Biography of Jesus #70

Bucharest, Romania, has one of the largest and most opulent palaces in the world. It has impressive gardens, grand ballrooms and banquet halls with massive chandeliers and expensive carpets. It took years to build, consuming a significant portion of Romania’s Gross Domestic Product and thousands of workers. All of this is in one of the world’s poorer countries. It was built to be the private residence of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. In order to secure toe land for the palace, many homes and businesses were confiscated and demolished. Still, across the new plaza from the palace there were the bleak houses of the poor people of Bucharest. The dictator decided to have facades of attractive buildings constructed (no actual buildings; just facades)—so that he wouldn’t have to look at the places of the poor.

When we are healthy, we prefer not to look at the sick.
When we are rich, we may choose to avoid those who are poor.
When we are young, we may want to avoid those who are old.
When we are comfortable, we don’t like to be with people in pain.

Jesus told a story. It is pointed, powerful and uncomfortable. The story is a parable, not history. In other words, Jesus made-up the story to teach important truths. This is one of many parables Jesus taught but it is different from all the rest because this is the only parable which uses a person’s name. Somehow it makes the plight of the poor sick man more personal because Jesus calls him Lazarus.

Listen to Luke 16:19-31 (page 1626):

"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

"But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

"He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

"Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

"‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

"He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’"

Jesus told the story as if he expected it to become a stage play with two scenes.
Scene #1 is now, in and around the house of a rich man. Scene #2 is some time later on both sides of the dividing line between heaven and hell.

Jesus says that "there was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury everyday" (16:19).

His name is not given. That is a curiosity all by itself. Usually we know the names of the rich but not the names of the poor. (Who are the richest people in America? Who are the poorest people in America?) In Jesus’ story, the poor man is known by name and the rich man is known by wealth. It is an interesting contrast.

The rich man wore very expensive clothes. Purple and fine linen were so costly that it would have taken a year or more of the average worker’s wages to buy just one outfit. He didn’t dress just for modesty or for comfort. He deliberately dressed to look rich. His wardrobe fit today’s description of "conspicuous consumption."

He "lived in luxury every day" more literally means that he "feasted daily." Imagine a gourmet smorgasbord with the most exotic food available. This was his daily routine.

Simply stated, this man lived at the top end of the socio-economic ladder. He was very wealthy and he lived the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Jesus does not criticize his wealth. In fact, Jesus doesn’t condemn his lifestyle. He could have. Some would say that he should have. But, that wasn’t the point Jesus was trying to make. It had to do with the rich man’s relationship to Lazarus.

Poor man in misery

Luke 16:20-21
"At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores."

There is no explanation of why one man was so rich and comfortable while the other was so poor and miserable. The reason didn’t seem to matter to Jesus. It’s just the way things were. We often try to explain—"it’s because one worked hard and the other didn’t work at all" or "one inherited money and one was born to poverty." Jesus doesn’t say why—he is more concerned about what we do than how it happened.

"Lazarus" is the Latin form of the Hebrew name "Eleazer" which means "God is my help." Probably there were many days when he didn’t think God was all that helpful! He was sick, covered with sores. Imagine having a skin disease all over you. The disease left Lazarus too weak to keep away the stray dogs which insisted on licking his skin.

Homeless, helpless and hungry, Lazarus longed for the scraps from the rich man’s table. Those were the days before eating with knives and forks. People ate with their fingers (in Bangladesh and other parts of the world people still eat with their hands today). The very rich used pieces of bread to wipe their hands during and after eating and then threw the bread away. These were the scraps Lazarus hoped to retrieve and eat.

It is a portrait of extremes—the richest and the poorest; the heights of luxury and the depths of misery.

The sin of the rich man was not that he was rich. He didn’t withhold food from the poor. He didn’t chase him away from his gate. He didn’t make his life more miserable. He didn’t make Lazarus poor or sick in the first place. The rich man did nothing wrong.

That’s the whole point. He did nothing. His sin was that he didn’t care.

If the rich man were here today he would probably not know any poor people. He might observe that the houses and the apartments of the poor all seem to have television antennas and color TVs so they must be doing fine. He is not concerned that they have poor diets, no health insurance and cannot get jobs paying a fair wage. He doesn’t care that groceries are more expensive in the poorest parts of the city or that public transportation doesn’t run to the suburban jobs or that schools for the poor children don’t have enough money. He’s not against the poor. He just doesn’t think about it. He just doesn’t notice. He just doesn’t care. He does nothing.

 

Jesus’ second scene is later. Both men are dead. Death comes equally to the poor and the rich. Sooner or later we all die.

When the Bible was written the word "Hades" was used. Only later did translators substitute the word "hell." Hades was the place of the dead; the grave; death.

Death is divided into two parts. One is the place of torment for the unrighteous. The other is the place of pleasure for the righteous.

Rich man in misery

After death the roles are reversed. The rich man who lived in luxury is now in misery.

He is poor and pathetic. He is tormented and in constant misery. He yearns for a drop of water from Lazarus’ finger to cool his tongue and ease his pain even if it is only for a second or two.

He sees everything differently now. He knows Lazarus by name. He wants a connection to the man he barely noticed when he was alive.

Lazarus does not answer. Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, speaks instead. He explains that it is too late. Lazarus can’t help him. Their destinies after death were fixed before they died. It is too late.

The once-rich man makes a second request, not for himself but for his five brothers still living in their father’s home. "Send Lazarus to my father’s house. Let him warn them." Abraham explains that they’ve been warned in the Bible but that they would not listen. If somehow Lazarus could be sent back, no one would pay attention to anything he would say.

Poor man in luxury

In sharpest contrast, Lazarus who once was poor now lives in luxury. He has become far better off. He wouldn’t want to go back. He is with Abraham, the father of the faith.

Apparently Lazarus couldn’t even hear the other man’s words. Apparently he didn’t even know what happened to the once-rich neighbor.

Lazarus who once was sick now is well, who once was poor now is rich, who once had only dogs for friends is the friend of Father Abraham, who once lived in misery now live in luxury.

Luke 16:22-31

"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

"But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

"He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

"Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

"‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

"He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’"

When I read this parable, I’m the rich man. I have so much and it is so easy for me to ignore those who have so little. There are lessons here for me to hear and to learn. Perhaps they are lessons for you, too.

#1 Have personal concern for others who are poor, sick, miserable and needy.

Conclusion:

I love to end with a story which illustrates a real life example of what Jesus teaches. I have a good one for you today, but it is better told by someone else—someone who was actually there. Listen to today’s FaithStory from Wooddaler Jan Hultgren.