Sunday School The Parable of Lazarus & The Rich Man 6.25.2023

Luke 16:19–31 ESV

19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Questions?!?

The paradox of Gospel, Parable, and Story

Characteristic teaching method of Jesus.

Characteristic structural method of Luke

Intratextual conversation?

Some applicable principles of interpretation

How it says is what it says.

Things to know about parables

Non-literal.

Fictional (the creation of the story teller, in this case, Jesus.)

In the Jewish milieu they tended to be comparative in nature. (True of the book of Proverbs.)

Parables tell an otherwise general truth is such a way to make it specific and morally actionable.

The Triangle of Truth: Moving from general to most specific arriving at the “point” of the story. The big picture of stage and strategy is what determines how structure is approached, because by that time genre and other related background concerns are dealt with.

Stage

Strategy

Structure

Story

Context, Context, Context!

Each step of the triangle narrows the applicable contexts. (Historical, literary, geographically, linguistically, narratively.)

Luke’s Context

Luke 14 Parables about answering the invitation and discipleship.

Luke 15 Parables about lost things. (staccato parables—>narrative parable)

Luke 16 Parables about responsibility, teachings from the law regarding stewardship, followed by Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man.

Canonical Context

Luke knows John’s story of the raising of Lazarus.

Jesus, of course, knows the story.

Jesus uses the name of someone who had recently become “infamous” and Lazarus’ experience (being raised from the dead) as the “punch-line” in the story.

The practice of application