Sermon October 11, 1998 Listen! based on Luke 16:19-31

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Introduction

Our Congress has much of importance to consider lately. Yet, you wonder how well they do at getting the work done. Boris Marshalov described them this way: "Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens--and then everybody disagrees." Communication has to be one of the major problems in our world. Within communication, it is often a failure to listen that crops up over and over again. We have trouble listening to each other. Jesus speaks to us in our text about listening to what He has to say.

In the text, a poor beggar called Lazarus and a rich man are featured in their life and death. During their lives they were opposites. The rich man lived a life of constant luxury, celebrating daily to an extreme. Lazarus is a poor beggar covered with sores who tries to get left-overs from the rich man. In their death they are opposites too. Lazarus is carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham. Then the rich man is buried and in pain in Hades. The rich man asks Abraham to first send Lazarus to get him a sip of cold water to calm his pain. Abraham says no and then points out that there is a separation between Abraham where Lazarus is located and the rich man. No one can cross either direction. Then the rich man asks Abraham to send someone to warn his brothers about the pain he is facing so they might avoid it. Abraham says that it won't help to send someone to warn them, for they already have a warning in the Scriptures, but they don't listen to that warning. Abraham notes that even if a person rose from the dead and went to warn them, they would not listen.

Interpretation

Bible Scholars can't agree on how to understand our text. Some say it is a parable and others say no. You may remember that parables are made-up, fictional stories, use to make a point for Jesus' listeners. If the text, often called the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, were a parable, then we would understand it differently that a factual report. Parables are told to make points, and their details are not considered a source of Christian doctrine. If the text were a factual situation, then facts are facts, and we could derive doctrine from them.

The text does not identify itself as a parable, though many parables do. However, it uses the phrasing like a parable. The text concludes with a written statement like a moral or point of a parable would be written. It says, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." That seems like the point of the whole section.

Another disagreement is regarding the name of the places where the two men went. The place the rich man went to is Hades, which is pronounced Ha-days in the original Greek. Is this the same as hell? The New International Version translates Hades as hell. However, Greek scholars understand Hades to simply be the place of the dead. This fits with how the term is used in Revelation 6 and 20, where Hades and death are equated. Hades and death give up their dead to be judged, righteous or unrighteous, in Revelation 20.

The place that Lazarus went is the bosom of Abraham. This was understood in the Jewish thinking as being a safe place for the righteous who had died. They were kept safe in Abraham's bosom. It was not understood as the place where God dwelt.

A further issue for us is the apparent bodies that the rich man and Lazarus have after they have died. The rich man wanted his tongue cooled. He wanted Lazarus to dip his finger in the water to cool it. It would seem that these men have bodies with fingers and tongues. The Scriptures make it clear, in many places, however, that our bodily resurrection will occur only on the Last Day, at Christ's return. This would mean that the rich man's brothers would also be facing the judgement and it would be too late to warn them. Therefore, we need to understand this differently.

We wonder in general, assuming this is a parable, if some of the details are contrary to fact. Would Jesus intentionally mislead us with a parable? Sometimes the details in parables do get strange. The parables the Shrewd Manager, the Persistent Widow, and the Ten Minas all contain details which don't match the way the world works. Yet, Jesus tells those parables to make a point.

We certainly can speculate about various ways to work out some of these mysteries. One can imagine that time is distorted for those who die. God himself is beyond time. Perhaps in dying, Lazarus and the rich man immediately reached the day of judgment. They were already resurrected and had fingers and tongues.

As we ponder some of the finer points of our text, we should never lose sight of the main points. Those are clear.

Original Audience

It is most helpful in understanding the main points our text if we know who Jesus is speaking to. At the beginning of Chapter 16 of Luke, Jesus tells His disciples the Parable of the Shrewd Manager. Some Pharisees overhear Jesus when He is speaking to His disciples. He talks to His disciples about appropriate use of money and possessions, for the betterment of God's Kingdom. "You cannot serve both God and Money," concludes Jesus.

Jesus knew the Pharisees were irritated with His statements. Verse 14 describes them as ones who loved money and possessions. Jesus speaks to the Pharisees with severe statements of the Law. "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight." He goes on to teach them that if they think they can force their way into heaven by obeying a few laws, they are wrong. All the Law remains in force. As an example, Jesus reminds them of the law against divorce and remarriage.

After these teachings, Jesus gives the message in our text to the Pharisees. They are the ones being addressed for the rest of chapter 16. Then, in Chapter 17, Jesus speaks again to His disciples.

In talking to the Pharisees, then, Jesus' point in our text would be that they are not listening to what God is saying. God is telling the Pharisees that they are sinning by the way they love money and possessions. They are sinning with their divorces. God is speaking to them, but they are not listening. So, Abraham says in our text, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them." The rich man's brothers already had God's Word in the Old Testament writings. Did they need any further warning of the future punishment of those who turn away from God? If they failed to listen to the Scriptures, they would not even listen to a person who rises from the dead. This future idea of a person rising from the dead was fulfilled in Christ's resurrection. Yet, even after Jesus rose, not everyone believed Him.

Us, Today

Now this text does not just pursue the pharisees, but it pursues us also. How many times do we resist God's law? How many times do we chose to ignore what God clearly forbids in the Scriptures? We do not always listen to God. His law doesn't penetrate to our hearts. Then we end up like the Pharisees, who justified themselves in the eyes of men. You and I do have trouble with that, for we are very concerned about our appearance before other people. We forget, however, that God sees into our hearts. God's law is there to remind us that He sees into our hearts. The Law totally crushes us. We end up having to admit that we are helpless and lost. We are not able to justify ourselves. That is hard to hear, and so we don't always listen. We don't always want to hear what God has to say. Woe to the complacent ones who feel secure, says the Old Testament lesson today from Amos. We, like the rich man's brothers, have those times when we ignore Moses and the Prophets and the rest of God's Word. We don't want to hear we are sinful.

Yet, even in the midst of our sins of not listening, our God has mercy on us. In His only Son, He came to take away our sins of failure to hear. He nailed those sins to the cross. On the cross, the punishment for those sins was endured by the innocent one. Christ faced death to free us from the torment the rich man faced. He suffered pain, so we would not have to suffer. Then, from His death, He arose again. To life He came, not with a warning, but with Gospel. He rose with the good news that our sins are forgiven and eternal life is ours. He rose with grace for all. Forgiven are our sins of not listening.

Forgiven and released from our sins, we are now free to listen. My word of encouragement to you as I leave you would be to listen. Listen to God's Word. Hear what He has to say. Let His word penetrate to your heart. Meditate on it and study it. Hear God speak to you through His Word.

Listening to God's Word also involves not listening to man's words. When God speaks on a subject, we listen to Him, not to what people have to say. I have great concern about the teachings of men which lead us away from God's truth.

For example, there is a new movie out, What Dreams May Come, which stars Robin Williams. It claims to be a movie to teach us all about the After Life. Many have already seen this movie, and many more will see it, and they will accept what the movie teaches as truth. In the movie, a man dies and goes to heaven, and his wife dies and goes to hell. He is not happy without her, so he decides to go to hell to get her. The focus of the movie is entirely on the man's journey, and all the fantastic places he visits. The conclusion we would be led to is simply that one's location at death is more important than who one is with. Surely the movie doesn't mention God, worshiping Him, or being in His presence.

God's Word teaches us the truth, however, that for Lazarus, it was more important that he be in Abraham's bosom, which represents being in God's care. The rich man could see them and talk to them, so in a way he was in the same place. Yet he experienced pain while Lazarus was encouraged.

For us Christians, the most blessed state is to be with Christ. He is our God, our redeemer, and our savior. We are His children. It is most blessed to be with our creator.

God's Word teaches us the truth also that there is no crossing over once you have died. If we reject Christ and His forgiveness freely offered to us in this life, it is then too late. That movie would leave us thinking that we could change things after death. God's Word teaches us that our future is sealed at death.

So, I leave you with the strong desire that you will continue to listen to God's Word. Hear of your sinfulness and the need for a Savior. Then, hear how that Savior gives you the gift of life and salvation for free, apart from any of your works. Listen to Moses and the Prophets. Listen to the New Testament writers. Listen to the one who rose from the dead, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.