Lazarus and the Rich Man

My name is Brian Wandel. It is very good to be with all of you here. As Dan said, I'm

a pastoral intern at Church of the Resurrection. I've been a member there for quite some time.

Many of you know, most of you probably know, that our churches have a kind of intermingled

history together. Three quarters of a decade ago, a group from Church of the Resurrection

came over to this neighborhood to start this church. And not only do we have shared roots,

but we've had many shared fruits as well. The Easter Vigil has often been a collaboration

between our churches, many ministries and friendships and help between us. And most recently, the

mission in the Brooklyn neighborhood, which I've been a part of along with quite a number

of you. So it's so good to be here with you and to share these things in person because

we have this unique sisterhood and brotherhood with each other. We today have this parable

in front of us, the rich man and Lazarus. Perhaps you're familiar with this one, perhaps you're

not. It's a favorite of Christian paintings. Other than that, it's actually not very commonly

taught on. So I hope that we'll get something from it. I love this parable. I think this is

fascinating. There are a lot of unique things going on in this parable that are unlike almost any of

the other parables that Jesus says. First of all, if you can believe it, this is the only parable

that Jesus spoke in which one of his stock characters, so you know, like he talks about a rich man or a

poor man or a son or a father. This is the only parable where one of them is given a name, the name

of Lazarus. This is also unique in that a historical figure is present in the parable, Abraham. And

finally, the most fascinating part is that it's set in the afterlife. It's amazing. You have these

different characters talking to each other after they're dead, and it has us wondering what's going

on. You could throw purgatory in between. This would be basically Dante that we're going through

here. It's so interesting. However, I want to start out by pointing out tonight that this is a

parable. This is a story. This is a story that Jesus taught. And because of that, there are a lot

of questions here about the afterlife that are not going to get answered because that's actually not

the point of the parable. That's the setting of the parable, but the point is to teach us

how we should live right now. The Bible actually has a very rich history, sorry, a rich set of teachings

about what happens after death. It talks about the resurrection of the dead. It talks about

judgment and vindication. It talks about the convergence of heaven and earth as Jesus makes

all things new. But this is not that. This is not those things. That's some of the setting for this

parable, but it's not the teaching. So if you have questions on what the afterlife is like, that's a

great conversation to have on the back porch with some whiskey with some friends. And if you do have

that, I suggest you call the pastoral staff as soon as possible because they would love to join you.

So we're going to learn a few things tonight, and here's what we're going to get. We're going to learn

something in the story from each of the three characters. First, so we have the rich man, we have

the poor man, Lazarus, and we have Abraham. First, the rich man will teach us that injustice is fun,

but God will not let it pass. Injustice is fun, but God will not let it pass. And second, Lazarus,

the poor man, will teach us that trust in God is hard, but it is worth it. Trust in God is hard,

but it is worth it. And finally, Abraham, the third character in the parable, he'll teach us that,

he'll teach us about the particular kind of trust that Lazarus had that was so important,

and we'll see that Jesus became an even better Abraham. So let's walk through this thing here.

We'll start with the rich man. Like I said, this is the only parable where one of the characters is

given a name, and that's kind of fun. You can almost imagine Jesus having some fun with this,

and the early church saw this too. Whenever the early church wrote about or talked about this

parable, they frequently threw in a name for the other guy. If you can give a name to the poor man,

why not for the rich man? So they gave him all kinds of names, most of which are in ancient

Near Eastern languages that we don't understand. But we can see a little something of what they're

doing if you try to throw it in yourself. So who's a rich man? What kind of a rich man name

could you throw in there? Maybe Bill Gates or Elon Musk or Donald Trump? And you could throw it in

there. There was a rich man, Donald Trump, who was clothed in purple and fine linen,

and who feasted sumptuously every day. And we can do that, but it focuses a little too heavily

on throwing the character of the rich man farther from us. If we want to get more details about this

rich man, we need to know who this parable is addressed to. So if you're in your Bibles here,

sorry, what page are we on here? We're on page, well, you guys don't have a few Bibles, but Luke 16,

chapter 16, verse 14 is where the section actually begins. Before Jesus starts teaching,

Luke 16, verse 14, it says,

Luke 16:14

the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard these things, and they ridiculed him, and then Jesus spoke

to them. The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, ridiculed them, and then he spoke to them. So this

is who Jesus is talking to. This is his set of subjects. The Pharisees, who were lovers of money.

Who here is a lover of money? I'll tell you who. This guy right here. Anyone else? Lovers of money.

In fact, I think we all feast so sumptuously that

we have trouble. It takes disciplined effort to keep the weight off.

And furthermore, this story is addressed to the religious leaders,

the Pharisees, right? These are the guys who went to church and prayed.

So we have the churchgoers,

we have people who are eating well, and who love money.

I don't know about you, but I feel like most of the people in this room

have just been selected for the character of the rich man.

So we're going to go forward with that in mind.

There was a rich man,

you and me, clothed in purple

and fine linen, who feasted

sumptuously. That's a great word. Sumptuously

every day. And at his gate was laid

a poor man named

Lazarus, covered with sores.

At his gate was laid a poor man.

He was laid there because he couldn't get there

himself. Someone laid him there.

Someone could no longer take care of him.

He was at the very end.

And I guess if you're going to be laid anywhere,

it might as well be at the gate of a rich man.

And so this was Lazarus' best shot,

and this was his last shot.

This is all he's got.

Here's a crippled and deformed

and infected homeless man

who slouches in front of the rich man's house,

and he just stays there.

It says the dogs were with him.

The dogs licked his sores,

but please understand that in this part of the world,

dogs are not exactly man's best friend.

Even in the Middle East today,

if you walk through a city

and you see the wild dogs running through the streets,

about a 30% chance those dogs have rabies.

So these are dirty,

disease-ridden,

despised animals.

We might imagine pigeons or rats

running through his clothes

between his legs.

So this Lazarus,

it says he desired to be fed

with what fell from the rich man's table.

And of course,

Lazarus is at the gate,

not the table.

So if he's not there,

and that's what he wants,

someone's going to have to take the food to him

or at least throw it somewhere in his vicinity.

Instead,

the rich man,

his guests,

his family,

knowingly discarded the food,

probably to the dogs,

and then walked out right past Lazarus.

So,

we have some pretty bad injustice here,

don't we?

This is pretty ridiculous.

This is terrible.

And I know you might be thinking,

I do help homeless people.

I would not do that in that situation.

And you may not.

Thank you.

That's fantastic.

But I think it's clear here

that we have some principles

by which to search our hearts

a little bit further,

to go a little bit deeper than this,

because we do love money,

but we have further problems than that.

Our riches extend beyond our bank accounts

and beyond our meals.

Perhaps your gifts are intelligence.

Perhaps you are socially skilled.

Perhaps you have a good group of friends.

All of us tend to cluster

in similarly gifted groups of people

rather than using our blessings

for the sake of others.

Our Old Testament lesson tonight

was from Genesis.

Part of it was from Genesis 12,

when God is making promises to Abraham,

and Abraham is trusting God.

And part of these foundational promises,

one of the foundational promises,

this is what God said to Abraham,

in you, all the families of the earth

shall be blessed.

God's purpose for our gifts

was that they would be a blessing to others.

And so every day,

this rich man had a moral question open to him.

Is the comfort of this man,

whether he is unintelligent or annoying

or just not part of my social crew,

was this man worth the smell

or the contamination or the time?

Every day he ignored it.

He said no.

And so the scene shifts now.

We're going to shift the scene

in verse 22 here.

The scene shifts,

as in all the best jokes,

to the afterlife.

And Jesus does not tell us here.

He does not tell us,

and then the rich man was judged

for his crimes.

No, it's just assumed, isn't it?

You saw it coming during the story.

You knew what he acted like.

And when Jesus says,

in Hades or in hell,

being in torment,

it doesn't take Thomas Aquinas

to figure out what's going on here.

The first thing that we learn

from the rich man tonight

is that Jesus tells us

there is cosmic justice in the universe.

There is recompense.

There is a balancing of the scales.

And maybe it feels like a cop-out

to say that accounts

are only settled in the afterlife.

I know it can feel like that.

And now it is true

that justice in the Bible

is sometimes a long justice,

but it is a real justice

because wickedness really does

consume us eventually.

Because it really did matter

that the rich man's heart

was having such a good time

that he couldn't be bothered

by someone else's problem.

And it really matters

when white people prefer white people

and black people prefer black people

and straight people prefer

to think that gay people

were not around.

And it really matters

because when I prefer to think

that a certain person

just wasn't part of my life

and was not worth my time,

when we do that,

we turn our backs

on the God who made them.

And because that same God

is the God who made me,

my own heart dies

a little bit more.

And so the cancer spreads

a little bit farther.

And it's a long process.

It does take time,

but the cosmic order

of the universe catches up

and the cancer kills.

Before we move on,

let's note something further.

Let's notice how even after

the death of this rich man,

he just doesn't get it.

Verses 24 to 31,

the rest of the parable here,

this guy just keeps on jabbering.

So he's talking with Abraham,

Father Abraham,

have mercy on me

and send Lazarus.

And Abraham responds,

verse 27,

I beg you, Father,

to send him to my father's house

to help my brothers.

Abraham responds,

they have Moses and the prophets.

And he says again,

no, Father Abraham,

no, he just,

he can't give up.

No, if they have someone else

goes to them,

then they will repent.

Now, I realize that

that you and I

might begin to feel

a little bit sorry for this guy.

We don't like the finality

that is applied

to this bargaining dead man.

It almost sounds like

he's trying to find a way out.

Now, clearly,

he wants to save himself

from a little pain,

obviously.

But is he changing at all?

Did you notice how

he is still Lazarus' boss?

Verse 24 there,

send Lazarus,

send Lazarus to do it.

Verse 27,

send him to my father's house.

Send Lazarus,

send Lazarus

to my father's house.

He knows that Abraham

is the head honcho,

the guy he needs to talk to.

And he knows how

one rich man

needs to talk to

another rich man.

But Lazarus

is still his little minion.

Nothing has changed at all.

On the surface,

it looks like he's trying

to find a way out,

kind of like a repentance.

But the rich man

wants it

on his own

cancer-hearted terms.

Honor the rich guy,

trample the poor guy.

This is a bargainer.

The rich man's

fake repentance

should be a reminder

to all of us

because you and I

don't need a bargain

on our own terms.

We need real repentance.

Abraham said to him here,

they have Moses,

he's speaking about

the man's brothers,

they have Moses

and the prophets,

let them hear them.

Moses and the prophets,

that's a code word

for the scriptures.

They have the scriptures,

let them hear them.

Jesus teaches

that repentance

needs to be

on the Bible's terms.

There's no way

around that.

So let's sum up here.

Let's take a subtotal

of where we're at

with the rich man.

First,

injustice is fun,

but it will catch up.

Not just like

catching up with you

from behind

and grabbing a hold of you,

but from the inside

as the cancer spreads

in our own hearts

and there is no good flesh

remaining.

Second,

the way out

is through repentance,

but bargaining

is not repentance.

More likely,

it's the same

old manipulation.

Manipulation

is on our own terms,

but repentance

is on someone else's.

That is,

on the terms

of the scriptures

which we believe

have come from God.

So there's the rich man.

Let's move on to Lazarus.

It's easy to forget

about Lazarus,

this poor guy,

because he doesn't actually

say anything in the parable.

In fact,

he barely does anything.

We actually don't have

a whole lot of reasons

to know why

he's in heaven here.

He just goes.

It says in verse 22 there,

the poor man died

and was carried

by the angels

to Abraham's side.

What we do have here

is that he was poor,

right?

So let's unpack that

for a bit.

Each of the gospels

has their own

kind of unique flavor

to it,

their own unique way

of telling the story

of Jesus.

And Luke's gospel,

the gospel of Luke

that we're reading

from here,

has its own

kind of special seasoning,

its own, you know,

something, you know?

It has its own thing

and what Luke likes to do

is emphasize

the great reversal.

What is the great reversal?

The great reversal,

this is the way

that Jesus put it.

Some of those

who are last

shall be first

and some of those

who are first

shall be last.

This is a theme

that Luke likes to use

to bring out

certain colors

in the gospel.

In one of the first

Christmas carols

that Mary,

the mother of Jesus,

sang before he was born,

this is how she sang

about what her child

would become.

She said,

he has filled the hungry

with good things,

but the rich

he has sent away empty.

He has filled the hungry

with good things,

and the rich

he has sent away empty.

That's the great reversal here.

Now, it's not

a one-to-one ratio, right?

Abraham was rich

and there he is in heaven,

so it's not

every rich person

goes to hell

and every poor person

goes to heaven,

but it does show off

something great

about the gospel.

Something really cool

about the way

the gospel works,

and what it shows us

is that the stuff

that we love

and admire

counts for jack squat

compared to what

Jesus loves

and admires.

So we've got this

contrast here,

is what we're working with.

The contrast,

that Lazarus,

the symbol of the poor guy

who's on God's good side,

in comparison

with the Armani-wearing,

hybrid SUV-driving,

nice hair,

goes to church every week,

rich man,

who winds up

as the butt

of the Bible's

only afterlife joke.

Some of those,

some of those

who are first

shall be last.

Because the hybrid SUVs

and the nice hair

and going to church,

they aren't anything

in and of themselves,

they're derivative,

secondary goods.

They are only good

if they are based

in the one

really good thing.

They're only good

if their purpose

is found

in the one

really good thing.

Trusting in Jesus

is what matters.

Trusting in Jesus

is the one

really good thing

that these things

can possibly root in.

So besides being poor,

there's one more thing

we can learn about Lazarus.

Very little information,

so here's what we have.

Jesus could have

picked any name,

and he gave one name

to this man.

Picked the name

of Lazarus.

The name Lazarus

means the Lord

is my help.

The Lord is my help.

Here's everything

that we know

about Lazarus.

He lived for a while,

and mostly sucked,

and then he died.

But, but,

in those years

for him,

the Lord was his help.

In those years

for him,

the Lord was his help.

Now, let me be,

as I talk about this,

let me be the first

to tell you.

Believing in Jesus

changes lives,

and it changes the world.

I have a story to tell

about how Jesus

has changed my life,

and many of you do too.

However,

there are a few times

in the Bible

when God asks us

a hard question.

What if you didn't

have a story to tell

at all?

What if the things

in your life

were not turning around

for the better?

And what if this community thing

that's been awesome for us,

what if it's not

working out for you?

What if the sermon stunk?

Would the Lord

still be your help?

And what if you

lost your friends,

and you had a disfiguring,

maiming disease,

and you had no health care,

and the very person

who could do something

about it

preferred to think

that you did not exist?

For Lazarus,

the Lord

was still his help.

We identified

with the rich man

earlier.

We talked about that.

But,

even if we don't have it

as bad as Lazarus,

we can identify

with his need

for God's help.

So let the Lord

be your help.

Because it can be hard

to trust in God,

but it is worth it.

Let's take another

subtotal now

of where we're at

with Lazarus this time.

No matter how bad

things get,

trusting God

is still worth it.

Just like the rich man

showed us

that the scales

of injustice

eventually swing back

to crush the oppressor,

in the same way,

God's promises

to help those

who trust him

will be fulfilled,

and you will receive

comforts

when you are gathered

to your mothers

and fathers in the faith,

just like Lazarus did.

It can be hard

to trust in God,

but it is worth it.

Speaking of fathers

in the faith,

we come to Abraham,

our last character here,

Abraham,

and I hope this point

will flesh out for us

a little bit more

the kind of faith

that Lazarus had

that was so worthwhile,

and it will show us

that Jesus became

a better Abraham.

For Jews around this time

that Jesus was preaching,

in this part of the world,

in this particular religion,

Abraham was a symbol

for people trusting God

and for God helping people.

He was a symbol for that.

Abraham trusted

that God would help him,

and he trusted

that God would make him

a blessing to the world.

That was our reading again,

Genesis 12, 3.

In you,

all the families

of the earth

shall be blessed.

That was the foundational promise

which Abraham

passed on to his sons,

his sons passed on

to their sons,

and so on forever

until Lazarus.

Lazarus,

Lazarus knew

that the only trust

that could possibly

be worth it

was a trust like Abraham had,

one that carried faith

in God's promise,

God's promise to help,

and to make him a blessing,

and carried that

over many miles

and over many mountains.

That was the kind of faith

that Lazarus needed,

and that was the kind of faith

that he had

for God to help him.

And that was great,

but it was also easy

to see Abraham

as the way

of salvation himself,

that by being born

a son of Abraham

that it would work out.

But Abraham

couldn't do that.

Abraham couldn't

affect that himself.

He was a model for faith,

but he could not

be the way himself.

The first mention

of Abraham

that we have

in this parable,

he plays a big role.

The first mention here

is in verse 22.

The poor man died

and was carried

by the angels

to Abraham's side.

Actually,

what it says there

is to Abraham's bosom.

Go ahead and laugh.

To Abraham's bosom.

It's a quaint old phrase,

but I like it.

I think it works.

I like that older translation

because I think

it gives a sense

like a bunch of chicks

being gathered together

to the mother hen

or cubs being gathered

by the big mama bear.

But let me tell you,

just like Lazarus died,

coming to Jesus like this

will mean a kind of death

for us too.

If we are going to enter

into this portal,

this death portal

that Jesus had,

I'm sorry,

the thing that Abraham

couldn't do

was make bad hearts good.

He couldn't cure the cancer

in people's hearts.

So Jesus fulfilled

that role for Abraham.

He pulled us into himself

and his way of death

became our way of life.

So I'm going to use

an illustration here

before we close.

My illustration

has to do with

a famous fire

from 1949.

It's a fire in Montana

in a place called

Mangulch.

It's called

the Mangulch Fire.

This is one of the greatest

tragedies

in the history

of the U.S. Forest Service.

I'm going to read

in here a short passage

from a book called

Young Men and Fire

that details it

by Norman McLean.

The way the situation

happened was this.

It was in Montana

outside of Missoula.

It was a hot August.

If you can imagine for me,

16th Street out here

is the Missouri River

and this is a big gulch.

A gulch is like a valley

that kind of comes together

in the middle

and then goes up

on steep slopes

to the side.

It's about two miles long,

several hundred yards across.

There was a fire there

and so the Forest Service

sent their elite,

the smoke jumpers

who parachuted in.

15 jumped in

and within an hour

the fire became

what's known as a blow up

and it claimed 12 of them.

Two survived by pure luck

as they raced through the smoke

to find a rock formation

where they escaped

and the other survivor

was Dodge

who was the leader of the crew.

So here's what happened.

The group parachuted in

to the top of the gulch

which led down

toward the Missouri River.

Near the mouth of the river,

near the mouth of the gulch

where the river was,

there was about a 60 acre fire

going on

and that's what they were

going to stop.

What happened

was that

one side of the gulch

was heavy,

heavily timbered

and good source

for fuel

to make a very,

very hot fire

and the other side

of the gulch

was mainly brush

and high grasses

which could spread

the fire very fast

and that's what happened

in the blow up phase

of this fire.

The one side

kind of egged

the other on

and what happened

was the winds

blew the fire up

toward the top

of the gulch

and created these

kind of fire tornadoes

throwing the fire forward

almost at the speed

at which the wind

could push it.

So trees

and grass

caught fire

and in about 10 minutes

3,000 acres

were consumed.

That's about 5 acres

per second

in this 10 minute

time span.

So the leader

Dodge,

he has his crew

going down

toward the fire

and he sees

what happens

and he sees

what's happening

down there

so he has his men

turn around

and walk the other way

and then he has them run

and then he has them

drop all of their equipment

and save their lives

but he could see

they needed to get

to the top of the ridge

but he could see

that they weren't

going to make it

and so he did

something unusual

and something unprecedented

in the history

of the forest service

up to this point.

There was a fire

behind them

that they were

running away from

and Dodge

lit a fire

in front of them

a small fire

to burn up

the dry ground

and to use up

the fuel

before this

2,000 degree blow up

main fire

could do so.

Here's the situation

as it unfolded

this is what one

of the survivors said

I saw Dodge

bend over

and light a fire

with a match

I thought

with the fire

almost on our back

what the hell

was the boss doing

lighting another fire

in front of us?

The narrator

goes on here

it shouldn't be hard

to imagine

just what most

of the crew

must have thought

when they first

looked across

the open hillside

and saw their boss

seemingly playing

with a matchbook

and dry grass

this is the only fire

any member of the forest

had ever seen

or heard of

in which the foreman

got out

in front of the crew

only to light a fire

in advance

of the fire

that he and his crew

were trying to escape

in case I hadn't understood

him the first time

the man repeated

we thought

he must have

gone nuts

a few minutes later

when Dodge's fire

became more spectacular

still

Sally

this man

having reached

the top of the ridge

looked back

and saw the foreman

enter his own fire

and lie down

in its hot ashes

to let the main fire

pass over

so Dodge

laid down

his fire

and a wall of fire

about a football field

deep

swept over him

destroying everything

in its path

except for the two men

who got lucky

and Dodge

in his escape fire

Dodge lit that escape fire

because it was

the only way out

his men

couldn't believe

that the way out

of fire

was fire

they couldn't believe

that the way out

of death

was an apparent death

in fact

the fire's own strength

was used against it

again the author

says here

when the main fire

paused for a moment

in front of the escape fire

the red flames

crowded together

until they became

ravaging military monsters

enraged by the precocity

of the obstacle

in front of them

the escape fire

then for a moment

these deranged

military monsters

blocked in their advance

raged sideways

up and down the line

looking for a way

to pass

Dodge yelled

to his men

get in

and one by one

they ignored him

one man

near the front

said

to hell with that

I'm getting out

of here

in the same way

in the great

conflagration

of the world

Jesus has given us

a safe place

by setting himself

on fire

he died to sin

and destruction

so that sin

and destruction

could not kill us

and I know

it sounds crazy

just like it sounded

crazy

to Dodge's men

but we must

jump into that

escape fire

of Jesus' death

we must die

with Jesus

to find life

and to be gathered

into his bosom

as it were

in the New Testament

that means

baptism

and repentance

which are consistently

described

as a kind of death

that avoids death

a death

that gets us

through to life

you remember

at the end

of the parable here

at the very end

the rich man says

Father Abraham

if someone

goes to them

his brothers

from the dead

they will repent

but Abraham

didn't buy that

did he?

Abraham knew

that resurrection

from the dead

was not some

cheap trick

to make people

believe something

they didn't already

believe

it was a death

life portal

it was an escape

fire

that we need

to enter

through real

repentance

we trust

in Jesus'

death

and resurrection

because if we

trust him

and enter it

he will make it

our death

and resurrection

too

in conclusion

this is a judgment

parable

it has a pretty

simple message

avoid the judgment

but we've been able

to clear some ground

I know that sounds

simple

but we've

we've been able

to clear some ground

now and flesh that

out a little bit more

and so here's what

we've

here's how we've

stratified this

injustice may be fun

but it will eat

its own

on the other hand

the life of trust

and faith in God

can be tough

but it is worth it

just like it was

for Lazarus

and finally

that faith

is really

a trust in Jesus

to make

his death

our death

through real

repentance

according to the

standards of the

Bible

just like

Abraham said there

to make his

resurrection

our lives

that we can bless

the families

of the earth

just as

Lazarus

was drawn

into Abraham's

bosom

in the story

here

so may we

be drawn

into the bosom

of Jesus

who made himself

an escape fire

a way of healing

and safety

for all the Lazaruses

out there

so may the Lord

be our help

let's pray

heavenly father

thank you

thank you

thank you that

you are just

but thank you

that trust

in you

is so worth it

and thank you

that you have

provided a way

so that by trust

we can be with you

and you can bring us

from death to life

amen

amen

to heaven

amen