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Parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16:19-31

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.

20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores

21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

24 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.’

25 “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.

26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,

28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

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

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

31 “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.’”

Questions

Historical-cultural context

  • ‘Lazarus’ was a common name at the time. It means ‘whom God helps’.
  • ‘Hades’ was the realm of the dead in Greek mythology, ruled over by the God of the same name. However, the word ‘Hades’ was used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew word, ‘Sheol’, which was the ancient Jewish concept for the realm of the dead.
  • In First Temple Judaism, Sheol was conceived of as a place of silence, sleep and disorder. Everyone ends up there, saint or sinner.
  • In the Second Temple period, Jews developed new theologies about Sheol or Hades. There emerged a new theory that Hades would be separated into two by a chasm, with the righteous dead in the ‘bosom of Abraham’ on one side, and the unrighteous dead in the fire on the other. This echoes Greek ideas about Hades, where the righteous and unrighteous dead were also thought to be separated by a chasm.

Identify the purpose of the story

  • What has Jesus been saying just before this point in Luke’s gospel?
  • Who is Jesus addressing?
  • What has Jesus been teaching them up to this point?
  • What might we have expected Jesus to be doing in this passage, even before we start reading it?

Analyze structure and details

  • Who are the main characters in the story?
  • What are the main contrasts in the story?
  • What remarkable details are there in the story?
  • What details are remarkably absent in the story?
  • What point does the parable conclude with?

Discuss the central truth of the story

Interpreting the intention of this passage is HUGELY controversial. It’s OK if we don’t all agree on what this story is meant to be and what we should learn from it.

Commentators have had very different ideas what the intention of this story is. Here’s some of those ideas:

  • It’s a parable made up by Jesus. Look at all the structural similarities with other parables in Luke’s gospel.
  • It’s an account of an actual event. Jesus never identified the characters in his parables by name, but here he identifies the beggar as Lazarus.
  • It’s a warning that those without faith will be separated from God after death, but the details of the afterlife are not to be taken literally.
  • It’s a parable entirely designed to tell us about what happens after death, even in its literal details.
  • It’s a parody of the Pharisaic belief in the ‘bosom of Abraham’ theory.
  • It’s a satirical attack on the Sadducees. Notice how the rich man is dressed like a Sadducee, and how Jesus calls out both their rejection of the prophetic books and their disbelief in resurrection.
  • It’s a parable attacking the hypocritical ways that the Pharisees, or even the nation of Israel in general, lead their lives.

We can discuss which of these theories we find the most convincing.

Because people have had such different ideas on what the story is, they’ve also had different ideas on what the story is really all about - although there’s a little more overlap here than you might expect given the scale of the disagreements already mentioned. Here’s some of the ideas people have had:

  • The main point is to tell us literal details about the afterlife, namely:
    • It begins immediately after death
    • The righteous and unrighteous are permanently separated
    • The dead are conscious
    • The dead have physical bodies and live in a physical place
    • The unrighteous live in conscious, eternal torment
  • The main point is to tell us some structural facts about the afterlife as a warning that we need to get our lives in order now before it’s too late - but the exact details of the afterlife are not to be taken literally.
  • The main point isn’t about the afterlife at all, but the references to the essentially pagan Hades myth are used as a literary device to emphasise a point about this life. What is the point? Again, there’s more than one idea:
    • The point is that the rich should care for the poor
    • The point is that you shouldn’t assume that worldly wealth is a blessing from God
    • The point is that you need to really hear Scripture and respond to what it says, and if you don’t, signs and miracles won’t make any difference
    • The point is that, ultimately, whatever values we live out are what we’ll get. If we live a life of discompassion, then discompassion is what we’ll end up with

Again, we can discuss which of these ideas we find the most compelling.

Respond to the central truth of the parable

  • How might we relate ourselves to the rich man?
  • How might we relate ourselves to the Pharisees whom Jesus was addressing?
  • How might we change the way we live in response to this passage?