We Can't Ignore the Poor

What is this Parable about?

The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is one of the lesser known parables of Jesus. Another title for this parable could have been a tale of two worlds or 4 really. There’s the world of the rich living in comfort ignoring the poor man laying at his gate. The poor man lives a life of agony and torment longing for scraps, covered in sores, and is licked by dogs. His life couldn’t get any more in the gutter.

Then there’s the two worlds of the after life, where the roles are reversed. The poor man is living a life in comfort, while the rich man is in agony and torment.

I have heard this parable used as a final destination sermon, which it certainly can be that, but Jesus is really trying to teach treatment of the poor.

Luke for Everyone The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31)

We have all seen him. He lies on a pile of newspapers outside a shop doorway, covered with a rough blanket. Perhaps he has a dog with him for safety. People walk past him, or even step over him. He occasionally rattles a few coins in a tin or cup, asking for more. He wasn’t there when I was a boy, but he’s there now, in all our cities, east, west, north and south.

As I see him, I hear voices. It’s his own fault, they say. He’s chosen it. There are agencies to help him. He should go and get a job. If we give him money he’ll only spend it on drink. Stay away—he might be violent. Sometimes, in some places, the police will move him on, exporting the problem somewhere else.

This parable is a warning to the pharisees and scribes, the religious leaders of the day, that they cannot ignore the pain and suffering of others. It is a reminder to us modern day scribes and pharisees that love for others, even those in the deepest gutters of life that we’d rather ignore or wish someone would move the problem some place else, is always the path to holiness and salvation.

Luke 4:17–19 NLT

17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, 19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

James 2:14 NLT

14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?

Rich Man and Lazarus

Who Jesus is talking to.

-Eve dropping Pharisees

Luke 16:14–15 NLT

14 The Pharisees, who dearly loved their money, heard all this and scoffed at him. 15 Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.

Those who thought they were righteous. Those who liked to make public displays of their prayer life, knew the law of Moses inside and out but yet failed to live it.

Matthew 21:31–32 NRSV

31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

This is who Jesus is speaking too with the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.

The Rich Man

The parable is a tale of 4 very different worlds. 2 worlds among the living and 2 worlds among the dead.

The Rich man who goes unnamed is the picture of success to others. Clothed in purple and fine linen, and lived every day in luxury. He was living high on the hog. The pharisees are this Rich man. Verse 14 describes as people who dearly loved their money. Jesus warns crowds about being like this group of people in Luke 20:45-47. The Rich Man lived a life of comfort and pleasure, keenly unaware of the suffering that lies at his front door.

Lazarus

The second world Jesus describes is a world of pain and suffering. The world of the poor. There was a poor man that layed at the Rich Mans gate. The poor man is named by Jesus as Lazarus. Lazarus, life was a life filled with pain and suffering. His life was a literal hell to him. He laid at the Rich Man’s gates covered in sores, longing for the scraps from the Rich Man’s table. Laying in the gutter of life he was often licked by dogs. Dogs for devout Jews were in the same category as pigs one of the many unclean animals. Jesus went out of his way to paint Lazarus in deepest gutter of life.

The two Die

The Rich man dies and even though he thought he was a righteous child of Abraham, now finds himself marked by pain and suffering. He calls out to Father Abraham to send Lazarus to ease his pain. The Rich man finally sees Lazarus, but sees him as someone to serve his needs.

Lazarus dies and finds himself now in the place of comfort. the roles are reversed.

The Rich Man asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn his family of Hades.

Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead in John’s Gospel and the religious leaders response was to kill Lazarus. John 12:9-11

John 12:9–11 NRSV

9 When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

Sometimes lost in the suffering of Hades or hell as we have come to understand it is the message Jesus was trying to teach. We cannot ignore the pain and suffering of the Lazarus sitting at our front door step. The love of God extends to the deepest of life’s gutters. It goes out to the poorest of the poor, and eases the pain and suffering of the problems we would prefer be moved else where.

Holiness unto the Lord is marked by compassion that goes to the Lazarus at our gates. It’s compassion that brings good news to the poor. The same spirit that was on Jesus in Luke 4 is on us his church today. He has annointed us to preach good news to the poor.

Who is our Lazarus?

James 2:17 NLT

17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

Jesus parable is a picture of what faith without works looks like. The Rich Man in the story, the scribes and the pharisees, were more prone to gather riches for themselves than help the poor. He knew Abraham as Father new the law, but when it came to Lazarus was seemingly unaware of his existence until he could serve him in some way.

The question we need to wrestle with from this text today is who is our Lazarus? Personally and as the church. What has God enabled us to do for the poor and suffering in the community of Leicester and beyond? The Spirit of the LORD is upon us to preach good news to the poor. We cannot preach good news to the poor by ignoring them.