Rich Man, Poor Man
Preaching
Preaching The Parables
Series III, Cycle C
1. Text
"There was a rich man who was dressed in pure and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. [20] And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, [21] who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. [22] The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. [23] In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. [24] He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' [25] But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. [26] Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' [27] He said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house -- [28] for I have five brothers -- that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' [29] Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' [30] He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' [31] He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "
2. What's Happening?
First Point Of Action
Jesus presents the lifetime situations of the rich man's opulence and Lazarus' poverty.
Second Point of Action
Jesus presents the afterlife conditions of the agony of the rich man and the comfort of Lazarus.
Third Point of Action
The rich man and Father Abraham talk: Abraham's expression of justice; Abraham's "Besides"; the rich man's understanding of his situation; the rich man's request for his five brothers; and Abraham's lost cause conclusion.
3. Spadework
Crossing The Chasm
Of the sixty references in Hebrew Scripture that use Sheol, fifteen contain the phrase, "down to Sheol." (See Genesis 37:35.) The terms "heaven" and "Sheol" reflect the ancient belief in a three-story universe: "If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there" (Psalm 139:8) and "Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven -- what can you do? Deeper than Sheol -- what can you know?" (Job 11:7-8).
Present-day folk could choose to dismiss hell and heaven talk because we know about the multiplicity of universes within the galaxy, the geological formation of the earth, and own other sophisticated scientific knowledge. We could choose to see through the eyes of a metaphor that wants to describe some other place besides the present, known world. If a heaven exists, as a realm of yearned-for hope that draws us forward, then a hell also exists, as a realm of unmitigated chaos, the thought of which prods us toward a higher standard of living on earth.
"Father Abraham" suggests that these three realms are separated by chasms as wide as a piece of Lexan is impermeable. The helping hand is helpless here. "[T]hose who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us" (Luke 16:26).
Hades
Before the time of Christ, Hades was the underworld of classical Greek and Roman mythology, the place beneath the earth where the souls of the dead go. Is Sheol inevitable? "Who can live and never see death? / Who can escape the power of Sheol?" (Psalm 89:48). These words sound benign and neutral, as if everyone who dies automatically visits Sheol first. Yet these same words also hint of learned or perhaps intuitive overtones of penalty.
The world-spanning collection of explanatory myths and stories that most members of the human family espouse addresses these questions that all people ponder: What happens after we die? Is no one "good enough" to go straight to "heaven"? Will we actually have to pay for our sins? What happened to atonement and forgiveness through Christ? Will the varieties of hell we experience during our lifetime continue after death? Do they count for anything later on? Is there any mercy? What about justice? Is God really in charge of our lives? Myth, folklore, legend, and tradition merge with the stories of our faith to offer answers.
The realm of Sheol (Hebrew term) and its New Testament-exclusive counterpart, Hades or hell, holds a further connotation. Sheol is in the realm of its being too late for a person. Sheol is translated "the grave" in the King James Version. Hell appears in the New Testament a dozen times. Once, in Matthew 5:22, hell is translated as "the judgment" (KJV). In the remaining New Testament references, the KJV uses hell for the New Revised Standard Version, Hades. One instance of Hades in the Gospels is from today's parable: "In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side" (Luke 16:23).
"Wilderness" occurs 239 times in the Bible. "Desert" appears 54 times in the Old and New Testaments. Contrasted to Hades, wilderness and desert are definite, geographical places that might also be arenas of physical exile, hardship, temptation, and struggle. In a wilderness, a person might die from lack of material things like water and food or from isolation. Wilderness also can be a metaphorical, "state of being" place of wandering and working out the problems of one's life. Sheol adds the times that a physical or mental disability becomes handicapping, such as coming upon a flight of steps that closes the door to one who is wheelchair-mobile. Sheol adds economic impoverishment, chaotic relationships, and the refusal of insurance for those with chronic illnesses.
Wilderness, desert, the Pit, Sheol, Hades, and hell are uncomfortable words that percolate throughout the Bible. First mention of "the pit" is that into which Joseph was thrown by his brothers. (See Genesis 37.) For the Hebrews, perhaps all reference to the pit held the shadow of that first pit. Job, the Psalms, and the books of the Prophets are filled with sixty of the seventy Old and New Testament references to "the pit" or "the Pit." (See Job 33:18-30; Psalm 16:10, 29:1, and 30:9.)
For the writer of Revelation, "the pit" becomes "the bottomless pit." "They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon [that is, Destruction], and in Greek he is called Apollyon [that is Destroyer]" (Revelation 9:11). See also Revelation 9:1-2, 11:7, 17:8, and 20:1. "Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering" (Job 26:6). The name, Abaddon, is found five other times in the Bible. (See Job 28:22 and 31:12; Psalm 88:11; and Proverbs 15:11 and 27:20.) Of the 41 biblical references to Satan, 33 appear in the New Testament. Devil, used 49 times, is New Testament specific.
The worst option of Hades appears to be if one were sent alive to Sheol: "But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord" (Numbers 16:30). See also Psalm 55:15.
Mercy
Does God punish forever with the worst images of torture that one can conjure? Descriptions of hell are desperate: "[T]he cords of Sheol entangled me, the snares of death confronted me" (2 Samuel 22:6 and Psalm 18:5). However, even Sheol is not a hopeless state of being: " 'I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice' " (Jonah 2:2).
Sheol is not a place or state of permanent residence. God rescues or brings one out of Sheol: "The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up" (1 Samuel 2:6). God does not abandon an individual in Sheol. God hears cries from Sheol and responds by restoring the soul: "O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit" (Psalm 30:2-3).
The love of God wins over our human need for retribution: "For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol" (Psalm 86:13). The mystery of God suggests that God is in charge of it all: "The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up" (1 Samuel 2:6).
Parable
The heart of a parable lies in what the story suggests to us, with what we connect at a level beyond its words, within the silence between the parable and where the parable meets us and we meet its truth.
The Vulnerable Person, Lazarus
In this parable, Lazarus has no voice. Christ gives him being by naming him. Consider what part of each of us is a Lazarus -- the vulnerability, the being seen as invisible, the object of injustice, the scapegoat for our own feelings of threat, the part of our identity that is beyond our control. Consider who in the community, family, and work place or school are named Lazarus.
The Rich Man
The rich man is excessively rich, wearing purple and the latest fashion of finest linen. He eats at four star restaurants, jets anywhere at will, owns a home here and a house there, lobbies government, and pays off others without a twinge of conscience. He is highly influential, ambulates with a definite swagger, does not mind crunching people in his way, and Christ does not give him a name.
The rich man uses everyone, even calling upon Lazarus to be his servant in Hades. Remember, the Pharisees were lovers of money. (See Luke 16:14.) Christ did not dignify those who ridiculed him with a name.
4. Parallel Scripture
Status Of Lazarus
Lazarus "longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores" (Luke 16:21). The Canaanite woman said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table" (Matthew 15:27). Christ's response toward the most vulnerable was compassion. The impoverished are not far from God's presence. "Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven" (Matthew 18:10).
Equity, Parity, And Retribution
Abraham told the rich man he had received his good things during his lifetime. Lazarus had received his share of evil things during his lifetime. Now, the rich man will know agony and Lazarus will find comfort. Revelation 20:13 speaks of all being judged "according to what they had done." Again, Jesus lambasts the religious leaders of his day in the Lukan Beatitudes and Woes: "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation" (Luke 6:24). See Luke 6:20-24 and Matthew 5:1-12. "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28).
Religious Heritage
Earlier in Luke, the writer reminds us to concentrate on how we live rather than to count on our connection with the church and its foreparents to run interference for us on judgment day: "Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham" (Luke 3:8). On the other hand, the God-connection does count. Jesus said to the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham" (Luke 19:9).
The final word returns us to ourselves. We must remember whose we are as children of God rather than rely on the ostensible and ostentatious, yet empty practice of religion: "Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?" (John 5:45-47).
5. Chat Room
Office Worker: My mother used to threaten my errant sister with sending her out to the bogey man she said lived in the shed at the rear of our property. Just the thought of that bogey man was enough to rearrange my behavior.
Supervisor: Somebody has to be faulted for the wrongs of an individual. It is hard to accept blame. Blame Nemesis, the Greek goddess of punishment and revenge. Blame the Egyptian goddess of evil and the underworld, Taourt. Blame the "tro wo," minor Ashanti folk gods who toy with the Ghanian people. Blame Chernobog, the Slavic god of disorder and hell. Blame Azazel, Leviticus demon of the wilderness. (See Leviticus 16:8-10.)
Office Worker: Are you into all that? I'm impressed.
Supervisor: I dabble. What I am saying, though, is that we feel somebody has to be in charge so we can find order in the turmoil or maybe so we designate a scapegoat.
Office Worker: It is safer to have a Hades, a Sheol, or a hell down there somewhere in some place than to admit that the chaos is as close as within our own soul.
Supervisor: That's right. Somebody has to bring retribution. Anything but taking responsibility for ourselves.
Para-legal: I have a comment. I'm over on corridor three. I keep hearing the rich man's call to Father Abraham. To whom do you cry out when you are in trouble? Does the child within you cry out to Mama, Daddy? Do you cry out to a spouse? To Jesus? To God? Who is your Father Abraham? Does your cry for help just break into empty air?
Supervisor: The cry of the rich one does haunt me. He could not have been all that bad. When he found out it was too late for him, he did think about someone else. It sounds to me as if this is one of those you-reap-what-you-sow stories.
Para-legal: Could be. Say, this chat room knows no temporal or geographical boundaries. Why not attempt to get those two online? Wait a minute. They are already chat listed. Let's follow their conversation.
Rich Person: Father Abraham said no one can cross the chasm.
Lazarus: I am acquainted with hell. There are bridges.
Rich Person: Think about the great chasm between you and me -- my superb health, the quantity of my tangible possessions, the capacity to do pretty much as I please. I fail to see how any of these things have earned me a home in hell. What is wrong with opulence? Why should I not make the most of what I have? Why not flaunt my inheritance? I earned my purple robe.
Lazarus: How you received or how you used your wealth might be the trouble. The issue may be the emptiness within your soul, the false friends, the chasm of your unwillingness to understand others, your ignoring folk like me as if we were stones. It could be the chasm of faulty relationships with those less fortunate than you or even with those equal to you. It could be the chasm of lack of understanding in situations of injustice.
Rich Person: You need not go on and on. Why are you so much better than I am that you get to go to heaven?
Lazarus: I'm not "better than." This is not a game of one-upmanship. I have known a lifetime of physical pain and inability. My constant lack of enough money has robbed me of any parity or chance of recompense for my present condition. These things alone do not make me better or worse than you. It has to do with what governs from within.
Para-legal: Greetings, all. I have been following your dialogue and wonder about this place called Hades. Do you not think that concept is a bit outdated? Even given the image of the molten core of the earth, we no longer believe in a three-story universe.
Supervisor: Outmoded or not, even in our era of ignoring authority figures, we seem to need some place, some external force to threaten us into better behavior. Even if we need to upgrade the images of its terror, the human community offers a variety of explanations for the inexplicable. But listen --
Rich Person: But, Lazarus, will I be stuck here forever?
Lazarus: Listen to these words: "But God will ransom my / soul from the power / of Sheol, / for he will receive me" (Psalm 49:15). And hear these words: "For great is your steadfast / love toward me; / you have delivered my soul / from the depths of Sheol" (Psalm 86:13).
I have spent a lifetime of gaining strength from these Psalms. I believed that my suffering could not, would not, go on and on. Neither will yours.
Rich Person: How do you know about all that? You are uneducated.
Lazarus: I am disadvantaged, not stupid. My ears and my heart are open. You would be surprised by what I gleaned there by your gate. These words are my favorite: "If I ascend to heaven, you / are there; / if I make my bed in Sheol, / you are there" (Psalm 139:8). So, you see, even you with all your selfishness and your veneer of arrogance are not sunk. As far as I can tell, God refuses to abandon either of us.
Rich Person: It troubled me greatly when Father Abraham said I had received my good things during my lifetime, so now after death, I get the agony. Sounds as if we are each apportioned an equal amount of good things and evil things. If that is so, then every person whose life is filled with good things has a real mess to look forward to later.
Lazarus: I hope that does not follow. I can only say that we all have those preconditions that set our course. A disease process, once begun, sets up a chain reaction of bodily or mental changes. Some can be turned around with appropriate care. Some cannot. So it is with chronic behavior. Some people can change their habits and others cannot.
Rich Person: Look how many years you lay at my gate. Was it laziness on your part? You could have done something to help yourself. Why should having a debilitating illness set you apart?
Lazarus: First, I may have appeared lazy to you. I was always there when people came by. They talked to me. Hell is a state of being wherein something has power over us. It is beyond our control. Hell is the chasm of human impossibility.
Rich Person: Father Abraham said it was too late for me. So what do you think about his telling me my five brothers are not savable? It took my getting down here to turn me around. I know my brothers. That is what they need, a representative from hell to enlighten them. Would not my concern for them get Father Abraham on my side?
Lazarus: It is not a matter of whom he sends to teach your brothers, but rather if they would choose to become teachable. In any guise, false religion is faulty religion. Actually, I think taking responsibility for the way we live our lives is the point of our parable. We are each responsible for our choices and willingness to improve our ways. I must say, however, that your concern for someone beside yourself did sound like a positive change.
Rich Person: Might I ask then, Lazarus, from where does your hope come? You have been saddled with all these disabilities and illnesses all your life.
Lazarus: I know a merciful God. Part of mercy is patience, and patience brings endurance. I believe that hope lies somewhere in the midst of all that. When Father Abraham addressed you, he called you "Child." Child is spoken by someone who cares about you. No matter who you are or how your life has been, remember that you are still a child of God. Were I you, I would opt for hope as the end result of all the turmoil, even yours.
"There was a rich man who was dressed in pure and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. [20] And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, [21] who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. [22] The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. [23] In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. [24] He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' [25] But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. [26] Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' [27] He said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house -- [28] for I have five brothers -- that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' [29] Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' [30] He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' [31] He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "
2. What's Happening?
First Point Of Action
Jesus presents the lifetime situations of the rich man's opulence and Lazarus' poverty.
Second Point of Action
Jesus presents the afterlife conditions of the agony of the rich man and the comfort of Lazarus.
Third Point of Action
The rich man and Father Abraham talk: Abraham's expression of justice; Abraham's "Besides"; the rich man's understanding of his situation; the rich man's request for his five brothers; and Abraham's lost cause conclusion.
3. Spadework
Crossing The Chasm
Of the sixty references in Hebrew Scripture that use Sheol, fifteen contain the phrase, "down to Sheol." (See Genesis 37:35.) The terms "heaven" and "Sheol" reflect the ancient belief in a three-story universe: "If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there" (Psalm 139:8) and "Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven -- what can you do? Deeper than Sheol -- what can you know?" (Job 11:7-8).
Present-day folk could choose to dismiss hell and heaven talk because we know about the multiplicity of universes within the galaxy, the geological formation of the earth, and own other sophisticated scientific knowledge. We could choose to see through the eyes of a metaphor that wants to describe some other place besides the present, known world. If a heaven exists, as a realm of yearned-for hope that draws us forward, then a hell also exists, as a realm of unmitigated chaos, the thought of which prods us toward a higher standard of living on earth.
"Father Abraham" suggests that these three realms are separated by chasms as wide as a piece of Lexan is impermeable. The helping hand is helpless here. "[T]hose who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us" (Luke 16:26).
Hades
Before the time of Christ, Hades was the underworld of classical Greek and Roman mythology, the place beneath the earth where the souls of the dead go. Is Sheol inevitable? "Who can live and never see death? / Who can escape the power of Sheol?" (Psalm 89:48). These words sound benign and neutral, as if everyone who dies automatically visits Sheol first. Yet these same words also hint of learned or perhaps intuitive overtones of penalty.
The world-spanning collection of explanatory myths and stories that most members of the human family espouse addresses these questions that all people ponder: What happens after we die? Is no one "good enough" to go straight to "heaven"? Will we actually have to pay for our sins? What happened to atonement and forgiveness through Christ? Will the varieties of hell we experience during our lifetime continue after death? Do they count for anything later on? Is there any mercy? What about justice? Is God really in charge of our lives? Myth, folklore, legend, and tradition merge with the stories of our faith to offer answers.
The realm of Sheol (Hebrew term) and its New Testament-exclusive counterpart, Hades or hell, holds a further connotation. Sheol is in the realm of its being too late for a person. Sheol is translated "the grave" in the King James Version. Hell appears in the New Testament a dozen times. Once, in Matthew 5:22, hell is translated as "the judgment" (KJV). In the remaining New Testament references, the KJV uses hell for the New Revised Standard Version, Hades. One instance of Hades in the Gospels is from today's parable: "In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side" (Luke 16:23).
"Wilderness" occurs 239 times in the Bible. "Desert" appears 54 times in the Old and New Testaments. Contrasted to Hades, wilderness and desert are definite, geographical places that might also be arenas of physical exile, hardship, temptation, and struggle. In a wilderness, a person might die from lack of material things like water and food or from isolation. Wilderness also can be a metaphorical, "state of being" place of wandering and working out the problems of one's life. Sheol adds the times that a physical or mental disability becomes handicapping, such as coming upon a flight of steps that closes the door to one who is wheelchair-mobile. Sheol adds economic impoverishment, chaotic relationships, and the refusal of insurance for those with chronic illnesses.
Wilderness, desert, the Pit, Sheol, Hades, and hell are uncomfortable words that percolate throughout the Bible. First mention of "the pit" is that into which Joseph was thrown by his brothers. (See Genesis 37.) For the Hebrews, perhaps all reference to the pit held the shadow of that first pit. Job, the Psalms, and the books of the Prophets are filled with sixty of the seventy Old and New Testament references to "the pit" or "the Pit." (See Job 33:18-30; Psalm 16:10, 29:1, and 30:9.)
For the writer of Revelation, "the pit" becomes "the bottomless pit." "They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon [that is, Destruction], and in Greek he is called Apollyon [that is Destroyer]" (Revelation 9:11). See also Revelation 9:1-2, 11:7, 17:8, and 20:1. "Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering" (Job 26:6). The name, Abaddon, is found five other times in the Bible. (See Job 28:22 and 31:12; Psalm 88:11; and Proverbs 15:11 and 27:20.) Of the 41 biblical references to Satan, 33 appear in the New Testament. Devil, used 49 times, is New Testament specific.
The worst option of Hades appears to be if one were sent alive to Sheol: "But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord" (Numbers 16:30). See also Psalm 55:15.
Mercy
Does God punish forever with the worst images of torture that one can conjure? Descriptions of hell are desperate: "[T]he cords of Sheol entangled me, the snares of death confronted me" (2 Samuel 22:6 and Psalm 18:5). However, even Sheol is not a hopeless state of being: " 'I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice' " (Jonah 2:2).
Sheol is not a place or state of permanent residence. God rescues or brings one out of Sheol: "The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up" (1 Samuel 2:6). God does not abandon an individual in Sheol. God hears cries from Sheol and responds by restoring the soul: "O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit" (Psalm 30:2-3).
The love of God wins over our human need for retribution: "For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol" (Psalm 86:13). The mystery of God suggests that God is in charge of it all: "The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up" (1 Samuel 2:6).
Parable
The heart of a parable lies in what the story suggests to us, with what we connect at a level beyond its words, within the silence between the parable and where the parable meets us and we meet its truth.
The Vulnerable Person, Lazarus
In this parable, Lazarus has no voice. Christ gives him being by naming him. Consider what part of each of us is a Lazarus -- the vulnerability, the being seen as invisible, the object of injustice, the scapegoat for our own feelings of threat, the part of our identity that is beyond our control. Consider who in the community, family, and work place or school are named Lazarus.
The Rich Man
The rich man is excessively rich, wearing purple and the latest fashion of finest linen. He eats at four star restaurants, jets anywhere at will, owns a home here and a house there, lobbies government, and pays off others without a twinge of conscience. He is highly influential, ambulates with a definite swagger, does not mind crunching people in his way, and Christ does not give him a name.
The rich man uses everyone, even calling upon Lazarus to be his servant in Hades. Remember, the Pharisees were lovers of money. (See Luke 16:14.) Christ did not dignify those who ridiculed him with a name.
4. Parallel Scripture
Status Of Lazarus
Lazarus "longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores" (Luke 16:21). The Canaanite woman said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table" (Matthew 15:27). Christ's response toward the most vulnerable was compassion. The impoverished are not far from God's presence. "Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven" (Matthew 18:10).
Equity, Parity, And Retribution
Abraham told the rich man he had received his good things during his lifetime. Lazarus had received his share of evil things during his lifetime. Now, the rich man will know agony and Lazarus will find comfort. Revelation 20:13 speaks of all being judged "according to what they had done." Again, Jesus lambasts the religious leaders of his day in the Lukan Beatitudes and Woes: "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation" (Luke 6:24). See Luke 6:20-24 and Matthew 5:1-12. "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28).
Religious Heritage
Earlier in Luke, the writer reminds us to concentrate on how we live rather than to count on our connection with the church and its foreparents to run interference for us on judgment day: "Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham" (Luke 3:8). On the other hand, the God-connection does count. Jesus said to the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham" (Luke 19:9).
The final word returns us to ourselves. We must remember whose we are as children of God rather than rely on the ostensible and ostentatious, yet empty practice of religion: "Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?" (John 5:45-47).
5. Chat Room
Office Worker: My mother used to threaten my errant sister with sending her out to the bogey man she said lived in the shed at the rear of our property. Just the thought of that bogey man was enough to rearrange my behavior.
Supervisor: Somebody has to be faulted for the wrongs of an individual. It is hard to accept blame. Blame Nemesis, the Greek goddess of punishment and revenge. Blame the Egyptian goddess of evil and the underworld, Taourt. Blame the "tro wo," minor Ashanti folk gods who toy with the Ghanian people. Blame Chernobog, the Slavic god of disorder and hell. Blame Azazel, Leviticus demon of the wilderness. (See Leviticus 16:8-10.)
Office Worker: Are you into all that? I'm impressed.
Supervisor: I dabble. What I am saying, though, is that we feel somebody has to be in charge so we can find order in the turmoil or maybe so we designate a scapegoat.
Office Worker: It is safer to have a Hades, a Sheol, or a hell down there somewhere in some place than to admit that the chaos is as close as within our own soul.
Supervisor: That's right. Somebody has to bring retribution. Anything but taking responsibility for ourselves.
Para-legal: I have a comment. I'm over on corridor three. I keep hearing the rich man's call to Father Abraham. To whom do you cry out when you are in trouble? Does the child within you cry out to Mama, Daddy? Do you cry out to a spouse? To Jesus? To God? Who is your Father Abraham? Does your cry for help just break into empty air?
Supervisor: The cry of the rich one does haunt me. He could not have been all that bad. When he found out it was too late for him, he did think about someone else. It sounds to me as if this is one of those you-reap-what-you-sow stories.
Para-legal: Could be. Say, this chat room knows no temporal or geographical boundaries. Why not attempt to get those two online? Wait a minute. They are already chat listed. Let's follow their conversation.
Rich Person: Father Abraham said no one can cross the chasm.
Lazarus: I am acquainted with hell. There are bridges.
Rich Person: Think about the great chasm between you and me -- my superb health, the quantity of my tangible possessions, the capacity to do pretty much as I please. I fail to see how any of these things have earned me a home in hell. What is wrong with opulence? Why should I not make the most of what I have? Why not flaunt my inheritance? I earned my purple robe.
Lazarus: How you received or how you used your wealth might be the trouble. The issue may be the emptiness within your soul, the false friends, the chasm of your unwillingness to understand others, your ignoring folk like me as if we were stones. It could be the chasm of faulty relationships with those less fortunate than you or even with those equal to you. It could be the chasm of lack of understanding in situations of injustice.
Rich Person: You need not go on and on. Why are you so much better than I am that you get to go to heaven?
Lazarus: I'm not "better than." This is not a game of one-upmanship. I have known a lifetime of physical pain and inability. My constant lack of enough money has robbed me of any parity or chance of recompense for my present condition. These things alone do not make me better or worse than you. It has to do with what governs from within.
Para-legal: Greetings, all. I have been following your dialogue and wonder about this place called Hades. Do you not think that concept is a bit outdated? Even given the image of the molten core of the earth, we no longer believe in a three-story universe.
Supervisor: Outmoded or not, even in our era of ignoring authority figures, we seem to need some place, some external force to threaten us into better behavior. Even if we need to upgrade the images of its terror, the human community offers a variety of explanations for the inexplicable. But listen --
Rich Person: But, Lazarus, will I be stuck here forever?
Lazarus: Listen to these words: "But God will ransom my / soul from the power / of Sheol, / for he will receive me" (Psalm 49:15). And hear these words: "For great is your steadfast / love toward me; / you have delivered my soul / from the depths of Sheol" (Psalm 86:13).
I have spent a lifetime of gaining strength from these Psalms. I believed that my suffering could not, would not, go on and on. Neither will yours.
Rich Person: How do you know about all that? You are uneducated.
Lazarus: I am disadvantaged, not stupid. My ears and my heart are open. You would be surprised by what I gleaned there by your gate. These words are my favorite: "If I ascend to heaven, you / are there; / if I make my bed in Sheol, / you are there" (Psalm 139:8). So, you see, even you with all your selfishness and your veneer of arrogance are not sunk. As far as I can tell, God refuses to abandon either of us.
Rich Person: It troubled me greatly when Father Abraham said I had received my good things during my lifetime, so now after death, I get the agony. Sounds as if we are each apportioned an equal amount of good things and evil things. If that is so, then every person whose life is filled with good things has a real mess to look forward to later.
Lazarus: I hope that does not follow. I can only say that we all have those preconditions that set our course. A disease process, once begun, sets up a chain reaction of bodily or mental changes. Some can be turned around with appropriate care. Some cannot. So it is with chronic behavior. Some people can change their habits and others cannot.
Rich Person: Look how many years you lay at my gate. Was it laziness on your part? You could have done something to help yourself. Why should having a debilitating illness set you apart?
Lazarus: First, I may have appeared lazy to you. I was always there when people came by. They talked to me. Hell is a state of being wherein something has power over us. It is beyond our control. Hell is the chasm of human impossibility.
Rich Person: Father Abraham said it was too late for me. So what do you think about his telling me my five brothers are not savable? It took my getting down here to turn me around. I know my brothers. That is what they need, a representative from hell to enlighten them. Would not my concern for them get Father Abraham on my side?
Lazarus: It is not a matter of whom he sends to teach your brothers, but rather if they would choose to become teachable. In any guise, false religion is faulty religion. Actually, I think taking responsibility for the way we live our lives is the point of our parable. We are each responsible for our choices and willingness to improve our ways. I must say, however, that your concern for someone beside yourself did sound like a positive change.
Rich Person: Might I ask then, Lazarus, from where does your hope come? You have been saddled with all these disabilities and illnesses all your life.
Lazarus: I know a merciful God. Part of mercy is patience, and patience brings endurance. I believe that hope lies somewhere in the midst of all that. When Father Abraham addressed you, he called you "Child." Child is spoken by someone who cares about you. No matter who you are or how your life has been, remember that you are still a child of God. Were I you, I would opt for hope as the end result of all the turmoil, even yours.
