John’s Lane
D08 F8NW
28 September 2025
Rich man and Lazarus: Luke 16:19-31
Welcome
It is easy to see from today’s gospel story why people thought St Luke was not only a medic but an artist. The word-picture he gives us today flashes stubbornly on the inward eye. Perhaps it is the details which do it: the dogs licking the sores, the finger to touch the tip of the tongue, the yawning, unbridgeable chasm.
Topic
What is the teaching and can we learn from it today?
Steps
Across the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, Luke is wary of money. Not that we don’t need it; not that we can’t have it; but that money easily becomes a kind of god. “Money is the root of all evil” is actually a misquotation. Instead, we read in 1 Timothy as follows:
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (1Timothy 6:10)
The second teaching of Luke is not to lose the opportunity of the present moment. In this, he is a faithful student of St Paul, who wrote in 2 Corinthians:
Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation! (2Corinthians 6:2)
St Augustine has a slightly frightening commentary on the present moment: the past is over, the future is not yet, the present moment is all we have, as the future fleetingly becomes the past.
Towards the end of the parable, we read:
‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.”
The last comment in our story is larded with irony. Finally, the rich man has a moment of unselfishness and is concerned about his five brothers. Could they not be warned? They have Moses and the prophets is the curt response. “Ah no, father Abraham, but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He means most likely if Lazarus should come back and warn them.
Conclusion
But Luke believes, of course, that someone has indeed come back from the dead — the risen Jesus — motive enough for conversion of heart and life.
