Trinity 1
Lk
16:19-31
6/7/26
Our text this morning, the parable
of the rich man and Lazarus, fascinates Christians because it talks about
something that is often our focus: the question of what happens when a person
dies before the return of Christ. While we are very interested in this, when we
look in Scripture we are disappointed to find that God’s Word basically never
talks about it. Instead, its
overwhelming and repeated emphasis is the return of the Lord Jesus on the Last
Day and the resurrection of the dead.
What Scripture does say about the
death of a Christian before the Last Day is clear and comforting. As Paul
contemplates the possibility of his own death he tells the Philippians, “My
desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” He
describes death to the Corinthians as being “at home with the Lord.” And of
course, Jesus told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in
paradise.”
But if you are looking for details
about what this is like, you are out of luck. At first glance, the only
exception to this appears to be our text. And while, as we will see, we do
learn some clear truths here, it seems unlikely that can gain many specific
details. Though never actually labeled a parable, it seems to take that form
and so this raises the questions about how far you can press the individual
features of the account.
So if we don’t really learn much
about what happens after death in our text, what do we learn about here? The
answer turns out to be very basic: money and the word of God. The fact that it teaches about the word of God
is not difficult to understand. The last verse in our text says, “If they do
not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if
someone should rise from the dead.”
But the emphasis on money – how we
view and use it – is something that runs throughout this chapter. It began with
the rather puzzling parable of the unjust steward. And while it seems strange
that the parable sets before us a man who was defrauding the owner, the point
of the parable is that the man recognized the critical moment that faced him
and used wealth accordingly. In the same way, we are to recognize the critical
moment that has arrived in Jesus and use our wealth in ways that reflects this.
Jesus then went on to say, “If then
you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you
the true riches?” The Lord calls upon
his disciples to be faithful in how we use the wealth of this world. And then
he tells us why as he says, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he
will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Christ describes money and wealth as
a competing lord in our life. It is a
false god which becomes the focus of our attention, and the source of our sense
of security and well being. Jesus had been talking about money, and Luke
reports, “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things,
and they ridiculed him.”
So when Jesus says, “There was a
rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted
sumptuously every day,” this is a continuation of his teaching about money and
wealth. We know that this parable is going to teach us about how this should
function in our lives.
Our Lord describes a rich man who is
living an obscenely wealthy life. He wears the very finest clothing. He feasts
excessively on the very best food every day. Think of billionaire who jets
around the world eating at the most expensive restaurants as he down thousand
dollar bottles of wine.
By contrast, Jesus then describes a
desperately poor man. He says, “And at his gate was laid a poor man named
Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the
rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.” Destitute
and sick, this poor man desired only to eat the scraps that fell from the rich
man’s table. This was his desire, but it soon becomes clear that the rich man
paid no attention to Lazarus and did not help him.
We learn that both men died. Lazarus
was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side, which is a Jewish way of
describing salvation. However, when the rich man died he found himself in Hades
where he was in torment. From hell he was able to look up and see Abraham with
Lazarus.
He called out, “Father Abraham, have
mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water
and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.” Even though he was in hell, the rich man was
still thinking in the way he had lived his life. He still thought of Lazarus as
being beneath him. He was a servant who could be used to attend to the rich
man’s needs.
However, Abraham pointed out that
things no longer worked in the ways that the rich man expected. He said,
“Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and
Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in
anguish.” The rich man had enjoyed the
comforts of the world. But as we will see in a moment, his wealth had ruled his
life and he had not used it in ways produced by faith in God. Now, Lazarus was
comforted and the rich man was in torment.
And then Abraham added an
explanation about why the rich man’s request was simply not possible. He said,
“And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in
order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may
cross from there to us.”
While we may not know exactly how
far to press the details of the story, there are a number of things that seem
quite clear. First, death does mark a great divide. Either you are with Christ
in salvation or you are not. You are one or the other, and after death there is
no changing the outcome.
Second, the torment of hell in being separated from God is very
real. Our text describes this torment before the Last Day. All the more we know
that this will be the case at the Last Day. Remember, the resurrection of the
body will be experienced by all. Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this,
for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his
voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” The judgment of
hell will not only be a spiritual reality. It will be a judgment in body and
soul. Jesus said, “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will
come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the
fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The rich man had been confronted by the hopelessness of his
situation. He was in torment and there was nothing he could do to change it. So
he said to Abraham, “Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—
for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into
this place of torment.” Presumably the man’s five brothers were living in the
same way that he had. The rich man hoped to turn them away from the path that
had led him to hell.
But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let
them hear them.” The patriarch responded that the rich man’s brother already
had the Scriptures. They had God’s word. They should listen to it.
The rich man objected, “No, father Abraham, but if someone
goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He asserted that someone coming
to warn them from beyond the grave – from the dead – would make all the
difference. It would do more than just hearing the Scriptures. But Abaham
replied, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will
they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”
When Martin Luther preached on this text he said: “All the Gospel
readings teach faith and love, which (I hope) you understand easily enough,
since no human being can please God unless he believes and loves. Now in this
Gospel reading the Lord presents us with an example of both faith and unbelief
or the godless condition, so that we also avoid the opposites of faith and love
and all the more diligently cling to faith and love.”
The Christian life is defined by faith in the crucified and risen
Lord. St Paul told the Romans that “if you confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved.” As Paul told the Ephesians about Christ, “In him we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our
trespasses.”
This faith is the work of the Spirit. Though we were once
spiritually blind, dead, and enemies of God the Holy Spirit has given us the
washing of regeneration and renewal in Holy Baptism. We now live as those who
are in Christ. We are a new creation.
This faith, forgiveness, and salvation is a gift of God. But as
God’s gift its impact does not end with us. Instead, as those who are in Christ
we become “little Christ’s” in the world. Paul told the Galatians that “faith
is active in love.” He instructed Titus that Christ “gave himself for us
to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a
people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
The rich man in our text used his wealth in selfish excess. He
ignored the needs of Lazarus. The Lord’s words should lead you to consider the
role that money and wealth have in your life, and the extent to which you are
using it in faith. God has promised you daily bread – those things that you
need to support this body and life. The apostle Paul teaches us the correct
attitude when he writes to Timohty: “But godliness with contentment
is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot
take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with
these we will be content.”
We have already seen how Jesus described money as a spiritual
threat. He said, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the
one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and money.” Paul went on to warn that “the love of money
is a root of all kinds of evils.”
Faith will act in love. It will view the money and wealth with
which God blesses us as the means for doing this. The first place this applies is
in the life of the Church – in the support of the Means of Grace that go on in
your midst. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians about their offering he said,
“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and
whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as
he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Next, we will see our wealth as the means by which we share
Christ’s love with the Body of Christ – the Church. We have an opportunity to
do this by giving money to assist the Lutherans in Sudan who have been
displaced from their homes by Muslim attacks. We can support the proclamation
of the Gospel and the life of the Church around the world through supporting
groups such as the Lutheran Heritage Foundation and LCMS missionaries. And then
there will be human care ministries and services through which our donations
can assist others, including those outside the church.
Peter told the Christians in Asia Minor, “Having purified your
souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly
love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been
born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the
living and abiding word of God.” Born
again by God’s Spirit through the word, our text today reminds us about the
continuing power of that word for our lives.
Lazarus claims that if someone goes to his brothers from the dead,
his brothers will turn away from their sin. But Abraham says, “If they do not
hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if
someone should rise from the dead.” Here Christ tells us that the Scriptures
are entirely sufficient for our spiritual needs. They provide all that we need because it is
the word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit continues to be at work
through that word to sustain the life of faith. Through that word he illumines
the way that we should walk, even as he provides the ability to do so.
Faith and love – these define our life as Christians. We live by
faith in Jesus Christ. By his death and resurrection he has given us
forgiveness and salvation. Baptized into Christ the Spirit has made us a new
creation in Christ so that we can live in love toward others. In this life of
love, our money and wealth cease to be something that serves as a false god. Instead, it becomes the means by which we share
God’s love in Christ.
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