The TMP Podcast

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is story about a wealthy man who has a beggar outside his gates. The beggar is named Lazarus. He is covered in sores and longs to eat what falls from the rich mans table. Both men die. Lazarus is taken to Abraham’s side and the rich man is in Hades in torment. We should not think that Jesus’ purpose in this parable was to bring a definitive revelation on the nature of hades or the afterlife. Jesus is re-telling a popular folk tale of his day with a subversive reinterpretation. In the usual story, when someone asks permission to send a message back to the people who are still alive on earth, the permission is granted. Here in Jesus’ re-telling, the permission is not granted. It was a shocking telling of a popular folk story with a targeted audience. In this parable, Jesus is specifically addressing some sneering Pharisees who, we’re told, loved money. When he tells them the parable, Jesus is not spiritualizing riches and poverty here. He quite literally means that the rich and poor in this age will see a reversal of fortunes in the arrival of the Kingdom come. In light of this sobering revelation, Jesus is not asking, “So, are you rich or poor?” No, he is saying, rather, “You are rich. Period. Now ask yourself, who is the Lazarus at your gate? This is why Jesus was being criticized by the Pharisees for welcoming outcasts and sinners. He was putting into practice in the present world, what many thought would only happen in the future one. To us in the Western World that consumes four times more than the global average, we are often the rich man who is tempted to ignore and turn a blind eye to the injustice around us. Part of the point of this parable is that people are capable of disbelief in the face of what seems the most convincing evidence—- whether it is Moses and the prophets or even a resurrection. Jesus is asking his followers to see things differently: To learn to see the Lazarus at our gates.