Day 448: A cry from the other side – Luke 16 vs 19 – 31
19-21 “There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day. But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate. He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22-23 One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side.”
24-25 “‘Father Abraham!’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame!’ ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony. 26 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’”
27-28 “‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house - because I have five brothers - to warn them, so that they won’t also come to this place of torment.’ 29-30 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ 'No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’” Luke 16:19-31 Christian Standard Bible
Do people automatically go to heaven if they were poor and had a difficult life on earth? Do all capitalists go straight to hell? No, that's not what this story is all about. It follows Jesus’ warning earlier in vs 13 to the people, and to the Pharisees in particular, that no-one can serve both God AND money. People will always love one more than the other. So we need to read the story in the light of other scripture which teach that salvation doesn't depend on whether we were poor or rich, but on our relationship with God. The rich man in the story had never cared about God (which is evident from his disregard for the poor man lying at his gate), and the poor man, despite his pitiful condition, must have been a man who feared God. So what would you say then was the purpose of the story?
I would say that Jesus was driving home to the lawyers and Pharisees that they were missing the whole point of God's law through Moses which is summed up in the expression: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind - and love your neighbour as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-38) The rich man in the story had done neither. But what are the other important insights that we get from this story?
It teaches us that death and the grave is not the final destination of our soul. Using Jewish expressions Jesus spoke of an existence after death in one of two places. The word Hades is not identical to hell, but it seems to be a foretaste of that awful final destination of unrepentant sinners. And vs 26 suggests that there's no 'second chance' after leaving this life. What are the further extremely important implications of vs 27-31?
Communication between those who have passed on and those still living is not sanctioned by God. There's a story in the Old Testament of a medium who gets the fright of her life when the spirit of the prophet Samuel actually appears at a séance that King Saul had arranged with her. It was a rare case when something like that happened, and it was in judgment. Abraham tells the rich man that God's word is all we need to prepare for life beyond the grave. But it's vs 31 that is the crux and climax of the story! I believe it was referring to the fact that Jesus Himself was going to die, and rise from the dead, and yet many of the people who regularly read what Moses had written would still not believe they needed to repent, and believe He was the Messiah. Unless our heart embraces what the Bible teaches we’ll be with that rich man.