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.
Ephesians 4:7-9 (NIV)
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.
Matthew 25:41 (NIV)
Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Matthew 13:49-50 (NIV)
This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Revelation 20:14-15 (NIV)
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 14:13 (NIV)
“Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds follow them.”
2 Corinthians 5:1, 6-9 (NIV)
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built with human hands. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.