Message
Luke 16:19-31
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Let’s turn in the Scriptures to Luke 16:19-31
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With this parable fresh in our minds let’s start with some very important statements.
The rich man is not in hell just because he is rich.
The poor man is not at Abraham’s side just because he is poor.
Something else is going on here. The story starts at the gate where there is a poor crippled man called Lazarus. Everyday somebody, or a group of somebodies, bring Lazarus to the gate of the rich man.
Very few properties in Judah at the time had gates.
The temple. Palaces. Holding pens for sheep. They had gates.
Most houses just had a door that opened to the street. Most of the land was unfenced. If you had a gate it meant you had a mansion and you had great wealth. Behind the gate, inside his house, the rich man dresses daily in purple clothes – purple is the most expensive colour; it is the colour royalty and wealth wear. Behind the gate the rich man lives in self-indulgent luxurious living—every day.
The capacity of the “rich man” to help Lazarus … in fact his capacity to help many like Lazarus … is not in question. Indeed Lazarus isn’t asking for much – he would be happy to “eat what fell from the rich man’s table” (Luke 16:21). The rich man has the means to fill this longing, and so much more.
But the rich man chooses not to.
This choice is made every time the rich man walks through his gate past Lazarus.
Did you see that aspect of the parable? Later when the rich man calls across the chasm
He doesn’t say, “Father Abraham, have pity and send that guy who used to sit at my gate.”
He says, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus” (Luke 19:24).
The rich man knows Lazarus by name!
Constantly these two men—the rich man and Lazarus, who the rich man knows by name—meet at the gate. The needs of Lazarus are obvious, yet the rich man chooses to make Lazarus an unseen part of his life.
The obvious unseen
Let’s stop there for a moment and think about our lives. Because, as far as I know, none of us here fall into the category of “purple clothing, daily luxury, wealth”. Which brings the temptation to think, we can’t relate to the rich man in the parable. Yet there is a moment here for us to reflect on people who, to us, are “the obvious unseen”. Those people whom God so obviously has put into our path but, because we choose deliberately look away, they remain unseen to us.
A needy neighbour.
An annoying family member.
That person who is constantly in need.
A connection at work.
Someone who we have deliberately disconnected with.
We are not talking here about “helping the whole world” – but reflecting on the people who are in our world for whom we could easily be doing more. A person who is the “the obvious unseen”. The parable is calling us to take the time to make an assessment of our attitude here … because choosing to not see the obvious person has the potential to put us in the same place as the rich man.
Let’s go back down to the gate. Why is Lazarus put down at the gate? Some Scriptures will help us here.
If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards them. Rather, be open-handed.
Deuteronomy 15:7-8
Share your food with the hungry … provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked clothe them … do not turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Isaiah 58:7
There are many passages like this in the Old Testament. Caring for the poor was what Scripture called for. So why is Lazarus at the gate? Because those who put him there knew the Scriptures. The Scriptures make it very obvious that those who have wealth and resources help the poor.
Well it is obvious to many people.
It isn’t obvious to the rich man.
In fact it seems that there is a whole family of wealthy people for whom the obvious truth has disappeared. “Father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them” (Luke 16:27-28). A whole family, who have been living life in such a way that what is obvious to so many others, is not seen by themselves.
The obvious unseen.
Those actions, characteristic, habits, attitudes, processes, collections, decisions, commitments, hobbies, pursuits, goals and decisions which – when put in place – make you act in a way that is contrary to the Scriptures.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:3,5
The parable is calling us to thing about our actions, characteristic, habits, attitudes, processes, collections, decisions, commitments, hobbies, pursuits, goals and decisions
… you can have all these in your life.
… this is a natural part of daily living.
But we need to be sure such things don’t become the obvious unseen – the plank in our eye that we don’t even try to remove. The obvious unseen that has the potential to put us in the same place as the rich man.
Which brings us back to the parable.
Lazarus is at the side of Abraham.
The rich man is in Hades.
What do we do with the way the parable describes the afterlife? We deal with them very cautiously and within the full context of Scripture.
Remember Jesus tells this parable originally to a Jewish audience. And the imagery Jesus uses to describe the afterlife is taken from the Jewish literature of the time. This particularly applies to the idea of seeing across a chasm and conversion between Hades and the place near Abraham.
2 Esdras 7:36, 38
The pit of torment shall appear, and opposite it shall be the place of rest; and the furnace of hell shall be disclosed, and opposite it the paradise of delight.
Look on this side and on that; here are delight and rest, and there are fire and torments.
(Also see 1 Enoch 22:1-14; 2 Esdras 7:75-101)
That is Jewish literature. The Scriptures – the 66 books we have – don’t talk about communication and vision across a chasm.
So we want to be cautious about using the parable as the first place to establish our understanding of localities in the afterlife. At the same time we want to hear the warning of the parable.
All of us.
Whether we end up with Abraham.
Or we end up in Hades.
For all of us death is not the end – there is an afterlife.
What does Scripture say about the afterlife?
Jesus concludes the parable of the sheep and the goats with these words.
Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
Matthew 24:46
Paul says that those who do not obey the gospel
Will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
2 Thessalonians 1:9
Jude 7 explains that Sodom and Gomorrah “serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”
Hades … hell … the place of punishment … is real.
As the rich man says, “I am in agony in this fire”.
Talking about such truths is deeply disturbing, but also deeply necessary. Necessary because the world we live in needs to be warned. That is what the rich man realised all too late. The moment he is in Hades he begins to worry about his brothers – all of whom are just like him.
But notice what happens – or actually – what doesn’t happen.
Father Abraham … send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue (Luke 16:24).
I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family (Luke 16:27).
Even in Hades the rich man still doesn’t see the obvious. Lazarus is not his servant or just someone who is there to do his bidding. Arrogance is not refined by the fires of Hades nor does Hades make us better people. Nobody repents when they get to Hades. It is too late.
Yet, while it is too late for change, Hades does bring about a realisation—I don’t want others to experience what I am experiencing.
Warn my brothers.
Send someone from the dead.
Do what is necessary to get people to avoid this place.
Which brings us back to the statement I made right at the beginning.
The rich man is not in Hades because he is rich.
Listen to what Abraham says:-
Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.”
“If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
Luke 16:29, 31
The rich man is not in Hades because he is rich. The rich man is in Hades because he didn’t listen to the Scriptures.
Scripture. Scripture. Sculpture.
It is so obvious that this is the answer.
Paul says to Timothy
You have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:16
Peter says to the believers in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia
You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 1:23
Paul says in Romans
Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
Romans 10:17
God is not the sort of God who keeps His cards too Himself – God has made His intentions clear. In the Scripture we have all we need with regards to knowing how to repent of our sinfulness. In the Scripture we have the clear message of Jesus our mighty Deliverer who came to take the punishment for us.
Jesus who endured Hades … “why have you forsaken me?” was His question from the cross.
Forsaken by God the Father … that is Hades.
Jesus endured it … defeated it … so that we don’t have to.
And … yes … He did rise from the dead. But the fact that He rose doesn’t guarantee salvation.
On the day of the resurrection the guards who say what had happened reported to the chief priests and elders. Instead of believing in a risen Saviour they devised a plan where they gave the soldiers a large sum of money to say “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” (See Matthew 28:11-15)
If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.
The answer is so obvious. Scripture has the answers for eternal life.
Yet so many do not want to see.
They don’t want to see that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life.
They want to keep walking past the “obvious unseen” people and not feel accountable for it.
They want to keep having the “obvious unseen” actions, characteristic, habits, attitudes, processes, collections, decisions, commitments, hobbies, pursuits, goals and decisions
They want to live as they like without judgment.
But that is not possible.
You can’t live an “obvious unseen” life and think you won’t be judged.
You can’t live an “obvious unseen” life and expect that you will join Lazarus.
The call of the parable is stark.
If you are living an “obvious unseen” life you need to repent … now.
Prayer
