THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS
19“There was a
rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously
every day.
20And at his
gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who desired to be
fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and
licked his sores.
22The poor man
died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died
and was buried, 23and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw
Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
24And he called
out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his
finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’
25But Abraham
said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and
Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in
anguish. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been
fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and
none may cross from there to us.’
27And he said,
‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five
brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of
torment.’
29But Abraham
said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
30And he said,
‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will
repent.’
31He said to
him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be
convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
LUKE
16:19-31
COMMENTARY
This parable,
described only in the gospel of Luke, it has nevertheless been the second most popular
parable after the parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’, also narrated in this same
gospel (Luke 15:11-32), and that contains many theological and spiritual truths
that have become the pillars of the Gospel of Jesus.
This fictitious
story was narrated by our Lord Jesus to emphasize the responsibility each of us
has, in this world, to take care of our spiritual and moral condition before
GOD.
This story was
not narrated to leave a full lesson of moral standards, or to illustrate the
details of the afterlife to satisfy our curiosity. It is a quick tale of
someone able, who chose to be bad, despite of the obvious good before him, and
that after being condemned, he is told that each of us, in this case his surviving
brothers, has a moral responsibility to live in rectitude before God and men, having
been provided with everything we need to do so, without excuses.
However, Lord
Jesus never used false premises to build a truth. To use a context that is
based on inexistent reality, would be like to build a house over sand.
JESUS could not
say ‘If you don’t repent, you will go to Hell’ if there was no hell. He could
not say this is right or wrong, if there was not a pre-exiting source of
knowledge of good and evil. Jesus could not say, ‘If you sin, you will die” if
there was no death.
In the same way,
even though the story is a tale, and even though its purpose is to emphasize
personal responsibility, in order to achieve that purpose, the details surrounding
the story, also need to be real.
THE TRUTHS
INSENSIBILITY
Jesus personifies
the personal sinfulness of the Rich man, who been extremely rich, lived-in excesses
(v.19), and even though he was so rich that he could have spared some wealth
without been personally affected, he ignored the pain of his fellow human,
outside his door, who wasn’t only disposed, but also hungry and in despair (v.20-21).
The sinfulness
was the insensibility of a man hardened by hedonism, who did not care about
anyone, not even about someone suffering before his eyes.
This level of
insensibility represents the condition of all sinful men, who do not care about
anyone else, except themselves, while they commit their crimes.
And it must be
noticed, that this sin was not in the exercise of any thing illegal. The wealth
was the Rich man’s, and he was just carrying on with his own life, in excess,
but apparently not harming anyone, but he was evil enough as to don’t feel
mercy, and sinned in omission instead that in action, failing to do what any human
should do in his situation, help another human in need, especially, when he is
next to you.
WE ALL DIE
Both lives,
extremely good and powerful, and the other, extremely bad and defenseless; they
both get equally interrupted at death.
Lord Jesus makes
clear that nothing in this life is forever, because, regardless of how happy
and powerful you may be, or how disgraceful your existence may be, all comes
eventually to an end, and the time to answer GOD for what we have done with our
lives, comes to us all.
PERSONAL
JUDGEMENT
The idea that
all men undergo a personal judgement immediately after death, is a doctrine
born from a deductive analysis of the Scripture, than from an explicit mention
of it in the Bible. In fact, there are not many express mentions in Scripture
of a personal judgement immediately after death, except only that it is assumed
in a few passages (Philippians 1:22-23; Hebrews 9:27), and this is the main
one.
For the spirits
of the Rich man and Lazarus to be taken to two different places, instead of the
same place after death, a judgement is understood to have taken place, either
with the awareness or not of the individuals, but it has happened (v.22-23;
25-26).
Some marginal Christian
groups who deny the conscious existence of the souls after death, disregard
this and other details, saying that they are irreal, because the whole parable
is a fiction.
However, even
though the theme of the story is a fiction, the details cannot be, other wise
the reason of the parable will fail.
In order to be morally
responsible, there must be a moment of accountability. To render accounts of
our lives, implies a real judgement, and this judgement, according to Lord
JESUS, is immediately after death. WHY?, because if it was an image of the Last
Judgement, and not the image of another judgement prior to that, the relatives
of the Rich man would not be alive. Certainly, the Son of God is smart enough
to have created a different story if that would be the case, to make his point across.
CONSCIOUS INTERMIDIATE
STATE
In order to be
able to answer for our actions, we need to be judged, and to understand our
mistakes, we need to be conscious.
Conscious existence,
either in lament or bliss, is taught here by Lord Jesus, otherwise, if the Rich
man and Lazarus were unconscious, the rest of the parable would be pointless,
and would have been rejected by all his listeners as a lie or a forgery.
PUNISHMENT IMMEDIATELY AFTER DEATH
Even though,
real punishment can only occur after the Last Judgement, when the sentences are
given and the books closed forever; the Rich man and Lazarus were sent to a
place of waiting, a preamble of their final state after their resurrection
(v.22-23).
Something
important to mention here, is that there is no need for men to be aware of this
judgement, since they will answer in public and officially at the Day of
Judgement, after their resurrection. But we all will have a clear knowledge of
our future when we find ourselves either in lament or in bliss after passing
this life, which will remain until we receive the fulness of punishment or
rewards in body and soul at the resurrection.
IMPOSSIBLITY
TO CHANGE
Traditionally some
Eastern Christians have held the belief that condemned people, and even demons,
can be redeemed from their final condition, as long as it happens before the
Last Judgement. That is why some of their ‘saints’ are famous for having prayed
for the salvation of Satan and his angels.
Regardless of
their good intentions, THE BIBLE, teaches that this is IMPOSSIBLE.
The Rich man is
told that there is an abyss between the section of the condemned and the saved,
and that is impossible to cross them, even if they wanted to.
PERSONAL
RESPONSIBILITY
The final lesson
and the reason of the parable, is that neither miracles or portents will save a
human, if he himself or herself, is not convinced of their sinfulness and
repents. And that we all have the opportunity to know GOD’s will through THE
SCRIPTURES.
No traditions, or
stories or magisterium, or special people on earth, but through the SCRIPTURES
ALONE. That is evident when Abraham only mentions the Tanakh as a source of divine
knowledge and not the Levitic priesthood, or ceremonies of the Temple, or the
guidance of any Rabbi or teacher.
SCRIPTURES alone
are mentioned, because they contain the unadulterated word of GOD, and the only
means through which the HOLY SPIRIT convinces a man of his sinfulness and the
need of repentance.
Omar Flores.
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