The Rich Man and Lazarus

 

I recently reread the story Jesus told of the Rich Man and Lazarus. You’ll find it at the end of Luke 16. Over the years, I’ve read the story more than 100 times. But this time the Holy Spirit showed me something I’d never seen before. He made application to me from the story that He’d never before made. Please read the text below. I will make comments afterward:

“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.  And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham *said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31)

After I read this passage, this thought dropped into my mind: The Jews of Jesus’ day had their priests. They had their rabbis. They had their Doctors of the Law. They had their High Priest. They had their traditions.

But Jesus, through Father Abraham, would send the Rich Man’s brothers to none of them.

To NONE of them.

He would send them to “Moses and the Prophets.” In other words – to the Scriptures.

I recently urged my Bible study group to read the entire 119^th Psalm (not necessarily in one sitting) and to pay close attention to how often the Holy Spirit through the Psalmist talks about the CRITICAL importance of God's word.

Of course, the 119^th Psalm is not the only place where, like a laser, God directs us to His word for guidance and hope and exhortation and rebuke and so forth. Joshua 1:8, Isaiah 40:7-8, Matthew 7:24-27, and 2 Timothy 2:15 are only a few of the nearly countless references to the critical nature of knowing (and applying) God's word.

But, back to the passage in Luke. Jesus focused the brothers, and He focuses us on His word. Not on tradition, or priests, or pastors, or theologians - but on His word.

Now, certainly there is great need for the guidance of such learned people as we study God's word ourselves (see Ephesians 4:11-13). But we must not at all overlook in the slightest how Jesus uses this story in Luke to focus us all on the necessity of personal and individual study of the Scriptures.

And on that note, please observe the early part of Acts 17. St Paul and Silas, having been run out of Thessalonica, went to the city of Berea. It was in Berea that Paul began teaching the gospel message to everyone who would listen.

But what is important to this point is found in verse 11: “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

I hope you caught what happened in that verse. The Holy Spirit Himself praised the laity in Berea because they examined the Scriptures daily to VERIFY what none other than the great apostle Paul was telling them.

Listen, if the Holy Spirit praised THEM for verifying even St Paul, then don’t you think He praises US for verifying what our teachers and traditions and pastors and priests – even what some might call today a ‘high priest’ – don’t you think the Holy Spirit will praise US for going back to the Scriptures to check their stories?

As I said above, surely there are passages of Scripture that are difficult at first to understand. And there certainly is a need for teachers and pastors and so forth. But I have found that in MOST cases the difficulties disappear after a time of concerted effort and research, letting Scripture always define Scripture – just as the Bereans did.

The Lord Jesus promised: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:26) And a little later, He added: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13a)

Jesus would have told the Rich Man’s brothers to read Moses and the Prophets. And the Lord would tell us the same: Read them. Study them. Obey them, for their words are the very words of God.