September 28, 2025

 

Luke 16.19-31

 

+ Well, I just gotta say:

 

It’s good to see all of you made it.

 

All of you survived yet another Rapture this past week.

 

So, either it didn’t happen, or we’ve all been left behind.

 

Shucks!

 

But, just in case you haven’t had enough of all that talk aboutthe end times and heaven and hell and who gets in and who doesn’t, we get thisparable this morning.

 

Ok.. . .I  weirdly love theparable we heard today.

 

I think I might be one of the very few people who do actually loveit.

 

For some, it’s just so weird and…well, bizarre.

 

It’s such an interesting story.

 

There’s just so much good stuff, right under the surface of it.

 

So, let’s take a look at it.

 

In it, we find Lazarus.  

 

Now, if you notice,  it’s the only time in Jesus’parables that we find someone given a name—and the name, nonetheless, of one ofJesus’ dearest friends.  In most of Jesus’ parables, the maincharacter is simply referred to as the Good Samaritan or the ProdigalSon.  

 

But here we have Lazarus.  

 

And the name actually carries some meaning.  

 

It means “God has helped me.”

 

Now the “rich man” in this story is not given a name by Jesus, buttradition has given him the name Dives, or “Rich Man”

 

Between these two characters we see such ajuxtaposition.  

 

We have the worldly man who loves his possessions and is definedby what he owns.  

 

And we have Lazarus who is poor, who seems to get sicker and hungrierall the time.

 

In fact, his name almost seems like a cruel joke.  

 

It doesn’t seem like God has helped Lazarus at all.

 

The Rich Man sees Lazarus, is aware of Lazarus, but despite hiswealth, despite all he has, despite, even his apparent happiness in his life,he can not even deign to give to poor Lazarus a scrap of food from all that hehas.

 

Traditionally of course, we have seen them as a very fat Rich Man,in fine clothing and a haughty look and a skinny, wasted Lazarus, covered insores, which I think must be fairly accurate to what Jesus hoped toconvey.  

 

They are opposite, mirror images of each other.  

 

But there are some subtle undercurrents to this story.  

 

Lazarus is not without friends or mercy in his life. In fact, itseems that maybe God really IS helping him. 

 

He is not quite the destitute person we think he is.

 

First of all, we find him laid out by the Rich Man’sgate.  

 

Someone must’ve put him there, in hopes that Rich Man would helphim. Someone cared for Lazarus, and that’s important to remember.

 

Second of all, we find these dogs who came to lick hissores.  

 

The presence of dogs is an interesting one.

 

Are they just wild dogs that roam the streets, or are they theRich Man’s watch dogs?

 

New Testament theologian Kenneth Bailey has mentioned that dogsaliva was believed by people at this time to have curative powers. (We nowknow that is definitely NOT the case)   

 

So, even the dogs are not necessarily a curse upon Lazarus but apossible blessing in disguise.

 

Finally, when Lazarus dies, God receives him into paradise.

 

In fact, as we hear, “angels carried him to be with Abraham.”

 

The Rich Man dies and goes to Hades—or the underworld.  

 

Lazarus goes up.

 

Dives goes down.

 

He literally dives.

 

The Rich Man, in the throes of his torment, cries out to Lazarus.

 

And Lazarus, if you notice, doesn’t ignore him or turn his back onhim, despite the fact that the Rich Man did just that to Lazarus.

 

Lazarus does not even scold him.  

 

It almost seems that Lazarus might almost be willing to go backand tell the Rich Man’s friends if only the gulf between them was not so wide.

 

There really is a beauty to this story and a lesson for us that ismore than just the bad man gets punished while the good man gets rewarded.

 

And it is also not really about heaven and hell either.

 

I get a lot of people who, when they hear that I do not believe inan eternal hell, remind me of this parable.

 

I, in turn, remind them that it is a parable .

 

It is a story that Jesus is telling.

 

He is not talking about literal people here.

 

And he is not talking about literal places.

 

Like it the Rapture, It is poetry and poetic imagery.

 

And that is vital to remember.

 

What we find is that, by the world’s standards, by the standardsof those who are defined by the material aspects of this life, Lazarus was theloser before he died and the Rich Man was the winner, even despite hiscallousness.

 

And the same could be said of us as well.  It mightseem, at moments, as though we are being punished by the things that happen tous.  

 

It is too easy to pound our chests and throw dirt and ashes in theair and to cry out in despair and curse God when bad things happen.  

 

It is much harder to recognize that while we are there, at thegate outside the Rich Man’s house, lying in the dirt, covered in sores, thatthere are people who care, that there are gentle, soothing signs of affection,even from dogs.  

 

Actually, there have been times when I have been soothed more bydogs than humans.

 

And it is hard sometimes in those moments to see that God toocares.

 

I have done that.

 

But the fact remains, Paradise awaits us.

 

That place to which Lazarus was taken by angels awaits us and, forthose of us striving and struggling through this life, we can truly cling tothat hope.

 

For those of us still struggling, we can set our eyes on theprize, so to speak and move forward.  

 

We can work toward that place, rather than “diving” like Diveshimself, into the pit of destruction he essentially created for himself.

 

In a real sense, the Rich Man was weighed down by his wealth,especially when he refused to share it, and he ended up wallowing in the mireof his own close-mindedness and self-centeredness.

 

What happens to this Rich Man?

 

Well, the chickens came home to roost.

 

The rich man, the narcissist, full of hubris and pride, full ofarrogance and selfishness and self-centeredness.

 

The rich man, who did not care for the poor, who ignored theneedy, who cared only for himself,

 

The rich man who boasted and blew smoke and walked around with hispuffed-out chest,

 

The rich man fell, as all such people we find will fall.

 

Scripture again and again tells us such people will fall.

 

History again and again tells us such people will fall.

 

The chickens ALWAYS come home to roost.

 

Though sometimes they so agonizingly slow.

 

The moral of this parable is this: let us not be like the richman.  

 

Let us not follow that slippery, dangerous slope to destruction.

 

But for those of us who, in the midst of our struggles, can stillfind those glimmers of light in the midst of the gloom, we are not weigheddown.  

 

We are freed in ways we never knew we could be.  

 

We are lifted up and given true freedom.

 

We are Lazarus.

 

God has truly helped us.

 

And God continuous to help us again and again.

 

And when God does help us, it is then that we see most clearly God’samazing love, grace and mercy.

 

Amen.