Let's Study the Parables - 8 - The Rich Man and Lazarus

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I’m doing a study on these forums of the parables. I’d like to study each parable individually looking at:

a) What is the Message behind the Parable?
b) What doctrines do we see being taught in each Parable?
c) Can a Parable be used to defend against Non-Catholic doctrines?
d) What is the context of the Parable?

If you like this study, you’ll find others at:
**Let’s Study the Parables - 1 - The Good Samaritan
Let’s Study the Parables - 2 The Wicked Vinedressers
**** Let’s Study the Parables - 3 - Parable of the Talents
**
Let’s Study the Parables - 4 - The Wheat and the Cockle
**Let’s Study the Parables - 5 - The Prodigal Son
**** Let’s Study the Parables - 6 - The Bride’s Girlfriends (or The Ten Virgins)**
** Let’s Study the Parables - 7 - The Sheep and the Goats**
**
** Or you could always find the Table of Contents on the Sticky on Sacred Scriptures:

With that in mind, I’d like to do a study on
The Rich Man and Lazarus

*** Scripture: Luke 16:19-31

***19 "There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Laz’arus, full of sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Laz’arus in his bosom. 24 And he called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Laz’arus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.’
***25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Laz'arus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And 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.' 27 And he said, Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’
***29 But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' 30 And he said, No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, `If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.’" ***
 
The first thing that comes to mind with this parable is that it is the only time that I know of where Jesus uses someone’s name in a Parable (if someone knows of another exception, feel free to chime in). What’s even more ironic, is that Lazarus will be someone who actually is raised from the dead in John’s Gospel.

This parable always perplexes me, for I get the feeling there is a lot more going on here than my simple mind has been able to grasp. So your comments will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

John
 
Notice the Rich Man (in tradition called Dives - Latin for “Rich Man”). He is in Hell, and in torment. Yet, what does Dives ask for? Does he ask to get out? No - he just asks for water to make the torment more bearable. In the end, he doesn’t want out of Hell. It never even occurs to him to ask for it. I think the Lord is telling us - people choose to be in Hell. And even once there, they are not interested in being with God in Heaven.
 
Great point, scaron. I’ve never looked at it that way.

I’m always drawn to the last line of this parable:
***He said to him, `If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.’" ***
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Sadly, this prophecy will be fulfilled time and time again by those who refuse to convert to Christianity.
 
I cannot take credit for the following, but I can also not give any credit specifically, since I forgot where I got this. It was probably by listening to Family Radio, an Echoes sermon, probably.
  1. There is a Hell. Make no mistake. Jesus Himself is telling us that here.
  2. Notice, it is a place of perpetual torment.
  3. Dives’ friends are not there, that we can tell. If they are, they are no comfort to him. (You know how people talk? “Well, if I’m going to hell, I’m going to be in good company” blah blah blah) Well, not so, according to this.
  4. There is no hope of release, according to this.
  5. In hell, a person will be in a state of constant regret.
  6. In life, the rich man needed the poor man as much as or more than the reverse may seem to be true.
  7. Riches are no avail to the man in hell.
  8. Of course, who is the rich man? As parables go (a heavenly story in earthly terms, as protestants say), who does the rich man refer to, except to the Pharisees and scribes, perhaps? It is they who are hoarding the “old testament gospel” to themselves, as a personal possession, instead of “feeding” the common man. It may also refer to us, if we are too caught up with the price of gas and our investments and such, to attend to “feeding” the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
  9. The drop of water is referring to the mercy of God, the redemption of Jesus, which is denied to those who fail not only the Law of Moses, but the Laws of Jesus. Even the natural law of compassion does not affect the rich man.
  10. The gate is the barrier that the rich man has set up against the world, the poor man in particular.
  11. The bosom of Abraham is the loving embrace of God, depicted as the fatherly embrace of the patriarch of the covenant.
That’s all I can remember now, without digging out my old NAB bible.

The name is the same, but I don’t think this is the same Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead.
 
Crumpy said:
I cannot take credit for the following, but I can also not give any credit specifically, since I forgot where I got this. It was probably by listening to Family Radio, an Echoes sermon, probably.
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Ah, now you’re making me blush. No seriously, those are great points. Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut.
The name is the same, but I don’t think this is the same Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead.
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True. No where in John’s Gospel does it show that Lazarus was a beggar, especially with his sister able to whoop out a jar of perfumed oil worth a year’s pay. Of course, maybe Lazarus was a very effective beggar, eh? 😉

But it does seem odd that:
a) the only parable that has a name involved Lazarus
b) Lazarus in the parable dies
c) Lazarus in John’s Gospel dies.

With the Bible, there are few if any coincidences. That’s why I think there’s something in this parable that we haven’t considered yet.
 
I withdraw my previous post.

If you google “the rich man and lazarus” you get a lot of hits. The first two I looked at are both very lengthy and have little to do with what I wrote in the previous post.

For example, this website

bible-truths.com/lazarus.html

takes a very long time to demonstrate that Jesus is talking about the Jews and the Gentiles a la rich man and lazarus.

and, plagiarizing without regret, this explanation says that Lazarus really is Eliezar which means helped by God, or something like that.

The deep chasm is like the Jordan river. Moses couldn’t cross that deep chasm but the Israelites did, helped by God.

So, in the parable Jesus is talking about how the Gentiles (and a remnant of Jews) will cross the chasm (impossible for men, nothing impossible for God) to be “in the bosom” meaning very near at the banquet table to Abraham, their father in faith.

…which all has to be fit into the context of five parables that Jesus was telling at the time.
 
Crumpy said:
I withdraw my previous post.

If you google “the rich man and lazarus” you get a lot of hits. The first two I looked at are both very lengthy and have little to do with what I wrote in the previous post.

For example, this website

bible-truths.com/lazarus.html

takes a very long time to demonstrate that Jesus is talking about the Jews and the Gentiles a la rich man and lazarus.
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First of all, parables are like ogres, they have many layers! I think you could be right in your initial posting, while the 2nd post can bring on a whole new (but no less true) lesson.

2nd of all, I’m not sure if I’d be getting my “bible truths” from L. Ray Smith, though. The guy seems to have an “I’m right and all of you don’t know what you’re talking about” mentality.
 
To me this is a powerful illustration of the final destination of the justified vs. the un-justified. Lazarus is justified, the rich man is not.

The rich man is in torment. He wants relief, and he wants to reach out to his living family and warn them not to end up spending eternity in torment like he did.

I think it teaches us that:
  • Some will be justified (through faith which is confirmed by the ensuing works), and others will not. Some will choose not to believe, even if one rises from the dead (foreshadowing Christ’s resurrection).
  • There is a chasm between the two that can’t be crossed. Loved ones will be separated by this chasm.
  • For the nonbelievers, the knowledge that you ignored the ample evidence available in your mortal life will torture you for eternity.
 
Dives also does not learn anything by his experience. He looks across the chasm to Lazarus … and treats him just as he did in life. Does he beg forgiveness for the way he treated him? For not even giving him the scraps from his table?

Nope. Right away it’s, “Send Lazarus to fetch me water”, and “send Lazarus to my brothers”. Even when Abraham explains the truth of the matter - that Lazarus is blessed, “in the bosom of the Lord” as was said above, Lazarus still feels he has the right to order him around as a servant.

Reminds me of Dante - how frozen in sin the damned are.
 
Yes - Jesus parables dealt with real events in peoples lives so they could understand and visualize. But each one also had the profound message that no one at the time could understand or appreciate - until the Holy Spirit followed late on.
 
scaron said:
Dives also does not learn anything by his experience. He looks across the chasm to Lazarus … and treats him just as he did in life. Does he beg forgiveness for the way he treated him? For not even giving him the scraps from his table?

Nope. Right away it’s, “Send Lazarus to fetch me water”, and “send Lazarus to my brothers”. Even when Abraham explains the truth of the matter - that Lazarus is blessed, “in the bosom of the Lord” as was said above, Lazarus still feels he has the right to order him around as a servant.

Reminds me of Dante - how frozen in sin the damned are.
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This is a great point. Obviously you meant ‘Rich Man’ in your second-to-last sentence.
So, then, if he is hardened in sin as clearly illustrated by his treatment of blessed Lazarus, what is his real concern for his brothers? Their eternal welfare?? That would be out of character for a person in Hell wouldn’t it? Why doesn’t he want them there? Is it because he is still capable of loving them from his place of torment? Is love possible in hell? That would be odd, don’t you think? Is it out of compassion for them? That seems unlikely if he is only concerned about himself and relieving his own suffering (the drop of water seems really important to him - but how much relief can you get from one drop?).
Perhaps then he doesn’t want his brothers there because it would only serve to increase his torment in some way…
Just a thought.
 
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