The Narrative Lectionary brings us this week to the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man in Luke 16:19-31. I can’t make sense out of this parable unless I go back to Luke 16:13, start from there, and roll into the parable within the context of the larger conversation that Jesus is having with the Pharisees.
Below is my visual commentary on the passage. Feel free to save these images and use them however you desire.
A Visual Commentary
Jesus is almost half way along his journey to Jerusalem. He has been delivering harsh and controversial teachings along the way.
He encounters the Pharisees again. They had overheard what Jesus had been saying to his disciples regarding wealth.
The Greek word translated “lovers of money” is one word that literally means lover-of-shiny-things. I think that’s funny.
We can’t fool God. We can put on religious airs to fool others, and, maybe even fool ourself. But, God knows our hearts. That is the whole point of Jesus’ teaching. A good heart bears good fruit, a bad heart bears bad fruit, no matter how shiny it looks on the outside.
Luke 16:16-17 may seem like a non sequitor. What is Jesus talking about? I think Jesus is emphasizing to the Pharisees that the Law of Moses has always taught to take care of the poor and the foreigner, and to treat them with dignity and respect.
It is interesting to note that the “second greatest commandment” comes from Leviticus 19:18. It occurs in the context of verses that discuss how to treat the poor and foreigner with respect. The Law of Moses calls us to love our neighbor (including the alien) as we love ourselves.
Luke 16:18 is truly puzzling and seems to come from left field. Why is Jesus suddenly talking about divorce? I think he is using this as a metaphor and an accusation to the Pharisees. The fact that they have so distorted the Law of Moses to believe that it is OK to love money and neglect/discount the poor is like committing adultery against God and divorcing God. Ouch!
Then, without any narrative interruption, Jesus tells a parable.
Remember, this is a parable, not a history.
We have two men. One is named Lazarus. The name Lazarus means “God helps.”
The unnamed man is wealthy.
There is a great separation between them. Lazarus is outside of the Rich Man’s gate…and attention.
I think Jesus is playing into a commonly held belief. It was (is) common to think that there are two kinds of people in the world:
- Those who are blessed by God and considered good.
- Those who are cursed by God and considered evil.
The sign of God’s blessing is wealth and power. The Rich Man has both.
The sign of God’s curse is poverty and/or sickness. Lazarus has both.
Then the great reversal happens.
There are two important things to keep in mind regarding this story:
First, the Great Reversal is one of the most dominant themes in the Gospel of Luke. We have seen it over and over. Here we see it again.
Notice what happens when the man is now on the other side of the equation:
Our Hindu friends call this karma. Some rabbinical teaching called this the Retribution Principle.
Our society likes it when stories end like this…as long as we’re not the bad guy.
There is a great chasm that NO ONE can DO ANYTHING about. Too late. Too bad.
Again, this is the true heart of The Law of Moses and the heart of God.
He wants a Jacob Marley to visit Ebeneezer Scrooge.
Mic drop. End of story.
This is a foreshadowing of what is coming in Luke 18:23-25,
23 But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
This leaves me asking the same thing the disciples asked Jesus in Luke 18:26, “Who then can be saved?”
Here is why I think Luke intentionally hints at the resurrection of Jesus. What if Jesus is really talking about the great chasm.
The Sin of the world has created relational chasms all over the place. There is a chasm:
- between us and God,
- between us and them,
- between us and our self,
- between us and creation.
This is Hell. This is the darkness from which we ALL need to be saved.
This is why Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem to give up all his own “wealth and power” and lay down his own life for the sake of the world.
So that he CAN rise from the dead and destroy the chasm, to reverse the darkness, to set the captives free.
This is the Gospel.
This image is another take on the parable. It comes from Page 18 of A Cartoonist’s Guide to Luke.
