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The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is a parable spoken against the Pharisees as the context so clearly demands.So it is a parable that isn't merely taught, but is used against a certain group of people, namely the Pharisees. It is a parable used to reinforce Jesus response to the Pharisees about money and riches and the Pharisees not heeding Gods word. It is also in the context of Jesus bringing in the Kingdom of God and the Pharisees urgent need to respond, because the time of the law and prophets is over and they are now in the time that the law and prophets pointed to.. This is clearly the context and the grammar used makes in this context makes these assertions ever so certain.
So let us go on to the parable itself. Many have objected to this not being a parable on the basis, that Jesus always says" The Kingdom of God is like...." when using parables. Let me right at the start dispel this notion that a parable must start with " The Kingdom of God is like" and variations of it. There are many examples but I will point out only two. Luke 17:9-14 Jesus tells a parable that also starts by what some people could call an actual event. He says 2 men went up to the temple to pray,one a Pharisee the other a tax collector......... Again in Luke 19:11-27 the parable starts by saying a nobleman went to another country to receive for himself a Kingdom.... The point is clearly made a parable doesn't have to start with " The Kingdom of God is like........." The next thing we notice about parables is that the people who are mentioned aren't literal people. Rather they are people used to represent people in Israel. For example the rich and poor or Pharisees and tax collectors etc. Jesus uses these people to make his point he wants to get across. In Luke 16 with the parable of the dishonest servant it also doesn't actually say that Jesus told them a parable. Yet it is accepted by the King James and other versions of the bible as a parable. In otherwords we can recognise parables when we see them, by the way they are presented. Another word on parables is that we aren't to read them verbatum, verse by verse to get the meaning or point of the parable. A parable usually makes a point and sometimes a couple of points. Something to point out is the rule of scripture interpreting scripture. In this parables case we must see if traditional interpretations fit into the framework of the hope of the Kingdom of God.
If we accept the context of what leads up to the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. We can quickly grasp that the parable is about a rich Pharisee and a poor man . The rich man doesn't and hasn't taken hold of Gods word, and is contrasted with the poor man who has believed Gods message of salvation in Moses and the prophets.The reason Jesus mentions this is because the Pharisees have failed to believe the law and the prophets who point to salvation and this time of the Kingdom in Jesus ministry. This is the actual point of the parable!!! This parable is demonstrating the question of who will be in the Kingdom and what kind of people will be in the Kingdom. There was a way of thinking in Israel that said if a man was rich, then he was blessed of God!! It also followed that if a man was poor it was because God was not pleased with him. We have a variation of this teaching, with the prosperity teachers of our day. But how wrong they were!! Instead we find that the rich man is outside of Gods salvation because he never believed Gods word, in Moses and the prophets, yet abounded in riches and a lavish lifestyle. That totally squashes any understanding that if a man is rich, it is because God is pleased with him. It also squashes the thinking that if a man is poor, it is because God is displeased with him. So Jesus is replying to the Pharisees and saying, wealth isn't a sign of Gods favour. Rather the sign of Gods favour is that for the sake of the Kingdom a man is prepared to believe in God and His word and even though he suffers and is poor. The parable is the answer to the Pharisees about serving God and money and neglecting Gods word of salvation. The point that must be grasped and not lost is that it is the Pharisees who refuse Gods gospel of the Kingdom as mentioned in vs16-18 and rather vigorously pursue riches to their own destruction. Now that we have the real meaning of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in the context of chapter16, we can now go on to deal with how many others understand the parable. Probably the majority of churches in the western world understand it to be teaching about what happens when we die. Besides what the scripture itself has just shown the parable to mean, people refer to the rich man in Hades as suffering torment and appears to be embodied because he asks Abraham to send Lazarus to quench the burning of his tongue with some water. Also Lazarus is with Abraham and is comforted. The reason we cannot accept that it is speaking about what happens when we die, is because simply this not what Jews believed. Pharisees of all people ,toward whom the parable is directed have a resurrection hope. This interpretation then would have created problems in understanding to these original hearers of the parable. The Pharisees have no understanding of an embodied intermediate state of salvation before the resurrection. To be embodied in salvation for the Jew, is to be resurrected. Resurrection is the means by which death is overcome. Also the bible only teaches the punishment of the wicked takes place on judgement day. The wicked aren't punished when they die and then again on judgement day. Nor are the righteous or unrighteous embodied before the great day of resurrection. The bible is very clear that this only happens on the last day. Jesus teaching is clear that the fires of hell are a last day event, when the wicked are punished and not before. Therefore we need to see the bibles own framework of salvation and when these events come to pass in history. We need then to interpret scripture with scripture so that it doesn't contradict scripture elsewhere. Also these events such as resurrection and judgement aren't ahistorical, but are events which will happen in history and time.. This clearly demonstrates that the account is firstly a parable responding to the Pharisees love of money and disobedience to Gods word. Secondly it is not about what happens when you die, but about who will and won't be in the Kingdom. Those in the Kingdom are those who have believed Gods gospel of the Kingdom who Moses and the prophets pointed to. Those who won't be in the Kingdom are the Pharisees who refuse the Kingdom which Moses and the prophets pointed to, but prefer to serve money. To hold it is about what happens when we die , flies in the face of clear eschatalogical teaching, that has a plain and clear meaning in the context of Jesus ministry and the Kingdom.. Also to hold to this parable being about what happens when we die, turns the resurrection into a non event. It is to get the clear teaching of scripture mumbo jumbod and will cause endless paradoxes and ammunition for the enemies of the gospel. Of course we believe that the wicked will suffer the fire of hell, but only on the last day. Of course we believe the righteous will be comforted, again it will only happen on the last day when they are resurrected to immortality and eternal life in Gods Kingdom. |
