Thursday, August 21, 2008
The Rich Man and Lazarus, Part 4 of 28
Text: Luke 16:19-31
IDEA: The details of a parable help us feel the impact of the story.
PURPOSE: To show how the details of a parable, like the details of a painting, enrich it and enliven it.
Carolyn Blish, a well-known artist, gives infinite care to the details in her paintings. While I look at the painting as a whole, she knows that it’s made up of attention to its parts.
How do storytellers do that? Can the details get in the way of the story? Can they enrich the story?
Here’s a story that Jesus told that can give you a major impression. Listen to it, and then let’s go back and look at the details:
"There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead (Luke 16:19-31).’"
Hearing that story is like looking at the whole portrait. Now let’s look at some of the details.
I. Look at how the two men lived:
Look at the comparison in the way the rich man is described and the poor man is described: The rich man has no name; the poor man’s name is Lazarus. Is that accidental, or is there a significance to this?
2. The lifestyle of the two:
Look at how the rich man is described: He is dressed in purple and fine linen. Purple and fine linen describe the kind of clothes kings and nobles wore. He made merry every day with rich feasts. His whole life was one gorgeous celebration.
Look at how Lazarus, the poor man, is described:
He was a beggar.
He was dependent on others for food and transportation.
He was constantly hungry.
He was diseased. His sores were exposed, festering.
He was bothered by dogs that licked his sores. Dogs were unclean scavengers who ate dead flesh.
Look at how they relate to one another: Lazarus sits at the rich man’s gate - next to him.
We are left to imagine how the two men thought of one another: The rich man may have been disgusted; probably didn’t see Lazarus. Lazarus simply hoped for help.
II. Look at how the two men died:
Lazarus died: What kind of death? Funeral? He had a funeral procession made up of angels that no one on earth saw.
The rich man died and was buried. Why that detail? It was a great occasion.
III. Look at how their conditions change after death:
The beggar is in Abraham’s bosom.
This could supply two images:
He was like a child being embraced by father Abraham.
It was a feast: A person leaning on his left elbow at a table could lean back on Abraham’s bosom. This fits the context and contrasts with the rich man’s earthly lifestyle.
Why do you think it is “Abraham’s bosom”? He is the father of the faithful.
The rich man later appeals to “Father Abraham,” but not everyone is a child of faith.
The rich man is in Hell, tormented. Everything has been reversed:
He is tormented.
He becomes a beggar.
The two that lived next to each other are now separated by a great gulf.
The one who showed no mercy to Lazarus now begs for mercy. But all mercy is ended in hell.
On earth he would have tasted the finest wines and had delicious cooling drinks; he now pleads for a drop of water.
IV. Look at how the story ends:
The lesson is there. The rule of “final stress” explains the parable.
