A Consideration of Luke 16:19-31

Before we examine this fascinating parable, a few introductory comments.  First, we observe the context.  Chapter 15 points out the wrongful attitude toward people; chapter 16 begins by showing the sinful  use of material possessions.  This parable is a kind of climax, combining the two preceding teachings.

In the parables of the Prodigal Son and the Unjust Steward, a rich man represented God.  However, in this parable, the rich man is seen as just that: a man who is rich in the possessions of this world.

This is the most curious of all of Jesus’ teachings.  Some Bible scholars have taught that this event actually happened, that is not merely a parable.  They point to the phrase “a certain rich man,” saying it implies a historical person.  Did this story really happen?  Are we reading of actual events or just a story to teach us a profound truth?  Like so many questions surround portions of the Bible, there is not definitive answer.  One thing is crystal clear, however: Jesus gave us an account of what could happen.

1.  In This Life, verses 19-22

In this first section, we are introduced to the two characters in this life. The rich man was rich.  The description of his clothing pictures a life of luxury and splendor.  Everything this world could offer him had had: a life full of material possessions and life of ease abundance.  His clothing was befitting a prince, his home was truly a castle and his meals were banquets. He was not just rich, but he was filthy rich.

He was undeniably rich.  But so was Abraham and so was Joseph of Arimathea.  The Bible does not indicate that being wealthy is a bad thing.  However, this man was in the habit of “showing off” his wealth.  He wanted everybody to know how rich he was.  As William Hendriksen observed, “He was in love…with himself.”  This is borne out as the parable evolves.

Next, we meet Lazarus, the beggar.  He was a complete contrast to the rich man.  He was the very embodiment of poverty, disease and lack.  Lazarus was placed at the gate to the rich man’s house, likely by his friends, suggesting that he couldn’t even walk.  Here was an opportunity for the rich man to show pity on this poor, suffering man.  He couldn’t help but see him; he’d walk right past him leaving his house.  Sadly, the rich man had neither sympathy nor pity.

Mercifully, the beggar died and his misery came to an end.  Did his friends return to bury him?  While we don’t know what happened to his body, we do know what happened to his eternal soul.  He was transported by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.

There are two aspects to verse 22 that should be elaborated on.  First, “angels.”  The Bible teaches the following regarding angels:

Attendants of Christ, 2 Thess. 1:7.
Bringers of good news concerning our salvation, Luke 2:14; 24:4-7; Acts 1:11; 1 Tim. 3:16.
Choristers of Heaven, Luke 15:10; 1 Cor. 13:1; Rev. 5:11-12.
Defenders of God’s children, Ps. 34:7; 91:11; Dan. 6:22; 10:10, 13, 20; etc.
Examples of obedience, Matt. 6:10; 1 Cor. 11:10.
Friends of the redeemed, continually watching over them, deeply interested in our lives and     salvation, and rendering service to t hem in ever way,  including executing the judgment of God upon the enemy, Matt. 13:41; 25:31, 32; Luke 15:10; 16:22; 1 Cor. 4:9; Gal. 3:19;     2 Thess. 1:7; Heb. 1:14; 1 Peter 1:12; Rev. 20:1-3.

Regarding Abraham’s bosom.  The name “Lazarus” is actually Latin, coming from the Greek Lazaros , which comes from the Hebrew Eleazar, meaning, “God has helped.”  Considering the man’s earthly predicament, does this name seem like an oxymoron?  God seems to view man in light of eternity, while we tend to view man in view of the here and now.  So, now, Lazarus lives up to his name in his death.  While in the flesh, he trusted God, and now God has taken his soul to Abraham’s Bosom, paradise.  The phrase is figurative language, taken from the custom of reclining at the dinner table.  When the guests were sitting around the table, each one was said to be “on the bosom” of the one behind him, for his head rested close to  the other’s chest.  How ironic, here was somebody so poor, he couldn’t even get table scraps to eat while he was alive, being carried to the great banguetting table!

Coincidentally, the rich man also died.  Given his station in life, it was likely a glorious funeral.  Note the meaningful contrast:  nothing is said about Lazarus’ burial, but on the other hand, nothing is said about the rich man’s soul.

2.  After Death, verses 23-26

With verse 23, we learn that the soul never sleeps.  Even at death it remains conscious and alert to its surroundings.  The rich man went immediately to Hades where he faced torments, and Lazarus went immediately to paradise.  The heartless rich man closed his eyes surrounded by all his earthly riches and opened them in Hades.  The word Hades is often translated Hell, but it is actually a very broad term that simply means “the land of departed spirits” or “the hereafter.”  It does not necessarily refer to a place of eternal punishment.

Without regard to the nature of Sheol-Hades, one great truth is illustrated here: there is no such thing as a second chance after death.  Once a soul has been separated from its body in death, its condition, whether blessed or doomed, is fixed for all eternity.  Opportunities to help those in need, in a general sense, and to live for God, should be taken advantage of NOW.

While Lazarus was in a place of peace and comfort in death, the rich man experienced torments. It is in the plural, indicating the rich man was in dire straits.  To make matters worse, as if to make the irony complete, the rich man could see Lazarus, afar off, in paradise.  For the very first time in his life, in his death, the rich man needed something somebody else had and he couldn’t get it.  He needed help, but his help was too far away.  The man who had it all couldn’t get even a drop of cold water.

What’s particularly interesting is that the rich man’s personality didn’t change, even in Hades: he still viewed himself as being better than Lazarus and viewed the beggar as his servant!  He wasn’t a bit ashamed to ask a favor in death from the one person who never received a thing from him in life!  In fact, he even expected Abraham to send Lazarus, even though he, the show-off, never tried, during his life on earth to imitate Abraham’s faith.

Verses 25 and 26 records Abraham’s response to the rich man’s request for water.  The patriarch answered what could be best described as a civilized, cordial manner.  Notice he even refers to the rich man as “son.”  Abraham says there are two very good reasons why he can’t bring water to the rich man: (1) it would be improper for him to do so, and (2) it was impossible to do so.

First, as to the request being improper.  It would be contrary to the requirements of justice.  While he was alive, the rich man received “his” good things, meaning, he received what was on his list of priorities.  Helping people was not on his list anywhere.  On the other hand, Lazarus received only bad things.  Note, they were not “his” bad things; he did not bring them upon himself.  Justice dictates that now Lazarus be comforted, as his very name implies.

It would also be impossible.  Abraham tells the man in Hades that there is a large, vast chasm, a yawning gorge, separating the lost from the redeemed.  Crossing over from either side is forever and absolutely impossible.  What a graphic and unforgettable symbolical representation of the irreversibility of a person’s lot after life.  And what a powerful lesson for all to learn:  this life is the time for repentance; this world is the place for the soul to prepare itself for eternity.  Beyond that line which is marked by death no man can change his spiritual state or place of eternal destiny.

3.  Too Little, Too Late, verses 27-31

For the first time in this parable, and probably for the first time in his life (pun intended), the man with no redeemable qualities reveals some compassion.  Commentators don’t cut this man much slack, though; they offer two reasons for this seeming concern:

•     He is really saying, “If I myself  had only been warned, I would not be here today, and,

•     He doesn’t want his brothers to join him in Hades for fear that they will blame him for the bad example he set for them.

Either way, the majority of scholars maintain he is still being his typical, self-absorbed self.  However, the fact remains, he is showing concern for people other than himself.  But this missionary spirit should have been shown earlier, because now it was just too late.

Abraham gives a response that demands some attention.  Why did Jesus insert it into the parable? All people have a “God-ordained agency and a means of salvation” (Childers, p. 569).  Anybody who does not know Christ as Savior can receive Him simply be being submissive to Him.  God makes no exceptions; not for the lost family member we love, not for the “good” friend we think deserves salvation.  God cannot do anything outside His own Word or go against His nature and character.

In verse 30, the rich man expresses a belief that many believers have: some kind of supernatural event, like a dead man returning to life, would turn men to God.  How wrong he was.  In fact, a dead man did return from the dead, another Lazarus in John 11.  Was the result the conversion of everybody who knew him?  Not at all.  The result was that Christ’s enemies planned to put the risen Lazarus to death (John 12:10), and they were more determined than ever to do away with Jesus (John 11:47-50).

No, God does not use this kind of method to win souls unto Himself.  God accepts those who serve Him out of love and because t hey hate sin as God does they want God for who He is, rather than out of fear of Hell or what they get out of God.  Selfishness is never a good motive for serving the Lord.

Two powerful lessons can be learned from this parable.

First, if we read verses 19 and 23 like this: “A rich man…living in dazzling splendor…in torment, he lifted up his eyes.”  No sin, whether a sin of omission or of commission, ever stands alone: the chord one touches here vibrates there.  You dial a number in New York, the phone rings in San Francisco (Hendriksen, pp/ 787, 788.).

Second, Jesus rose from the dead.  He appeared to many after that.  But those who refused to believe Moses and the prophets were not convinced, even by the evidence of their own eyes (Matt. 28:11-15).  The burning message to this generation is:  Accept Scripture as the Word of God and, by God’s grace, live the kind of life it demands and which, in the Person of Jesus Christ, it illustrates.