Lk 16:19-31
‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” ’
BLOG DISCUSSION QUESTION: What does this tell us about our hopes to tell the world about Jesus?
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7 comments:
It seems to say that all that is "expected" of anyone wishing to give someone else the revelation that this man has gained, is to give them the words of Moses and the prophets. In other words, you can only share what you have learned and hope that it reaches them... there's the common saying "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
What I find interesting is that this parable claims that the "chasm" between things has been fixed but now no movement between the places occurs. What does this mean? And how are we supposed to interpret using Moses and the prophets today since these texts are genuinely Jewish and (in line with the tone of this parable) promote a justification by works theology? What would Luther say?
I like the horse metaphor.. Even in the rich man's agony he wants poor old Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool HIS tongue. He still doesnt get it, no repentence, no "gee maybe I should have been a better person". Just poor pitiful me and my five brothers.
We have a lot of work to be done out there telling the world about Jesus. But sometimes you just cant jam it down the throats of those unwilling. Then the question is who is the unwilling... Well we just dont know, so you just keep up the work anyway. And the hope is that it doesn't fall on unwilling ears. And if it does, maybe it will begin to soften and soak in and they become willing ears instead.
We are to Let the Whole World Hear as the song by Casting Crowns says. This does not mean that all will listen. The evidence is strong, we are professing in numbers, however, some choose to turn their ears away. I find it sad that when something bad has happened people will turn away from God because they feel He could have done something about it. My view is He is there when those things of the world happen to lift us up and place his arms around us to comfort us. So we do have a lot of work to do. He who has ears, let him hear....Matthew 13:9, Matthew 13:43, Mark 4:9, Mark 4:23, Luke 8:8... there are many more....
Sorry song title, UNTIL the Whole World Hears....here are some of the lyrics...
Until the whole world hears, Lord, we are calling out
Lifting up your name for all to hear the sound
Like voices in the wilderness, we're crying out
And as the day draws near
We'll sing until the whole world hears
We'll sing until the whole world hears
We'll sing until the whole world hears
I want to be your hands and feet
I want live a life that leads
To see you set the captive free
Until the whole world hears
I think the blog question has been answered well already. I am choosing today to plagiarize or at least repeat comments from a memorable sermon regarding this text. The pastor said, "The rich man was smitten by a blinding "love of money". God was blind to the poor man's failures. Lazarus discovered God's love which was blinding. Then the pastor reached behind the pulpit and put on large pink, SON GLASSES. "Whoever" the pastor was...it deserved repeating.
It could have been the same pastor that gave another memorable sermon today. "Even worse than our doubts can be our apathy." But even then the father still calls me what Abraham in this parable called Lazarus...Child
I want to comment on yesterday"s parable answer from Pastor J. What an incentive to not get discouraged with the sometimes very slow pace of getting things done in the church! Also, thank you for today's sermon. We know that we all have days of apathy or days when we get discouraged and say, "why try"? It's good to know that God sees, understands, and will love us and give us his inspiration through not only that apathy, but the discouragement that follows those who say, "we can't"! God's grace, peace and love to you PJ.
“If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” ’
What do people need to be convinced of? What did he hope his brothers might repent of?
Remember, in Jesus' day it was commonly believed that wealth was a sign of God's delight in someone, and to the contrary, poverty and illness was believed to be a sign of God's disfavor on someone.
To tjnuernb point, might it be exactly this "work's righteousness" that the parable speaks against. If we think our wealth and ease are signs of favor upon which we can rest....then we are wrong. If we think our poverty and struggle are signs which should lead us to fear....then we are wrong.
Might it be that this parable is a word against centuries of tradition, saying that from the very beginning, i.e. Moses and the prophets, God's grace has never been able to be measured by one's station in life, and if people don't see that their traditional understanding of Moses and the prophets is a misunderstanding, the new voice of one who has risen from the dead will seem to them to be an unbelievable and contradictory word, instead of a word that flows with continuity from Moses and the prophets....a word that can be believed and lived in. (That was just a very long run on sentence!)
So....are you still with me?????.....what hope do we have in trying to tell others of Jesus? Great hopes, it seems to me, if when we speak to others of Jesus we put on "Son Glasses" and give no regard to how much money they have or how healthy they are....because Jesus rose for all...for all. That is what "Son Glasses" help us see.
By the way...."Son Glasses" also help us see the pain in other people's lives, and just what we might be able to do to bring healing to that pain with the blessings that God has given us.
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