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Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost Luke 16:19-31 September 28, 2025
The Gospel reading, the story of the rich man and Lazarus, what is this parable all about? Or is it even a parable? Some have said over the years that it’s a real story because Jesus doesn’t use the phrase, “The Kingdom of heaven is like…” But the trouble with this take is that Jesus started the previous four parables without that phrase.
If you go all the way back to chapter 14, you see that none of His parables start like the parables of Matthew, “the kingdom parables,” as they’re called. Every parable, going back to 14, starts out with Jesus just diving right in, and they all have some sort of greater message. And it’s no different here in chapter 16 with the poor man and Lazarus. Further, not all of the parables provide a phrase like, “Now Jesus said this parable…”
And if you consider what Jewish converts to Christianity have said, they also call it a parable based on how the grammar and story-telling method is done. In fact, the people listening to Jesus speak this story would have called it a parable because it was using symbolic language of their time. Today we might want to say, for example, that “Abraham’s bosom” is heaven, but in the 1st century, Hebrew-speaking world, “Abraham’s bosom” was actually part of Shoel, or what we today call “hell,” but they also defined Shoel very differently that we do today…and you see how complicated this starts to get when we try impose a literal reading onto this parable? We totally miss the point. Same sort of problem with Revelation, when we try to impose a literal reading onto it.
This parable is not about what happens to a person in heaven or hell. Parables tend to exaggerate things. When speaking in parables, Jesus often makes the point by going beyond the normal. And since the people and events in the parable are not real people or events, we ought not take them literally but parabolically. In other words, what you believe about heaven and hell should not be based on this parable. It’s really not the point.
Second, this parable is not about helping the poor. Yeah, there’s a rich man, and yeah, there’s a very poor man named Lazarus, but the point of the parable is not social justice for the homeless, though it has certainly been used this way to force some sort of false legalistic notions upon Christians.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t help the poor or the homeless or the widows, just don’t use this parable as your justification as it would be going beyond the point of the text.
It also doesn’t mean that because a person is rich, he goes to hell or because a person is poor, he goes to heaven. Again, beyond the meaning of the parable to read such an idea into it.
Now, to get a grasp of the parable, you need to go back quite a ways in order to discover who Jesus is talking TO and who He is talking ABOUT. Remember, unlike many religious books or books with wise statements, the Scripture is not just a bunch of disconnected wise sayings or helpful maxims where you pick and choose your passage for the day. What Scripture says back here affects what it says here, several chapters later. It’s like the Book of Romans, for example. If you want to rightly understand chapter 9 of Romans, you need to go back to at least chapter 7, and forward to at least chapter 11.
Likewise, here in Luke 16, you need to go back a ways to get the context for the parable. Jesus is talking TO His disciples ABOUT the pharisees who are gathering around him. So, this parable has something to do with the pharisees, and in fact, the pharisees are at the very center of His words.
Now we have some context. Jesus is reaching out to the religious leaders and pharisees and trying to bring repentance and faith into their hearts. See, those religious people did not rightly understand the Old Testament and the stories and events and history given them. They did not see their Messiah as one who would come to save them from their sins, but as a political messiah who would save them from the Romans. Those pharisees thought their salvation was not in a messiah, but in their works, in their keeping the law. They couldn’t recognize Jesus as their true Messiah.
The Jews today, and even the Muslims, same thing. They misunderstand the Old Testament and how it points to Jesus, and they reject Him as Lord. And this is very clearly expressed at the end of the parable where Abraham says, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” There you go. There’s the whole point.
Let’s dig in and bring this wonderful point of the parable to light.
The rich man in the parable dies and goes to hell. No, not because he was rich but because he did not believe what Moses and the Prophets said about Messiah. His lack of faith led him not only to hell when he died but also led him to be very uncaring toward his neighbor. You can dig through the prophets such as Amos chapter 6, the Old Testament reading, and discover that this faithless living which led to distain for the neighbor was nothing new among the Jews. They had great wealth, but they shared their wealth with no one. And the Lord says to them through Amos, “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.”
In other words, woe to wealthy Judah who love their wealth and take comfort in it but who do not share it with their neighbors. Their faith was in their wealth – their god was their money and possessions. And in the parable, Jesus is merely reiterating the problem with the Jews and particularly the Pharisees who loved money and position.
They were so wealthy, in fact, both the ancient Jews and the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, that they lacked devotion to God’s Word and prayer and worship. Their wealth consumed them, it took all their time to earn it and keep it, until there was no time for the Lord.
And they spent their wealth on themselves, gaining more and more for themselves rather than helping those in need. They used the wealth the Lord provided for their own stomachs and to fill their barns but would not give so much as a penny to the suffering.
And because of their lack of faith, they also practiced worship in godless ways, worshipping like the world and using the practices of other religions.
But then, in the parable, the rich man dies. No repentance, no faith, no trust in God, but pure, unfettered greed and godlessness, and he dies, and naturally, because there is no faith, he goes to hell.
Well, suddenly this rich man has an epiphany. He wants help, and he wants to tell his unbelieving family that they need to change, or they’ll end up like him. But Abraham, the father of faith, the father of true Israel, speaks to the condemned man and says, “no,” because if they won’t listen to what the Lord says through Moses and the Prophets, they won’t listen to anyone.
Think about the significance behind this parable. How many millions of people have died over the eons and went to hell and are suffering at this moment and wishing they could say something to their friends and family who live in unbelief. But they can’t. And it wouldn’t matter anyway because those friends and family heard the Word of God, they heard the Gospel, but they rejected it. We all know people who have been exposed to Christ and His salvation but stubbornly turn away and want nothing to do with it. And if the Word of God isn’t enough, nothing will be.
Or let’s consider this a little differently. There are a lot of Christians today, a lot of church bodies and church movements today, that insist that it’s not enough to simply preach Christ, preach Law and Gospel, preach Moses and the Prophets, and preach Jesus and the cross. That just singing the faithful hymns which stand the test of time or using the faithful liturgies which have been around forever, that it’s not working, we gotta do more to reach the lost. And what do you end up with? You end up with churches that bring wrestling rinks into the sanctuary or do “pet baptisms” or have wiccan worship or native American worship or sing songs that seem to have nothing to do with God but are very emotionally stirring.
Think about the Roman Catholics as they did mission work in Haiti. They essentially created a whole new religion by allowing Voodoo and Catholicism to merge. To this day, you’ll find Roman Catholic Masses in Haiti where Voodoo dolls and other such witchcraft are performed during the church service.
The calls to make worship “fun” and “exciting” and “uplifting” and “emotional” and whatever else, “for the sake of evangelism,” is no different than the rich man crying from hell and wanting to tell his brothers to repent. They have all they need in Scripture, just as we have all we need in Scripture. The Word of God is living and active and does what it sets out to do. We are not called to be creative or inventive or clever with His Word; we are called to abide by His Word and proclaim His Word as it is given to us.
Consider how Jesus defended against the temptations of Satan in the wilderness. He proclaimed the Word. As He stood before Pilate and the Sanhedrin, when He spoke, He spoke the Word. Even on the cross, he prayed the Psalms and He spoke the Word.
In fact, what did Jesus say as He was led to trial and the leaders asked Him, “If you are the Christ, tell us”? He said, “Even if I do tell you, you won’t believe.” And we get right back to the point of the parable – the pharisees and their stubborn refusal to believe in who was standing right in front of them.
So, what does this parable mean for us today; how do we apply it? We apply it no differently. Is our believing in Messiah contingent upon things other than the Word of Christ? Or, like the pharisees who loved money and prestige, are we so caught up in the world that we have no time to be caught up in the things of God?
The rich man died and went to hell, not because he was rich, but because his faith was in his riches. He celebrated those riches as if they were his own, to do whatever he wished with them, despite the fact that God gives riches so that we might use our wealth to help the neighbor.
How do we handle the wealth we have? Do we believe our wealth is ours to do with as we please, or is our wealth a gift from God given to be used in His kingdom?
Or what about the Word of Christ? Do we believe the Word is living and active and accomplishes what it sets out to do, or do we believe God’s Word needs our help and our clever ideas in order to be effective in today’s culture?
The Word of God, the Law and the Prophets and the Gospel of Christ must be enough, and it must be of more value to us than our wealth.
The Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, the same Word who suffered and died on the cross and from His death flowed baptism and the Lord’s Supper, these must be enough. The Word and the Sacraments. It seems too simple, it seems too mundane, and yet it is the very power and wisdom of God given and shed for us, living for us, that saves us and saves those around us.
Because of Jesus, the gift of forgiveness given in Him, this gift is greater than everything, greater than our wealth, greater than our retirement accounts, greater than our possessions, greater than anything this world tells us to pursue, the things for which our flesh seeks to indulge.
The rich man who died, in his life, he had all he wanted, but he saved nothing up for the life to come. Lazarus had nothing in his life and suffered greatly for his faith, but in the next life he had treasure to the full.
Therefore, children of God, store up treasure in heaven. By faith, hold on to the Word of Christ for His Word and promises are all you need. It may seem mundane or boring or not fun, but who cares? These are earthly concerns, not heavenly concerns. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly rather than letting the riches of life become your god.
For Christ has died and He IS risen from the dead, and He calls to each of you to live lives of daily repentance and faith in His mercy, and to look forward to the coming kingdom which has no end. Amen.
