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Printer Friendly VersionI was in senior high at a camp meeting in Arizona in August.
During our morning chapel service they announced an all-night hike for those
who wanted to participate. Of coarse one major objectives for teenagers is
to find any excuse for staying up all night. So we got on a bus and then went
to a trail with our flashlights and started walking down the path. We went
about 300 yards and the leaders stopped us for a little devotional. We all
turned off our lights and we had a devotional about stillness and the beauty
of God’s creation. At the end of the devotional they told us to pass
in our flashlights. After we did that, they said, “Okay, now the hike
starts.” And so it did. We went on a 5 mile hike in the high Arizona
desert. The hike went well but you really had to rely upon each other. For
most of the hike we looked like kindergartners all holding hands as we made
our way on the trial. Now what plant is Arizona most known for . . . you guessed
it: cactus. So it was very important that you helped your friends. But as
was true of all human nature you were very concerned about staying connected
to the person ahead of you, while the person behind you could fall behind
and it would be easy not to notice. It was easy to become blind to the needs
of those you did not “need.”
In the 16th chapter of Luke the issue of money has been the
latest hot topic. The Pharisees and Jesus disagree quite heatedly over this
issue. The Pharisees had found explicitly in the Law of Moses this simple
idiom which today I think makes a great deal of sense. It is quite simple:
Obedience to God’s commandments equals blessed of God equals wealth.
Furthermore, if the logic holds true here, then anyone who was
poor or suffered diseases simply was experiencing the judgment or punishment
of God. This solves the problem of suffering in the world. Many of the rich
could defend themselves against helping the poor, because they did not want
to get in the way of God’s punishment.
Jesus comes along not to supersede the Law, but to give it a
proper reading. The law and the prophets read clearly that the Law of Moses
specifically required the harvest be shared with the poor and the transient.
(See Leviticus 19.9-10; Deuteronomy 15:7-11). Jesus came to read the Law in
its spirit and entirety not take pieces out to make it fit our comfortable
lifestyle.
This story given to us by Jesus sets up two characters who in
literary terms serve as a foil for one another.
Clothing
We first meet this rich man who is without a name. But we know
he lives in excess. His clothing not only exudes power and posterity it bleeds
prestige. Wool was used to produce vestments that advertised the social status.
While white garments indicated membership among the elite, they were regarded
as modest when compared with clothing dyed purple.
Life/Party Prodigal
Not only is there excess in his clothing but his life was dripping
in abundance. Remember the feast/party given to the prodigal son who is returned
home. They killed the fattened calf. While that party was for a special occasion
this man has a spread like that every day.
Gate
Furthermore, we learn the rich man’s estate is so big
he has a gate. It is clear everything associated with this nameless rich man
is an ostentatious display of wealth.
In Greek the word order places significance in a sentence. The
first word in verse 20 that describes our next character is “poor.”
This word not only describes the man’s socio-economic status, it really
defines who he is. He appears to be a crippled beggar since he is thrown at
this rich man’s gate. This is most likely his home and place of business
all rolled into one. He has a spot at a gate.
He would not be tolerated near the actual entry door, but his
location would enable him to be noticed by all who came and went from the
rich man’s house. Not only is he crippled, he is covered with sores.
He is unclean, unkempt, and a wretched sight. Of course he is hungry. He thinks
to himself, Surely they will throw me their bread scraps from one of the banquets
or feasts. It was customary to use bread like we use napkins to wipe their
hands and faces after a meal. Maybe I will get a scrap or a crumb from his
table.
The rich man could easily have sent a servant out with some
of the scraps, but the man’s longing continued unfulfilled. Instead
of food all he gets are licks from the master’s dogs. Instead of a servant
coming with fallen scraps, the dogs come from having consumed the scraps and
continue their meal on the afflicted man’s sores. Disgusting and wretched,
why does he not simply curse God and die?
Hope in a Name
The only glimmer of hope the listeners would have for this man
is that he has a name. His name is Lazarus--which means “God helps.”
These two men are set up diametrically opposed to one another.
With clarity of the excessive life of the rich man we also clearly see the
despair and rejected life of this poor man.
Burial
In their death nothing changes (v. 22). The poor man is carried
away by angels to the “side of Abraham,” translation: he received
no burial. In Jewish tradition, to be refused burial, to be left exposed as
carrion for scavenger animals, was bearing the curse of God. The rich man
received burial. The rich man was honored in life and in death. Lazarus was
also consistent. He was wretched and disgraceful in life and death.
Until now the story is fairly boring and ordinary for Jesus’
hearers, except the order of their deaths is reversed. Somehow Lazarus is
placed on a level with the supremely privileged of the Old Testament saints.
Coming to Abraham’s side simply means they had close intimacy. This
rich man suddenly finds himself in Hades. Now something is wrong, Jesus must
have mixed up His words. The rich man should be at Abraham’s side, and
the poor man must be in torment in Hades. But Jesus continues.
Suddenly in Hades, torment surrounds the rich man. Hades represents the place
of the dead quite generally. It was the place of a preliminary experience
of what is to be the individual’s ultimate fate at the final judgment.
In verse 24 the nameless rich man calls out to Abraham for mercy,
and asks that Lazarus come and provide temporary relief. He is calling out
for mercy.
First, it is noteworthy that the wealthy man knows Lazarus’
name. Second, and most noteworthy, the man has not been humbled by his new
and undoubtedly startling circumstances. He calls Abraham father and treats
Lazarus like a servant.
It is ironic that the poor crippled man at his gate every day
was crying out for mercy and he the rich man showed him none. Now the rich
man expects this Lazarus to serve his needs and extend mercy to him.
But Abraham replied, “Son, remember that in your lifetime
you received your 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.” (v. 25)
Both the wretchedness of Lazarus and the rich man’s wealth
are things that came as gifts. Now in the afterlife the situation appears
is balancing out the life before death.
We need to be very careful we should not take this as expressing
the view that there will be some kind of automatic eschatological reversal
of present fortunes. We should not understand everyone who is poor and suffers
on earth will receive eternal life simply based on their earthly condition.
The rich man’s attitude and stewardship of his resources already shows
more is involved than an evening up of the balance of good and ill.
Abraham denies this man’s request on two accounts. First
he asserts he is the victim of his own choices. Second, the gate that could
have been crossed in life to extend mercy to Lazarus but was not, has now
become fixed.
Once he recognizes no relief will come, the man’s name
is reduced to child, (once a powerful rich man) and he asks Abraham (father)
to send Lazarus to his father’s house and warns them of this reality.
Does this remind you of anything?
I am reminded of Charles Dickens’ classic The Christmas
Story. In one of the opening scenes Jacob Marley visits Ebenezer to warn him
of his fate if he does not change his life.
Those who are yet living should not expect a personal messenger
from the world of the dead to warn them; what is needed is already clearly
set out for them in the law and the prophets.
In verse 29 Abraham responds: “They have Moses and the
prophets.” These are the appointed means by which God makes His will
plain to those concerned to know it. The parable suggests there is a profound
challenge to the social status quo to be found in the Law and the prophets,
and there is a desperate need for the privileged to search out their requirements
of wealth and to act upon them. These words of Abraham suggest the situation
of this man as well of his brothers is hopeless.
In verse 30 we see the man’s recognition of the situation.
He knows what is needed: repentance. No one told him. But it has become clear.
There is the implication the rich man is aware of a moral responsibility for
his own fate: He could and should have acted differently. He knew it.
What is repentance? Repent describes the proper response to
the hearing of God’s word through a prophet. The use of the term implies
the rich man’s fate was not simply the result of a mechanical reversal,
but was a punishment for not heeding the prophets and repenting during his
lifetime.
Verse 31 is very intriguing. If Moses is not enough, then someone
rising from the dead will certainly be a spectacle but will not lead to transformation.
The implications are that Moses and the prophets are enough.
This Gospel was written approximately 50 years after Christ’s
ascension. This is most likely in reference to the many who still did not
believe even after Jesus was raised from the dead.
Those who are economically benefited by the status quo must
here is a warning against the self-serving and self-satisfied life that so
easily results from such privilege.
The sin of the rich man did not exist in his wealth. It is a
basic stewardship question; he lived as though this life was it. He lived
blind to the needs of those around him--he was simply living out his life
with blinders. His riches were focused on personal extravagance. This is a
major statement about community responsibility.
The Titanic was a picture of abundant wealth, power, as humanity’s
technological achievement. With it came an attitude or arrogance that claimed
it was indestructible. On that boat ranged the spectrum of socio-economic
status. Clearly the higher you were in power and prestige the closer you were
to the deck.
Not to spoil the movie, but the boat hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
As the boat began to sink there were 20 lifeboats that were partially filled
and able to get away from the sinking vessel.
(TITANIC clip [if appropriate] of boats sitting by while people are screaming).
Titanic Quote: “1,500 people went into the sea when Titanic
sank from under us. Six were saved from the water. Six out of 1,500. Afterward
the seven hundred people in the boats had nothing to do but wait . . . wait
to die, wait to live, wait for an absolution which would never come.”
We waited too long. Today the rich and poor alike are living
lives of quiet desperation. They are blowing their whistle and few are doing
anything. It is true going back is costly. But in the story of the Titanic
and in the story of Lazarus and the rich man it is more costly not to go back.
We must have eyes of compassion for those who are lost and broken.
Maybe some of you have been blowing your whistle, crying out
for hope, and no one seems to notice. Our Lord wants you to know He desires
for you to lay your burdens at His feet and He will walk with you through
your hour of despair.
So where are you?
• In the boat comfortable, content, and oblivious to the
needs of those around me.
• In boats looking for those hurting.
• In the water, crying and screaming inside for help.
• Just been pulled from the water, but realize you need to go and look
for others
It is the power of God’s love: love holds us close during storms.