Bible Verse of the Day Wednesday March 3rd 2021

 Luke 16:19-31

The Parable of the Rich Fool in Hell and Lazarus by Abraham’s Side

(What we can learn from this Parable)

This Parable, from Jesus, is found in Luke 16:19-31, it is an account of an extremely wealthy man who lived a life of extravagance and indulgence. As the Parable goes there was an extremely poor man (Lazarus) living outside of the gates of this rich man’s home, whose only desire was “to eat what fell from the rich man’s table,” (Luke 16:21). The fact that the “dogs came and licked his sores” (Luke 16:21), would point to the extremity of the poverty he was living in, begging, diseased, scorned and shunned. This scenario sets the stage for the complete role reversal that was to come in the latter part of the parable.

That Jesus named the poor beggar and did not name the rich man would tell us that the greater importance of the story in this parable was Lazarus. First of all, there is no evidence in the Bible of who this specific Lazarus was. When some read this their minds most naturally drift to Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, again no Bible evidence of this. Most people that argue that this was a true story use as their evidence, that Jesus named the Beggar and Abraham, and in no other Parable named anyone specific. Although this is some indication that this might be an actual event instead of a make-believe Parable, there is simply no other Bible evidence to support this theory. Other than the two names mentioned by Jesus, the rest of the story indicates that this was a typical invented Parable of Jesus. Whether this is a parable or not we will never know in this life, but parable or not there is much we can glean from this story.

Now to what we should be focused on and learn from this story. First of all, the “Rich Man” was ignoring the Old Testament teachings that the Children of Israel were supposed to care for the poor amongst them (Proverbs 14:21; 19:7;21:13; 28:27; Leviticus 23:22; Leviticus 19:9-10).

We see this example in the story of Ruth and Boaz, where Boaz allowed Ruth to glean his fields after the harvest (Ruth 2:7-9)

There is in the “Prosperity Gospel” today many that see their wealth and riches as evidence of God’s greater love towards them, and that those without wealth and riches are doing something wrong and consequently God is punishing them (James 5:5).

The gold and silver, fame, and fortune that we might acquire in this life does not have the ability to get us into heaven. Furthermore, it can separate us from God in this life that will ultimately separate us from God for eternity. This occurs when we put our faith and trust in our own material wealth, and not in Christ Jesus, and the fact that He will provide all our needs (Mark 4:19).

This story is about our eternal life and where we want to spend it. It is also pointing to the two greatest commandments. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, body and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.

This story, and the belief that it is a story of a real event, has led some to mistakenly believe that our loved ones that have gone on before us and are with Jesus today, somehow can monitor our earthly lives and even affect some of our movements. We have only one Father in Heaven, who will always see to our every need and be there with us, never leaving or forsaking us. The belief that God may have sub-contracted out His protection, His leading and guiding us on a daily basis, to those that have gone on before, puts humans on the same level as God, which we will never be in this life or the life to come.

There are things that we do not know about what life will be in the hereafter. What we do know is that our life of pain, suffering, sin, and all worldly matters will have come to an end. We are here for just a short period of time and then, for the ones that have accepted Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior, there will be an eternal life of no pain, suffering or sin. If God were to expose us to the life here on this earth once we are with Him, He would be exposing us, once again, to this pain, suffering and sin that he has separated us from.