RICH MAN AND LAZARUS
RICH MAN AND LAZARUS
(CP Lu 16:19-31) Many Bible scholars do not regard this narrative as a parable, but the facts are in symbolic form and that warrants its inclusion as a parable in this study. We have already looked at V19-25 in our earlier study on the parable of the rich fool, but there is much more teaching in this parable than just those verses, so we do need to include them again here. Jesus spoke this parable after the Pharisees derided Him for teaching the parable of the unjust steward (CP V14-17). The Pharisees were not interested in using their personal wealth to benefit others with eternal life as Jesus taught in the parable of the unjust steward - they were only concerned with using their wealth for their own self-indulgent lifestyle, portrayed by the rich man in this parable "...which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day..."
As was stated in our study of these verses previously in the parable of the rich fool, this is not teaching that the rich man went to hell just because he was rich and Lazarus went to Abraham's bosom - paradise - just because he was poor. Neither affluence nor poverty determines our eternal state, but the life we live on earth. The rich man went to hell because his life was filled with self-centred living, not caring about others of God's children worse off than himself. He fared sumptuously every day while Lazarus went hungry. In his self-indulgent lifestyle the rich man violated God's two greatest commandments (CP Mt 22:34-40). Lazarus went straight to paradise where all the righteous dead went before Christ's death and resurrection. Christ took them to heaven with Him when He "ascended on high" (CP Eph 4:8-10). Lazarus was declared righteous, not because he was poor, but because he found his help in God. Lazarus' name depicted his relationship with God. Lazarus means "God has helped" or "God, the helper". The significance of his name suggests that Jesus meant Lazarus to Symbolize all the outcasts of society who had no other help but God (CP Mt 5:3; Lu 4:17-18).
This parable teaches above all else that men cannot profess reverence for God while at the same time living only for the fulfilment of their own self-gratifying desires. God says it is only our love for others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ, that proves our love for Him, and we cannot honestly say we love them if we are not prepared to give of our material possessions to them (CP Jas 2:13-17; 1Jn 3:16-19). As previously noted, anyone claiming to be a born again believer who at the same time consciously sows to their flesh, is guilty of mocking and despising God, and will forfeit their place in His kingdom (CP Pr 19:17; 21:13; 22:9; Ga 6:7-10). Another clear teaching in this parable, confirmed by many other scriptures also, is that the souls and the spirits of the righteous go straight to heaven when they die (CP Lu 20:38; 23:42-43; Jn 11:25-26; Ac 7:59-60; 2Cor 5:1-9; Eph 3:15; Php 1:21-24; He 12:22-23; Rev 6:9-11). There is no intermediate state between death and our final destination in eternity called "purgatory" as some believe, where Christians supposedly must go to suffer for a time and be purified on account of their earthly sins before they can be accepted into heaven. Neither is there any further opportunity for sinners to repent after they die. Everyone's eternal destiny is settled forever at death (CP He 9:27; 2Pe 2:9; Rev 22:11). This parable also teaches that we have no light beyond the revelation of God in scripture (CP Lu 16:27-31). Nothing supernatural or miraculous can have any effect on anyone's lifestyle if the word of God is not believed and obeyed. The rich man thought that if someone came back from the dead to warn his brothers of their impending doom that it would appeal to their consciences to alter their lifestyles and so be saved, but Abraham said that nothing could prevent them sharing the same fate as their brother even if someone came back from the dead if they did not believe and obey God's word, which they already had. Jesus Himself came back from the dead but most people still do not believe on Him.
Summing up this parable the lessons we learn are that man cannot serve two masters - he cannot serve God and mammon; if a man gains the world but loses his soul his loss will be eternal - there is no further opportunity to repent after death; heaven and hell are realities, and personality - feeling, knowing, seeing, reasoning and remembering - continues in eternity, whether it be in heaven or hell. It depends entirely upon how we spend our life on earth whether these faculties will aid our bliss in heaven, or add to our torment in hell.
UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS
(CP Lu 17:7-10) This is also known as the parable of the servant's reward; the unworthy slave; the farmer and servant, etc. It clearly shows the error in believing that the elder son in the parable of the lost son in Luke 15:11-24 had no blame attached to him (CP 15:11-24). Luke 17:7-10 answers two questions: "What is the obligation of a disciple toward Christ? What attitude should a disciple have while serving Christ?" Jesus told this parable to give His disciples a perspective on the meaning of servanthood. He explains that in doing what is required, the servant in the parable is not doing anything creditworthy, deserving his master's thanks; he is simply fulfilling his duty, and He goes on to say that Christians also, in fulfilling their obligations to God should not expect any special rewards either. All that we can do as servants of God is merely our common duty. We merit nothing and should not expect anything for what we do. This clearly teaches against the attitude of the elder son toward his father in the parable of the lost son. UNJUST JUDGE
(CP Lu 18:1-8) This is also known as the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. This parable is used by many in the contemporary church to teach that when we bring a petition before God we should persist in praying for it like the widow persisted with the judge until God answers us, like the judge eventually answered the widow. But that is not what the parable is teaching at all. If it did then we are putting a just and holy God in the same category as an unjust and unholy judge. The parable does not compare the two, it contrasts them. The spiritual teaching of the parable is not about prayer in general, but prayer pertaining to the Lord's second coming - intercessory prayer. It is the concluding part of a fairly long discourse by Jesus about His second coming in Lu 17. It is a call to believers to persevere in prayer against the works of the devil until Jesus comes back (CP Lu 17:20-18:8). The conjunction and in 18:1 means that V1-8 are a continuation of the same discourse Jesus commenced in 17:20.
The widow's adversary in the lawsuit before the judge in the parable is the equivalent to our adversary the devil in the earth. The parable teaches us that we are not to be passive spectators in the kingdom of God but to persist in faith and persevere in prayer for God's will to be done on earth in spite of continued opposition and rejection, which is what the unjust judge portrays in the parable. This is what Jesus means when He says that men ought always to pray and not faint in 18:1. He wants us to keep praying the kingdom in and not give up, even though His second coming may not be immediate. That is why He questions whether the Christians then remaining when He does come back will still be faithfully pressing in for the things of the kingdom and persevering in prayer, as portrayed by the widow in the parable, or will they have given up hope and lost their faith. Jesus then contrasts the unwilling and uncaring judge's tardiness in vindicating the widow, to God's willingness and readiness to vindicate His children. When Jesus comes back God will vindicate His righteous cause and therewith the cause of His children, but they must trust Him and not lose heart in the meantime. They must here and now continue faithfully in the work He has assigned to them.
PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN
(CP Lu 18:9-14) For the benefit of those who do not know, a publican in scripture is a tax-collector, one who pays the Government for the privilege of collecting the customs and taxes of a particular district. They were the objects of bitter hatred and scorn by the Jews because of the excessive profits they made. They were placed in the same category as harlots (CP Mt 21:32). Matthew was a publican before he became a disciple of Jesus' (CP Mt 9:9-13). Zacchaeus was also a publican - the chief among publicans - when he got saved (CP Lu 19:1-10). Jesus was scorned and derided by the Pharisees and scribes for fraternising with publicans (CP Mt 9:10-11; Lu 15:1-2). Jesus told the three-in-one parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son as a result of the Pharisees and scribes murmuring against Him in Lu 15:1-2.
This parable is not teaching that we have to bow our heads and close our eyes when we pray - that we cannot look up to heaven. The parable is not primarily concerned with prayer at all, but self-righteousness and religious pride. The purpose of the parable was to expose those who trusted in their own righteousness and despised others. It is about justification and getting right with God. The way to justification is expressed in the parable and summed up in what Jesus asserts at the end of the parable "...for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted...". This means the same as what Jesus said about the labourers in the parable of the labourers in the vineyard in Mt 20 "...so the last shall be first, and the first last...". In both these passages Jesus teaches that true humility leads to exaltation. God's generosity and mercy reaches out to the lost and it can be received only by the person concerned acknowledging the need of that mercy, like the lost son, in the parable of the lost son, and the publican here. Those, like the elder brother in the parable of the lost son, and the Pharisees and scribes throughout scripture, who object to the generosity of God to sinners, and who insist on their own righteousness, are not only setting themselves against the purpose of God for others, but are cutting themselves off for atonement. The publican went home justified before God because he acknowledged his need for God's mercy. God acquitted him, but not the Pharisee - he came into the temple a sinner, and left the same way. The Pharisee was self-righteous, he was not conscious of his own sinful nature. He considered himself righteous because of his acts of piety and outward goodness. He is justified in his own eyes and therefore does not need God's mercy. As a result he excluded himself from God's redeeming love and without he repented, salvation as well.