A PUZZLING PARABLE. In the Bible, Jesus used parables to teach a specific lesson. One of those parables was about a Rich Man and a Poor Man called Lazarus. To some this parable is puzzling. What message was Jesus teaching and how does it apply to us today?

This series addresses the concerns we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, dying, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us, humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving, peaceful relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.

Here, we address the origin of sin and look more closely at death and dying.

But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again.

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School (See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School)

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Let’s invite the Spirit of God

Heavenly Father, as we search the scriptures help us not depend on our own understanding but depend on the voice of your Holy Spirit to teach us what is truth.

In Jesus’ Name Amen

In the Bible, Jesus occasionally used parables of situations that existed in His day to teach a lesson. A clue that it was a parable was that he would start it with an opening that began with “There was a certain.” Knowing this, read the parable about the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19–31. You see, the Pharisees had told a similar story. Using the words of the Pharisees, Jesus told the story and gave it a surprising twist to teach a deeper spiritual truth.

We have already discovered that the Bible clearly establishes that at death the body is in an unconscious state and will remain in the grave until Jesus returns the second time to wake the righteous dead at which time both the righteous living and the righteous dead will be transformed from mortal being to immortal beings.  To better understand this, review our previous lessons at Sabbathschooldaily.com

The Book Christ Object Lesson points out that “In this parable, Christ was meeting the people on their own ground. The doctrine of a conscious state of existence between death and the resurrection was held by many of those who were listening to Christ’s words. The Savior knew of their ideas, and He framed His parable so as to instill important truths through these preconceived ideas.” (Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Battle Creek, MI: Review and Herald, 1900, 263.  Adapted) 

What is a parable? A parable is a simple story used to illustrate or teach a moral or spiritual lesson. In most cases, it is not the actual experience.

As with dreams, what we dream defies the natural. In most cases, they cannot be taken literally.  However, when examined, we discover our dreams teach us things about ourselves, reality, and even our mental health.

In Luke 16:19-31 it says:

19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.

20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,

21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.

23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’

25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 

26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’

27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,

28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’

29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’

30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”  (Luke 16:19-31)

Though some may suggest that this parable about the rich man and Lazarus is real and shows us what happens when a person dies, it is contrary to many of the scriptures in the Bible we have looked at about what happens when we die.

For instance, first, this parable teaches us that heaven and hell are close enough to allow people in both places to talk with each other and interact with one another. 

This parable also shows that both the righteous and the unrighteous continue to live after their body dies.

Now if this parable was designed to show us what happens after we die, could heaven be a place of joy and happiness if the righteous can closely watch the endless sufferings of their lost loved ones and talk to them as in Luke 16:23–31? How could a mother be happy in heaven while she watches her child suffer in hell?

Also, how can God keep His promise to us that there will be no more tears or pain in heaven according to Revelation 21:4?

4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) This is puzzling!

Though we have been traditionally taught that this story was an illustration of what happens when we die. Many modern Bible scholars believe that the story about the rich man and Lazarus is a parable from which every detail cannot be interpreted literally.  

Here is what one Bible Scholar says, George E. Ladd 1911 – 1982 was a Baptist minister and professor of New Testament exegesis and theology at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California:  He says that the story Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus is “a parable which made use of current Jewish thinking and is not intended to teach anything about the state of the dead.”—G. E. Ladd, “Eschatology,” in The New Bible Dictionary, edited by J. D. Douglas (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1962), page 388. 

So, if it does not teach us what happens when we die, what does this parable teach? 

This parable offers a comparison between the rich man and Lazarus. It shows us two men who are very different from each other. According to Luke 16:19, 20, the rich man is well-dress and wears very expensive clothes. And the poor man is a beggar, whose name is Lazarus. His body is covered with sores.

The story teaches us that:

• Riches, status, and social recognition are not the criteria for the future reward. These things do not give us eternal life. (Split)
• Our eternal destiny is decided in this life. We decide to accept or reject everlasting life now. Once we die, the decision is final. We cannot change our minds after we die as indicated in Luke 16:25, 26.

Luke 16:25-26

25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and you are tormented.

26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’

Jesus’ final statement in this parable is a powerful one. One of which we should all take notice of. Luke 16:31

31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ” 

For those refusing to receive or accept the scriptures, written by Moses and the prophets, no supernatural, mystical or strange phenomena will persuade them to believe the truth and change their minds. Jesus here is emphasizing the value of the written word, the Bible, and how crucial it is to our decision in choosing our eternal destiny. Because once we die we cannot change our minds, it is crucial that we make that decision now.

Jesus was crucified/executed between two thieves. He was the innocent one, yet he promised one of the thieves he would be in paradise. When will that promise be fulfilled? Find Out Day 3: “‘Today . . . With Me in Paradise”

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