Luke 16:24-26 (NIV) “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.’”
The poor beggar, Lazarus, has died, and is now in Paradise at the side of Abraham. The rich man, who feasted every day and completely ignored Lazarus suffering at his gate, has also died, and is now in an eternal, fiery torment. Immediately, the rich man spotted Lazarus with Abraham far across a great chasm, and cried out for mercy.
The cry is indeed pitiful, but for different reasons than the rich man thinks. Even in the fires of hell he still sees himself as worthy of being waited on by those beneath him on the social scale. It turns out that he wasn’t completely unaware of who Lazarus was after all; he recognized him at once. But he calls out to Father Abraham to send Lazarus to him to serve him some water to quench his burning thirst.
Abraham simply points out the obvious. The rich man’s sufferings are the result of his focus on his own pleasure while he lived. His suffering is not just happenstance, but a penalty. That penalty includes no relief from his suffering for all eternity. And, even if someone was soft-hearted enough to want to help him, God Himself has fixed a great chasm between the two groups of people, the blessed and the punished, to keep either from crossing to the other side, the condemned to escape, and the blessed to help.
This parable does not teach that all of the rich will end up in hell, and all of the poor end up in heaven. Lazarus ended up in Paradise with Abraham the same way that Abraham ended up there: through devoutly following God’s word, despite his own trials and sufferings. And the rich man ended up in torment not because he was rich, but because he, like the Pharisees listening to the parable, loved money, relished the things it could buy, and were not genuinely generous to those near them who were in need. This mind-set was demonstrated by the showy way in which they gave to the poor (Matthew 6:2), and did other works of righteousness. Their hearts were not in it.
In the end, this was a warning to the Pharisees, unfortunately unheeded, to change their hearts and their attitudes toward both people and wealth. If they would not, suffering was waiting.
Father, it’s amazing to me that, even though they were His sworn enemies, Jesus genuinely cared about these Pharisees, and about their eternal destinies, enough to try to warn them away from the suffering that was waiting for them. That’s agape love in action! Thank You for this great illustration. Amen.