The Rich Man And Lazarus

The Parable of Lazarus and the rich Man

Luke 16:19-31

The “Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man” is one of Jesus’ most well-known parables. It has been used by those who would show that Jesus taught about hell. Jesus taught that hell and eternal punishment were real. There are those who try to soften this by saying the rich man was not in hell but Hades. They would say that Jesus called hell “Gehenna” which was a place outside Jerusalem which served as a garbage dump. As so, it continuously burned day and night. Bodies of dead criminals or the poor who had no next of kin were often thrown into this garbage dump. their flesh would be consumed, but that was it. This is especially popular in circles which deny that eternal punishment in hell exists. But this parable shows that the rich man was being tormented in (Hades/hell by the flames. This, of course, is not the only place where Jesus and the Scriptures talk of everlasting punishment.

Then there are those who see the parables of Jesus as using fictional characters. This view sees Jesus as simply teaching a story. They would say that neither the rich man in the story nor Lazarus were real people. Parables are introduced with the formula “a certain person.” This is the only parable where someone is named. does the generic “a certain person” mean that they could not be literal historical persons as well? What if the hearers knew of this certain rich man? Perhaps some knew Lazarus s the man they dumped at the rich person’s gate? Whereas, it the historicity of the characters such as the Prodigal Son or Lazarus here cannot be proved, it seems the fact that Lazarus is named gives credence that he was a real person. It also seems best to take all the characters of Jesus’ parables literally in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

Having dealt with these issues up front, let us look at the parable itself. a parable is n illustration of a truth. So the interpretation of the parable is incomplete without discovering the link. We are also helped by identifying the people whom Jesus told the parable.

The parable is about a certain rich man. He is unnamed. As we will see, the fact that he isn’t named and Lazarus is is important. We do know some things about him. We know that he was rich and was used to living the good life. He had a good home, rich friends, and plenty to eat. We also know that he had brothers. Because he addresses Abraham directly, we can surmise that his is Jewish. The fact that Jesus tells him that his brothers have Moses and the prophets to warn them is further proof that he was Jewish. It is also a good possibility that he was a Pharisee as well as many of Jesus’ other parables in this part of Luke are addressed to the Pharisees.

We know some things about Lazarus. He has a name which means “He whom God helps.” This is ironic as he receives no earthly help. We know he was a beggar who was laid at the gate of the rich man. He is also like the rich man, a Jew, and therefore a Jewish brother who should have been cared for. Unfortunately, there is no indication that the rich man fulfilled his covenantal obligation to help the man, even though he was more than capable. The most that could be surmised was that he got to eat from the crumbs from the rich man’s table. However, this is not directly stated. We know that stale bread was used to clean the hands of guests at a banquet after dinner. this served the use of napkins in those days upon which the greasy fingers of the diners were wiped. This bread was then usually thrown to the dogs. Lazarus desired that he might eat of the dog food, but all he got from the dogs was getting his sores licked. He was just as wretched as the Prodigal Son who in his hunger desired pig food.

But Lazarus is not portrayed as a prodigal. He did not leave the home of a rich man, his father, to go into the world and waste his substance. The Pharisees, though, saw beggars as being sinners cursed of God. they would have seen that it was God’s punishment on Lazarus for his sin as much as the rich man must have been blessed by God for his goodness. Lazarus gets dumped at the gate of the rich man, but this time there was none to welcome him but the dogs. the hearers of the Pharisees would have understood the parable this way until Jesus turned the tables.