Luke 16:19-31

Good things can be accomplished through money (16:8-9) but the love of money can keep us from God.  The Pharisees put their trust in money and that was a problem.  The parable in today’s reading illustrates this.

·    *    The Rich Man and Lazarus, 16:19-31.

There were two men.  One was rich, having the finest things in life.  Purple (v19) refers to the imperial purple of the Roman Empire.  It was a dye produced from a snail found in the Mediterranean.  The snails were crushed to produce the purple when exposed to the light (if kept dark it produced the blue dye for threads in the tassels or tzitzit worn by Jews).  It was valuable as it didn’t fade but got brighter over time; and because it took 10,000 snails for one toga or robe.

The other man, Lazarus, was full of sores that dogs licked.  He ate the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table.  In the story (we believe it is a parable though it is not identified as such) both men died.  As Ecclesiastes makes clear: death is the great equalizer.  Everyone dies, regardless of how much money you have!  

The beggar was carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom, a place of comfort.  The rich man was in torments in Hades.  The description of Hades should be understood as accurate.  Even if this is a parable (i.e. a made-up story based in reality) it describes a true place.  Hades had a gulf in the middle with a place of torment on one side and a place of comfort on the other.  It is not purgatory (the Bible never mentions purgatory); nor is it Hell (the place of final torment for the wicked; Hades is emptied into Hell according to Rev. 20:13ff).  

The important question is: why were these two men in their respective places?  It might appear that one was in torment because he was rich and had an easy life on earth; and the other in comfort because he was poor and had a difficult life on earth.  Being rich can make it harder to follow Christ (Mt. 17:24); and in the afterlife there is justice (Psalm 73).  But Jesus makes it clear that the issue is repentance/faith (v30).  This is the point in this context.  While money might give you some advantages on earth, it will make no difference in the life to come.

Furthermore, note two other important principles concerning the life to come.  First, once we die it is too late to repent (v24-26).  And second: no one will come back from the afterlife to warn those who are still living (v27-31).  Scripture (in Jesus’ day it was Moses and the prophets, v31) are sufficient for salvation (2 Tim. 3:15-17; Rom. 1:16; John 5:46; 1 Peter 1:22-25).  Signs and wonders are insufficient for salvation (John 6:22-27; Acts 8:18-21).  This will surprise many but it is true.  Miracles do not, in fact, convince people to bow the knee to Christ.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17).

What we learn here is of immense importance personally, in terms of our own after-death experience; and in ministry as to our dependence on the Bible.  Everyone’s eternity depends on their response to the word of God!