Luke 16:19 “Once there was a rich man who used to dress in the most expensive clothing and spent his days in magnificent luxury. 20 At his gate had been laid a beggar named El‘azar who was covered with sores. 21 He would have been glad to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table; but instead, even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 In time the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to Avraham’s side; the rich man also died and was buried.
23 “In Sh’ol, where he was in torment, the rich man looked up and saw Avraham far away with El‘azar at his side. 24 He called out, ‘Father Avraham, take pity on me, and send El‘azar just to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue, because I’m in agony in this fire!’ 25 However, Avraham said, ‘Son, remember that when you were alive, you got the good things while he got the bad; but now he gets his consolation here, while you are the one in agony. 26 Yet that isn’t all: between you and us a deep rift has been established, so that those who would like to pass from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house, 28 where I have five brothers, to warn them; so that they may be spared having to come to this place of torment too.’ 29 But Avraham said, ‘They have Moshe and the Prophets; they should listen to them.’ 30 However, he said, ‘No, father Avraham, they need more. If someone from the dead goes to them, they’ll repent!’ 31 But he replied, ‘If they won’t listen to Moshe and the Prophets, they won’t be convinced even if someone rises from the dead!’”
Why does it take us being affected negatively to enter into repentance?
For some reason we can’t just see our own selfishness and make corrections. It takes us being hurt or experiencing loss to get us to think about others.
As believers, however, we’re good at thinking of others, right? Well, sure…sort of.
We know it’s the right thing to do and we seriously consider other people at varying points in our days, weeks, and months. No question about that.
But here we see something of a big gap between this rich man and the poor beggar. Interestingly enough, this gap is seemingly amplified by money in the world but in the grave it appears to be something far different.
On both sides of life there exists this gap. But what is it?
We see on the other side of this Age that the gap is a separation between eternal life and eternal death. I think we’re all pretty familiar with this concept as believers and we look forward to such a time as this. Dwelling with Abraham on the side of righteousness.
But on this side? The gap is a little less clear. Or is it?
What if the gap on this side is the same as the other side? The righteous separated from the unrighteous. If this is the case, we should be able to clearly detect the difference between the two. For some reason, though, we can’t.
While it seems that it’s money causing the separation here, I don’t think that fully explains it. I mean, we see other parables talking about money and wealth in a positive light.
What’s different here?
Well, it’s not that the rich man has a lot, it’s that he could care less whether the beggar had anything or not.
But do you think he was intentionally hateful? I doubt it. I think he was just so caught up in his own life and lifestyle that he couldn’t see beyond it.
He was blind. Blind to the pain that was just at the edge of his property. Literally at his doorstep was a man that had nothing, and he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) see it. He wasn’t completely blind, though. We do know he knew the beggar’s name because he identifies him when he’s with Abraham. So maybe it wasn’t blindness, maybe it was numbness. He’s seen him so often that he is no longer moved by his condition. He’s used to seeing someone else in misery and it no longer moves him. Numb.
This whole thing isn’t an issue of the rich man just being busy and not going past the beggar by accident. He passes him continually. He’s a fixture in this man’s life. The rich man became immune to the pain around him -- because he wasn’t in pain.
With this in tow, what then is the gap?
The difference between the righteous and unrighteous comes down to seeing through the eyes of Abba or having eyes of selfishness. I think this sums it all up pretty well. If you see the world as Abba does, you see things so much more clearly. You see what’s important and what isn’t. All things become crystal clear and you can make very simple (but sometimes hard) decisions.
But selfishness…that one causes you to make some very compromised decisions, doesn’t it?
Why is it that we think living like this is somehow better? Why do we consider ourselves so important that we hold tightly to our own condition? Can we not just understand that Abba’s eyes are much, much better? We know it, right? But why can’t we know it?
We really think a lot of ourselves. We hate pain and we despise embarrassment. So we put as many systems in place as we can to make sure those don’t come to our doorstep -- those lowly beggars we just step right on over as we push forward.
We’ve created walls that are insulated with our “good” life and we make sure to avoid interaction with pain, guilt, and ultimate responsibility.
Our life of comfort…ah, that’s refreshing, isn’t it?
Selfishness is a hard habit to break.
Even in the grave, this man was thinking of himself. Asking for water and subsequently asking for his family to hear the truth. Never once acknowledging Lazarus and what he dealt with in this life.
This will be the case for all who end up in the Lake of Fire. They spend their lives looking after themselves and they will do the same as they perish in the fire.
The eyes of selfishness. Watching out for #1.
“Let me be sure to get myself taken care of then I’ll consider someone else.”
But do we ever get there? We never seem to have enough do we?
Someday. Someday we will do what we know we are called to do, right?
“But that surely isn’t today. I have bills to pay and a retirement to fund.
Got to have a phone and internet to do both of those, right? Well, that stuff isn’t free…”
The troubling part in all of this is that the rich man recognized Abraham. Abraham also said the rich man’s brothers had the Torah and the Prophets, which meant the rich man had them as well.
I mean, he must have at least known enough about the Torah and Prophets to assume it wasn’t good enough to teach anyone anything of real, eternal value:
“No, father Avraham, they need more.”
Torah wasn’t enough for his life. He was convinced that, on its own, the Torah and the Prophets did not have enough power to influence someone’s belief in what’s to come. How sad is that?
He believed the word of a dead man was more powerful than the Word of God. This same man that sat at the rich man’s gate. That's who he wanted to go and tell his brothers! No chance they’d listen to that guy, right? A beggar is beneath them all.
Good thing we believe the Word of God is enough. Or else we may lean on secondary evidence to show us the truth as well.
Who are you? A beggar sitting at the gate? Or the rich man that doesn’t even acknowledge his existence?
This is a hard question because we know who we are here.
Unfortunately, we work diligently to be as the rich man, don’t we? Having plenty of money and comfort so we can live without a care in this world. Not trying to be hateful or selfish, but accidentally ignoring all the pain that surrounds us. All the while, holding onto our resources to ensure we will always have enough.
But Lazarus is at the gate. Notice he’s not at the city gate. He’s at the gate of the rich man’s home. He was put there. In fact, he’s at the gate of your home. Someone has put him there for you. And all he’s seeking are the scraps from your table.
This isn’t just food. He’s seeking your eye of compassion. He’s wanting you to see him as Abba sees him. Just a glimpse. He’s wanting you to find it within yourself to live a little less so he can live at all.
Today is the day.
Do not attach yourself to things that will someday be the evidence used against you. Free yourself. Ask Abba to give you His eyes so you can see clearly.
Or else you may be calling over that gap for someone to bring you a drop of water.