In our last blog post, we examined the question of who constitutes a brother or neighbor in God’s law. We also saw some of the kinds of things that people were supposed to do for brothers and neighbors. So it’s a little jarring to see that, by Jesus’ day, so many people were poor and reduced to begging. The system appears to have broken down.
We must ask the question: Were people ignoring the pro-life ethic? It seems the Jewish people were doing their best to resist the humanism and decadence of Greek and Roman culture, but they seem to have nevertheless been influenced by its spirit of independence and competition.
Parable or true story?
Jesus told this story highlighting the contrasts between two people. One lived in nonstop joyous luxury, while the other existed in unrelenting misery. After death, one found himself in eternal torment while the other enjoyed eternal comfort and bliss. Is this a parable, or a true story?
Someone has said that a parable is “an instructive story set in reality.” That’s a fair definition, but I believe this account actually happened. First, because it names two of the characters, which is unlike other parables. The poor man’s name was Lazarus, and when he died he was taken by angels to rest in Abraham’s bosom. Because we know Abraham really lived and was the actual patriarch of Israel, I’m led to believe Lazarus was a real person too.
We know from Jesus’ words in Luke 20:37-38 that Abraham still lived. “He is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all live to Him.” Since Moses and Elijah were able to appear with Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration (Luke 9:30), so too could this drama have actually happened. Would Jesus make up a story about His friend Abraham to fit His purpose? I think not.
Meanwhile, the rich man’s identity is hidden, perhaps to spare his survivors embarrassment. We learn that he and Lazarus had been linked during their lifetimes, and that after death he was able to have a conversation with Abraham. And this brings me to my second reason for believing this is a true story: I don’t think Jesus would put words in Abraham’s mouth, things he never said. That’s not how biblical narratives are meant to be understood. Instead, He related words that Abraham actually spoke to the rich man. And his words are true.
In his speeches to the rich man, Abraham was gentle yet firm. Although they came after him chronologically, Moses and the other prophets are alive and Abraham knows them. Furthermore, he can attest to the sufficiency of their warnings. He knows that if people won’t heed the record that the prophets left behind, they won’t accept Jesus and, therefore, attain eternal life (Lk 7:24-30). Abraham is wise to the ways of the afterlife (Luke 16:26) and attuned with the teachings of Jesus (Luke 6:24-25): “Woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.”
The rich man violated brother-keeping
What links Lazarus to the rich man is that he used to lie at that man’s gate, hoping for scraps from the well-laden table. It doesn’t sound as though he ever got anything. Instead, Lazarus only got bad things—kicks, taunts, curses—while the rich man never took a break from his splendor.
There is a tradition in God's word about people receiving scraps from tables. Recall the Syrophoenician woman’s comment to Jesus that even dogs were allowed to eat the scraps from Jews tables? She knew that her children were more valuable than dogs, and hoped that pity would move Jesus to help her (Mark 7:25-30).
In another instance we see Mephibosheth—Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson—welcomed to King David’s table, even though they should have been enemies. Mephibosheth considered himself a “dead dog” because he was lame, and because rivals for a throne would ordinarily be killed (2 Samuel 9:7-8).
A third example is more obscure. Adoni-bezek was a Canaanite king who was known to have vanquished 70 kings and cut off their big toes and thumbs so they wouldn’t be able to rise in rebellion against him . He kept his enemies close by subjugating them to eating whatever scraps fell from his table (Judges 1:6-7).
So we see that Lazarus wasn’t even allowed this privilege. The dogs may have been allowed inside, to clean up the scraps that fell as garbage from the lavish banquet table. The text says Lazarus longed to eat those scraps, but was so despised in the eyes of the rich man that he was kept from the banquet hall. On top of this, how much abuse had he endured from the rich man’s guests as they made their way past Lazarus to their seats at the table?
The rich man ignored Jesus’ teachings
We see bullying continue in the parable. Now that Lazarus has had a moment of rest, the rich man wants him to get to work. Serve me some water! Go warn my brothers not to come here! Even from his perch in depths of torment, he sees Lazarus as beneath him. Had he ever thought to give Lazarus a job when they were living?
And this brings us to more passages in the immediate context of Luke’s gospel, including other parables.
- In the course of relating the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus rebuked people who would not lift a finger to help (Luke 10:30-37). He praised the one who used what wealth he had to save the life of a dying neighbor he didn’t know. Did the rich man in our parable know that Lazarus was dying? Had he even noticed? What was his excuse for not using even a fraction of his vast wealth to help someone on his doorstep?
- In Luke 11:41, Jesus told Pharisees to be as careful about giving generously to poor people like Lazarus as they were about precise tithing.
- Luke 12:13-21 records Jesus’ story of a rich fool who forgot to be rich toward God. This man stored up wealth for himself while perhaps neglecting to be generous with people in his life who were as poor as Lazarus.
- In Luke 12:32-34, Jesus told his listeners something similar to what He’d said to the rich young ruler (Mark 10:21) - “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” Very few of us have to sell everything in order to be generous, but when viewed in the light of our eternal destiny as described in our parable, the choice couldn’t be more stark.
- In Luke 13:22-30, Jesus likened the kingdom of God to a feast. He warned that some unexpected people—the Lazaruses of the world—will be inside enjoying themselves with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while others who assumed they deserve a seat at the table will be locked out.
- The rich man in our parable should have heeded Jesus’ advice in Luke 14:7-11. Instead, he always took the best seat, and found himself demoted to the worst. Meanwhile Lazarus was always given the worst seat… outside, in the gutter. Imagine his surprise at finding himself in the best seat in the kingdom, right next to the father of faith!
- In Luke 14:12-14, Jesus offered more banquet-giving advice: Invite people like Lazarus (the poor, crippled, lame, and blind) to your table, rather than those who would have been on the rich man’s guest list (relatives, friends, or rich neighbors). Why? It’s self-serving to invite people who can return the favor, while it’s other-serving to invite those who can’t invite you back.
- In the parable of the Great Banquet in Luke 14:15-23, Jesus warns those too busy that they will miss out. The rejects of society (the poor, crippled, blind, and lame, the people by the side of the road) will occupy the spaces of those who were invited but refused to come. The Master wants his house to be full, and it will be.
- Finally, in Luke 15:22-32, a father is compelled by joy to celebrate his prodigal’s return with a great feast. “We had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.” He wants everyone there so he can fully enjoy himself, even the grudging older.
You see, this “parable” about Lazarus, Abraham, and the rich man is not an outlier.
Poverty is a test, but not for the poor
So what had gone wrong in society that poor people were reduced to begging for scraps? Why were they not out scouring the fields for any remaining grain? Were they no longer welcome to glean? Was society no longer agrarian? Was there no longer a system of indentured servanthood, in which a person could work off debt? Had begging replaced these allowances for the poor, or were poor people no longer willing to work? What happened to people who were unable to work—orphan children, the aged, people with disabilities?
In Mark 14:6-8, Jesus honored a woman who did what she could for Him, while He was here. He added, “You always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.” The implication is that now, since we do not have Jesus here with us in the flesh, we can concentrate on doing good to the poor.
This was a direct allusion to Deuteronomy 15:11 - “The poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’ Notice the command. It is the law of God to care for the poor.
It follows on an earlier statement, in Deut. 15:4-5 where Moses promised “there will be no poor among you, since YHWH will surely bless you.” It’s a conditional promise. This will be true if laws were obeyed. That’s a big IF. Moses knew they would falter, and that the poor would always be with them.
He went on to describe how poverty would be a test. It’s not a test of those in poverty, but of those who have something to give (Deut. 15:7-11). It’s all relative. We all have less than some and more than others. How do we react? Do we harden our hearts toward the poor? Do we close our hands? Do we have base thoughts about them? Are our eyes hostile? Will we give generously, or not at all? Jesus wants to know the answers to these questions too.
In his lifetime, Lazarus had served the rich man by being a living parable of the brevity of life. God placed him at the rich man’s gate where he would also serve as a test: would the rich man notice him, take pity on him, offer him a place at his table, do anything to alleviate his condition?
Both the rich man and Lazarus did nothing to earn their final resting place. The rich man did nothing for Lazarus because he didn’t believe God saw his heart; God could see his heart was not rich toward Him. Lazarus did nothing because he apparently had the same faith as Abraham who “believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
The rich man continues to serve as a dire warning for us: to pay attention now to the law and prophets, to the One who rose from the dead, before it’s too late and the gulf is fixed.
Next: Broken brother-keeping as a cause of poverty
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Resource: Luke 16:19-31: Lazarus and the rich man - literal, allegorical, or a mixture of both? https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/27088/luke-1619-31-lazarus-and-the-rich-man-literal-allegorical-or-a-mixture-of-bo
Image credit: Lazarus at the Rich Man's Gate, Fyodor Bronnikov, 1886; public domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_man_and_Lazarus#/media/File:Fedor_Bronnikov_007.jpg, http://etnaa.mylivepage.ru/image/411/12132_Притча_о_Лазаре._1886.jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9882122
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