Luke 16:19-31 (Listen)
This parable is one of the most image loaded (SCREEN four different images) parables of Jesus. It includes the contrast of the rich man and the poor man, the contrast of heaven and hell, the conversation between the rich man and Abraham, and the message for the five brothers still alive. Parables are not to be understood as allegories but rather as stories with a single message about the kingdom of God.
So (SCREEN What is the message of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus?)
Is it Luke’s view of what happens after death? According to the parable at the moment of death Lazarus journeys to be with Abraham while the rich man descends to Hades, a place of eternal torment.
Does death deliver us immediately to our eternal fate? Such a view would seemingly contradict Paul who in I Thessalonians and Corinthians (SCREEN I Corinthians 15:52 “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed) expresses the opinion that we will be asleep or something until Christ comes again.
But Luke also includes the crucifixion image of the thief on the cross. Jesus says to him ‘today you will be with me in paradise’.
Those are the two opposing thoughts on what happens upon death.
Does the message of the parable include teaching that the wicked will suffer eternal torment? Who are the wicked? Are they the unbelievers?
I do not believe the message of the parable is trying to explain what happens after death.
To discover the message we look a little deeper at the story. We ask the context question first.
The context is dedicated to money and how it is used. This parable comes right after the lost coin, the prodigal son’s use of his inheritance, and the dishonest manager’s handling of debts.
The story follows immediately after this verse (SCREEN “The Pharisees who were lovers of money ridiculed Jesus so Jesus says to them ‘God knows your hearts for what is prized by humans is an abomination to God’)
There is our first clue-God knows our hearts.
As I have often said when preaching on a parable. All parables have a surprising twist to those who first heard them. Too often the twist is lost over time. A second clue comes in the surprise.
In those (SCREEN image of wealthy man and poor man from Jesus day) days people strongly believed wealth was a sign one was blessed by God. That dates back to Abraham who was a very wealthy man with large herds and many servants. A wealthy man who dressed in purple robes, who feasted daily was perceived as someone truly blessed by God. Such people must be pleasing to God.
The reverse was also believed to be true. When someone lost his wealth or became ill, that person must have done something extremely wrong. Remember the story of Job and his three friends? They all told him he must have done something very displeasing to God. Disease, poverty, and illness were all perceived as signs of God’s punishment for sin.
So when Jesus tells the crowds that Lazarus ended up with Abraham and the angels-they were totally shocked. When he went on to say the rich man ended up in Hades with eternal torment-No way! They shouted out.
Well, where is the message in all of this for us. We do not have anything in common with Lazarus, he is dead. We do not have anything in common with the rich man, he too is dead.
The third clue for us is in the request of the rich man. But living in eternal torment the rich man says to Abraham, (SCREEN ‘send him, meaning Lazarus, to my father’s house for I have five brothers, that he may warn them so that they will not also come into this place of torment’)
Abraham says they have enough already in Moses and the prophets. But the rich man persists saying if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent.
Jesus has Abraham saying if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.
That was true then and that is still true today even after Jesus rose from the dead. People still do not live the message.
We are not Lazarus, we are not the rich man, we are the five brothers, still alive.
We have all of the warnings, hints on how to live, signs and clues we need to live our lives as God expects us to live.
Living here and now in our culture what is the message of this image loaded parable.
The message for us is two fold:
First hell is a state of mind that begins here and is intensified in the life to come. Hell is not being able to give.
(SCREEN ‘hell is not being able to give’).
Even tormenting in hell all the rich man can think about is himself.
He still does not even acknowledge Lazarus. He addresses Abraham, saying nothing to Lazarus. He acts as if Lazarus should serve him. It is all about him, have mercy on me, cool my tongue, for I am in agony.
We are told there is a great chasm between the rich man the Abraham.
That great chasm has been erected by the rich man’s heart.
He is thirsty, really thirsty, and his thirst in unquenchable because for him (SCREEN enough is never enough).
He was created in God’s image, created to give but since he has never given of himself he has never lived his life in God’s image. Therefore God cannot reach across the great chasm created by his self-centered heart.
Like the rich man, you and I are also created in the image of God.
That is an eternal truth (SCREEN “so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female” Gen 1:27)
Obviously being created in God’s likeness does not mean we physically look like God but it means we are spiritually like God and that means we are created to give. Created to be generous.
UCC Pastor Katy Huey writes (SCREEN at the heart of his passage and at the heart of being a follower of Jesus is generosity).
If we are generous we give people the benefit of the doubt and do not judge them
If we are generous we open up our hearts and forgive people who have deeply hurt us.
If we are generous we freely give of our time, our abilities and our finances to do God’s work in our community.
Pastor Huey goes on to say something very insightful (SCREEN the words “generosity” and “generation” share a common root, they both bring new life.)
Being generous is what frees someone from eternal torment.
Being generous is what lowers the chasm between God and ourselves.
The very first verse I memorized as a child was ‘for God so loved the world that he gave’.
The more life is centered on giving, the more we are living in God’s image.
The more we are living in God’s image, the more satisfying life is.
Natalie Angier in an article in the New York Times wrote about scientists who studied the neural activity in human brain waves. The scientists said that (SCREEN ‘hard as it is in our culture of me, me, me-scientists have discovered that sharing, cooperating and being generous make
brain waves light up with quiet joy’).
That happens simply because when we live of a life of generosity we are living in God’s image.
Contrast that style of living to the rich man with an unquenchable thirst (SCREEN chasm) because more and more is never enough. That attitude created an eternal chasm between himself and God.
That chasm is a little frightening because that chasm can become a part of our lives as well. Not in some dramatic fashion but in the unconscious daily choices we make. Then over time that chasm becomes deeper and deeper and soon it is impassable.
What causes that chasm to deepen and deepen?
It deepens because the human mind is always thinking up reasons not to give and not to share.
In this economy we cannot give.
With my insurance going up we cannot give.
With the dramatic decrease in my retirement accountant we cannot possibly give.
All good valid reasons to watch one’s spending but also warning signs that the chasm is deepening.
(SCREEN That is why I believe the church should continually be asking people to give and to provide people with opportunities to give.)
To give dollars.
To give of their talents.
To give of themselves.
When we ask people to give they have the opportunity to be set free from a hellish existence of living with an unquenchable thirst.
When we ask people to give we are giving them the opportunity to experience the joy of fulfilling what it means to live being created in God’s image.
That is good news.
The second message the parable (SCREEN image of seeing) brings to us today has to do with how we see the immediate world in which we live.
The rich man never even saw Lazarus in spite of Lazarus living right in front of his house.
The gospels all equate seeing with having compassion.
Jesus saw the woman weeping at the death of her son and had compassion.
The father saw the prodigal son while he was still far off and had compassion.
At least six times we read Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion for them-healed, fed, blessed and taught them.
Seeing and compassion are linked together so tightly that they cannot be pulled apart.
What God wants us to be doing and to be giving to is always right in front of us in plain sight.
George Hermanson writes about the rich man’s request in this parable (SCREEN ‘what God desires you to do was always right in front of you. They wrote it in the law and prophets’)
Pay attention and you will see what God is calling you to do because it is right in front of you. It may be right in front of you right here today at worship.
What did the prophets write?
(SCREEN “what does God require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8)
Take a look through the lens of that verse and you will see what God is calling you to do.
