Parable or Not? Lazarus and the Rich Dude

The very first point, we need to establish the context of how Jesus told this story, to whom did He tell it, and under what circumstances did He feel compelled to teach these truths. Why did Jesus open His mouth and convey this strange story?

The second point, we need to establish the "moral" (the point) to the story, in other words, what was Jesus intending to convey -- the WHY of the telling. What does it all mean?

No servant can serve two masters: for either he will

hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold

to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve

God and mammon.

Luke 16:13

This whole controversy opens with Jesus talking to both His Disciples and the people who wished to hear Him (see Luke 14:25-26, thus begins a long rolling dialogue where Jesus teaches, employing all manner of examples, telling some of His most famous and endearing parables, His discussion opens with the WHO and the HOW: it is WHAT people are His disciples). Jesus intially imparts the knowledge that to be His follower, you have to set Him first in your life, that God must come before any family or person, even the disciple's own life (Luke 14:26).

In Verse 27 the Lord offers a mini parable, that His disciple must pick up and carry his own cross (note, Jesus did not literally intend for each his followers through the centuries to carry around two big wooden beams, it was commonly understood that Jesus was speaking figuratively, not literally, and yet Jesus certainly does not announce that He is speaking a parable, a similitude, a word-play, a metaphor) then in Verses 28-30 Jesus launches into an extended parable, which is not verbally broadcast as a figurative life-learning parable, that when you start something you must see it through to the end, or else suffer ridicule (the parable of someone who begins to build a foundation for a house then runs out of money).

Verses 31-32 yet another unanounnced parable, this one about a king with a small army being threatened by a large army, before the lopsided battle ensues the underdog had better open up a line of communication to settle the dispute before the war is ever started.

Verse 33 Jesus sums up the past 3 unannounced parables:

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh

not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:33

But continuing in Verses 34-35 Jesus follows up His explanation with two more similitudes: His disciples should be salt, a seasoning for the world, and if that seasoning loses its purpose (being a seasoning) then it is worthless, it is only worthy of the sewer.

It should be obvious, to anyone with an IQ above 75, that Jesus isn't telling anyone to become salt, to literally be dried out and ground into powder to be used for seasoning (or to look back at Sodom and Gomorrah and be changed into a pillar of salt), He is using similitudes, verbal dramas that illustrate a point. God always speaks in similitudes; similarly (identically, actually) Jesus ALWAYS spoke in parables. A parable is a drama, a word-play that is visualized in the mind.

I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have

multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the

ministry of the prophets.

Hosea 12:10

All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude

in parables ; and without a parable spake He not

unto them:

Matthew 13:34

The danger is when well-intentioned people take a parable and attempt to twist it into a direct literal meaning, then when Jesus asks rhetorically: "Who when asked for a fish gives a scorpion," decides based on their misinterpretation, that it is appropriate to distribute deadly scorpions to hungry people, rationalizing that God will sort it out, who gets stung and who gets food. This is the kind of gross twisting of scripture when the Bible says:

As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard,

so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

Proverbs 26:9

A good example of this phenomenon is when Jesus says that you will speak and the mountain will move over here, "fools" then run with this metaphor and say you are supposed to talk to illnesses and maladies and they will listen to you, all the while acknowledging that they cannot speak to a mountain and move it (taking Christ's words literally) they yet try and force a literal meaning into those words so that they can teach their "new and improved revelation!" It's kinda-sorta literal, you know, it's what they teach, and it's not really "teaching" is it?

Starting in Chapter 15 we are told that in this same vein, all the sinners and publicans drew close to hear more of what Jesus said, and immediately the scribes and Pharisees (Verse 2) begin to mutter about how dispicable it is, the company Jesus keeps. So though Jesus is speaking for all to hear, even us today, his next parables are aimed directly at the murmuring "religious experts," and for the first time the Bible announces "and he spake this parable unto them." And you will note, those of you with red-letter Bibles that highlight the words of Jesus in red type, that the "announcement" is not issued by Jesus, rather it is Luke, in recounting the historical occurence that casually mentions that Jesus spoke to them (directly, the "them" being the Pharisees and scribes) and then proceeds to detail SEVERAL parables, none of which are individually delienated as "parables."

Verses 3 through 6 of Chapter 15 employs the parable of a shepherd with 100 sheep who leaves the 99 behind to find the 1 lost sheep, and when he finds that lost sheep, he calls together his friends and throws a party, so delighted is he at the return of the lost one -- in Verse 7 Jesus explains this small parable, that when a sinner returns to God, all of heaven celebrates, that it is a far bigger deal in heaven than the 99 righteous ones who don't sin! This is a direct answer to the religious experts who criticized Jesus for hanging with lowlifes, scolding them with the admonition that all of heaven will be celebrating if Jesus can liberate even one of these sinners from their sin. Out of quite a few parables, this is the first one that He turns around and immediately decodes, so that the religious experts cannot mistake his point.

Verses 7 and 8 detail another parable, a woman with 10 coins and who loses one, is overjoyed when she finds the lost piece. Verse 9 finds Jesus giving the exact same explanation of this second parable (which is not specifically highlighted in the text as a parable), that heaven rejoices at the repentance of a single sinner.

Directly, without apparent pause, Jesus launches yet ANOTHER parable, this perhaps His most famous, that of the prodigal son, and yet Jesus does not preface the parable by declaring: "Here's another parable for you, this one I call The Prodigal Son!"

This parable of the Prodigal Son, is not only one of the most dear told by Jesus, universally the most beloved, but it is also a comparatively LONG parable, running from Verse 11 to the very end of the chapter, Verse 32 -- Jesus doesn't announce this most famous parable as a parable, He just tells it, to make the same point, in a dear and loving way that almost anyone can understand, whether they be a parent, or a child, or even a sibling, anyone can see the point that a father will be ecstatic, when a beloved child that is considered "dead" comes walking home to seek the warmth and sustenance of home sweet home (in this regard, it might be easier to envision the party thrown in joy at the arrival of the lost son, and again, Jesus is telling this pointed parable for the specific benefit of the religious "Scripture Answermen" who are represented by the "older brother," the one that stays safely in the household instead of wandering deep into the far country of sin.

Jesus is telling verbal dramas, symbolic stories that people can listen to and envision in their imagination, relate to, and finally understand the deeper meaning behind the story. THIS is what a parable IS, it is what a drama is all about. Symbolism at its working best, the very way that God has always worked through His prophets, whether it is Nathan the Prophet telling King David the story of a greedy rich man who steals his poor neighbor's sheep -- a very cunning way to bring home David's filthy sin to his own doorstep, with David even passing judgment on himself, that he should be put to death, and Nathan popping the punchline: "YOU ARE THAT MAN!" To the end Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle and Disciple John, on the Isle of Patmos -- this is the way God works. It is the way Jesus operated throughout His ministry, it is the way God operates through the whole Bible, and how He expects us to operate TODAY.

Chapter 16 opens with Jesus turning away from the Pharisees, addressing His Disciples directly (but speaking loud enough so that the real culprits receive their dramatic parabolic medicine), another unannounced drama about a shifty, theiving entrepreneur who is about to get his just-deserved "You're Fired" from Donald Trump, the apprentice freaks out and not wishing to do hard labor, such as ditch digging (Verse 3) he immediately goes to all the subcontractors and cuts a deal with them, writing off their debts for a fraction of what Donald Trump is owed. (Note, I doubt Donald Trump is THAT old, I'm just using him as a pop culture example in this ancient parable.) And the thing of it is, Donald Trump is impressed with his sneaky apprentice's crafty, foxy ways (maybe the apprentice actually gets a raise!).

The Parable runs from Verse 1 through 8, with Jesus concluding with a statement on stewardship, that you have to be trustable in the little things to be further trusted in larger things. Yes, it is a statement about stewardship, but the parable is truly aimed STILL, as all the previous parables were, at the Pharisees.

Remember, at the beginning of this controversy it was the Pharisees and scribes that grumbled about Jesus communing with creeps, the lowlifes and dregs of society, the prodigal sons living with pigs -- and Jesus tells the Pharisees here that instead of looking down on the "sinners," instead of judging them and condemning them, they should be loving them, offering them the forgivness of the Kingdom of Heaven. As you are forgiven, so forgive (as God has grace on you, so have grace on others). (Matthew 6:12-15, 18:21-22, 18:35, Mark 11:25-26, Luke 6:35-38, 11:4, 17:3-4, 2 Corinthians 2:7-10)

In a similar fashion, the Resurrected Jesus gave the same advice in a more direct means to another Pharisee, this one named Saul (later known as Paul):

But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared

unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister

and a witness both of these things which thou hast

seen, and of those things in the which I will appear

unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from

the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open

their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light,

and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may

receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among

them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

Acts 26:16-18

At this point, Paul would never have conceived of going to the Gentiles with any kind of news, good or bad. He wouldn't have even desired to talk to them. It was the same kind of "love" the Pharisees held for the people, the "sinners."

Throughout all of this, Jesus is chiefly talking to the Pharisees and scribes, and any other throughout time that feels righteous, highly better than the sinners about them. Jesus is talking to those that ought to know better, those that swear up and down that they know the Scriptures, that they have memorized the Law of God. Jesus, throughout every single parable, has been addressing those that feel they are serving God, whereas in reality they are very far from God.

Jesus ends with the barb at this latest parable, He tells the religious experts that they cannot serve two masters, they cannot serve both men and money. It's an apt message that echoes down to the learned rich beggars of today! The Pharisees were telling the same kind of Prosperity Gospel as are most of the false teachers of today. Jesus tells them, you cannot serve both money and God (Luke 16:13).

And how do the Pharisees and scribes react to the running admonition against them?

And the Pharisees also, who were covetous,

heard all these things: and they derided him.

Luke 16:14

Instead of feeling guilty at all this sermon presented for their benefit, they are covetous -- covetous of money, but more famously for desiring glory, to have the common people look up to them, to wear fancy clothes and eat fancy foods, to have people acknowledge their righteousness.

Jesus first lays into them, giving them the diagnosis of a doctor to a dying patient, and then the parable to bring the point home. Remember, these are men who have made an entire lifestyle out of memorizing the Scriptures, of copying out the Scriptures, of teaching the people, these are men who are proud of their accomplishment, and love to have people acknowledge their hard work and wisdom in interpreting the Scriptures.

And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify

yourselves before men; but God knoweth your

hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among

men is abomination in the sight of God. The law

and the prophets were until John: since that time

the kingdom of God is preached, and every man

presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and

earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth

another, committeth adultery: and whosoever

marrieth her that is put away from her husband

committeth adultery.

Luke 16:15-18

Jesus knows the hearts of these men -- they do not possess God's righteousness, but their own, and they are very accomplished in their pursuits; however, their hearts betray that all their efforts are in bringing home their own glory, not in bringing glory to God. This high self esteem, glory and applause from ordinary people, this stuff the Pharisees and scribes heap to themselves, is an abomination to God. These men, experts in the law and Scriptures, do not apply them justly, they do not correctly divide the Word of Truth. The laaw has existed forever, these men are experts in that law, and yet they don't employ their own medicine, they are all sick and they don't know it.

In fact, these men are such "law experts" that they have found a way around almost all of God's laws, little loopholes that over time have grown around God's laws. For centuries this collection of loopholes was known as the "oral tradition" and the "tradition of the elders." And this set of man-made laws and traditions is what the scribes and Pharisees were actually proficient in, holding their traditions higher than the Bible itself!

Jesus makes it very clear, that heaven and earth could and would pass away before the Law of God would ever change. He could hardly state this more powerfully! Has the earth and the heaven ever passed away in recorded history? Absolutely not. They exist to this day (it's where I'm writing from, I'll let you guess which location). The Laws of God exist today, and they have not changed, but even in the day of Jesus, as God walked among men, these "Scripture Answermen" were busily explaining away the laws of God with their traditional loopholes, divorcing their wives without Biblical support to do so.

Jesus immediately launches into one of His most powerful, and certainly most misunderstood parables. As was the case with all the aforementioned parables, of which only one was announced as a parable, Jesus simply begins to tell a story:

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed

in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously

every day: And there was a certain beggar named

Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell

from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs

came and licked his sores.

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was

carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the

rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he

lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth

Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have

mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip

the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue;

for I am tormented in this flame.

But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy

lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise

Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and

thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us

and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they

which would pass from hence to you cannot;

neither can they pass to us, that would come from

thence.

Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou

wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have

five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest

they also come into this place of torment.

Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the

prophets; let them hear them.

And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went

unto them from the dead, they will repent.

And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and

the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,

though one rose from the dead.

Luke 16:19-31

As has been the case, Jesus is talking for the benefit of the scribes and Pharisees. Experts of man-made tradition that is not only considered worthless to God, but actually an abomination. Jesus talks to these lost of the lost, men who feel they are serving God, whereas they are actually judging sinners, and will thus come under judgment themselves, part of that final crew that will approach the Lord on the Last Day, shouting Lord! Lord:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,

shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he

that doeth the will of my Father which is in

heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord,

Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?

and in thy name have cast out devils? and in

thy name done many wonderful works? And

then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:

depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Matthew 7:21-23

So it is those doing all the name-calling that are the worst sinners, even though they fully believe they are serving God.

So Jesus, talking to religious experts, wisely takes their very own teaching, skillfully employing their own cherished traditions, but turning them upside-down for an eye-opening effect. As Jesus knocked Paul off his mount, blinding him with glory, so Jesus seeks to open the eyes of his worst enemies, employing their own beliefs to do so!

The Pharisees believed that rich men were blessed of God, whereas poor people were cursed. Doesn't that sound familiar? You can turn to just about any psuedo-religious channel and hear the same Prosperity Message preached It is even now called The Secret. (And which did come first, the chicken or the egg? Did the Prosperity Gospel get this from the New Age, or did the New Age get it from False Christianity?)

Jesus tells a parable about a poor beggar, so diminished and impoverished that he must sit and beg for scraps of food at a rich man's gate, and the only comfort the beggar gets is the dogs that come and lick his oozing sores. It is a disgusting picture, a filthy no-account that doesn't even qualify for Welfare, a bum that won't work, a sleazy creep that doesn't even shoo away the mangy dogs licking his diseased sores, probably infecting the mangy mutts as well, while at the same time the wealthy man is dressed in the richest clothes, in purple to signify his royal blood, eating grandly prosperous meals every day, and we are to understand that this rich man, so blessed, actually is kind enough to throw scraps of food to the filthy beggar outside the plantation gate.

A creep and a blessed saint.

To the Pharisees listening, the rich man was obviously one of those most blessed by God, rich and comfortable, whereas this loathsome creep Lazarus was under multiple curses. A rich good man, and an impoverished, very bad man.

But then Jesus pulls a fast one, he flips the knowledge and man-made traditions of the Pharisees upside down!

In this version, Jesus presents the rich man going to hell, while the poor beggar Lazarus is carried by angels into the Bosom of Abraham, an expression coined by the Pharisees, an idea of joining your fathers, Abraham being the father of the Jews. The poor man is NOT cursed, and the rich man is NOT blessed!

In this parable, Lazarus is comically inside of Abraham's chest, so Jesus has taken a figurative idea and turned it into a literal depiction; it would have made everyone listening smile. And the rich man, in torment, actually looks across a great chasm and sees the poor man that he used to throw scraps of food to, and he shouts across this chasm -- not to Lazarus, as he might expect the poor beggar to actually owe him something for all those delectable scraps of food -- but no, he actually addresses Father Abraham, requesting the Patriarch to employ Lazarus as a "go-fer," send that despicable lout out of your chest, and have him rub an ice cube on my tongue, give me a little cool-off here in all these torments of hellfire and damnation. Suffering succotash!

Abraham, even acknowledging the rich man as one of his "sons," his descendants, his "seed," calmly explains that Lazarus is actually the good man, blessed by God, while the rich man must now pay for his life of luxury. Abraham even goes so far as to explain how his chest and hell can't exchange things, but must remain remote from each other (fully visible, and able to talk back and forth, but no cooling water to bring comfort in the torments).

The rich entrepreneur then asks for a second favor, if you can't help me out, Father Abe, then send that go-fer to my family so that they can catch the drift, and end up in your blissful chest instead of here in torment with me! Jesus is telling Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" long before the birth of Charles Dickens, with Abraham the three spirits all rolled up into one, and the beggar playing the part of the righteous of God, Tiny Tim.

Abraham grins and shakes a finger. He reminds them of the Scriptures which contain everything they need to know. It's enough. There's the Truth.

Think about it. This was BEFORE the New Testament was written, and yet everything was there, everything required by the rich man in order to know the true things of God. And yet the rich man had ignored those deep things and instead clung to the Prosperity Gospel, which is a false good news.

The rich man who is now tormented begs Abraham to send Lazarus anyway, that such an event should convince his family of the Truth.

Abraham replies that if they don't listen to the Bible, that they won't be convinced even if someone were to return from the dead to warn them.

So this story, which is certainly not to be taken literally (if it were to be taken literally, then heaven is inside Abraham's chest, and someone in "hell" is sound enough of mind and body to make coherent requests, talking on an even keel; taken literally people in heaven can see and talk to people in hell) as Jesus employed the Pharisees' twisted traditions against them. Jesus, who loved the scribes and Pharisees as much as he loved the sinners, was talking plainly to them; he was talking to men who actually knew the Scriptures, but were setting them aside for their own traditions (Mark 7:6-13, Colossians 2:8).

But the ONLY way this parable is used today is when someone wants to prove to someone else "what happens after you die!" And as we have just read, this was not even an issue, it's not even broached as part of the discussion over three chapters! Nobody has even hinted about an "immortal soul," least of all Jesus.

When people do this, snatch this parable out of the Bible and turn it to their own ignorant uses, they are twisting and mangling the intent of God's Holy Word. If you ask your average Sunday School teacher in what context Jesus told the parable of "The Rich Man and Lazarus," he will almost certainly tell you that Jesus was providing details about the "afterlife," that He is telling us truths about hell, and about heaven! Try it yourself, ask someone you consider knowledgeable in Scripture, and see if they know what you now know, that this was a parable told expressly for the scribes and Pharisees who were ridiculing Jesus and His teachings, and that it stands TODAY for anyone who would set aside the Commandments of God for the traditions and laws of men. That it speaks distinctly against any Prosperity Gospel.

So Jesus made the significant point, love of money is going to get you into trouble. That you can't serve both God AND money.That rich men are not necessarily blessed of God and poor men are not necessarily cursed. And that if people will not harken to the teachings of the Bible, including what is called the "Old Testament," that they are in serious, serious trouble, and very well might end up in a place that is a far cry from Abaham's bosom!

This is distinctly a parable told by Jesus, to reveal TRUTH, but not Spiritualism 101 teachings (think about it, you take this "truth" away from the false teacher, and they don't have half a leg to stand on about their beliefs on both heaven and hell!).

I have heard even learned, trustable "Bible Answermen" and "Scripture Scholars" and "Sunday School Teachers" (that ought to know better) employ this parable of "The Rich Man and Lazarus," completely out of context, to "prove" their vain doctrines and traditions. To "prove" the existence of their immortal soul and even what the Spiritualist teaches as life beyond death!

Heaven forbid!

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Douglas Christian Larsen

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