Luke 16:14-31 The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

 It is important to notice that in this passage Jesus is no longer talking to his disciples. The previous parable of the Unjust Manager (Lk 16:1-13) was directed to his disciples. In that parable he says to his disciples that we should use mammon shrewdly to gain entry to the eternal homes. And Jesus finishes that sequence with the warning that we cannot serve two masters. (Lk 16:13) Let’s make God the unifying heart of our lives! That Jesus teaches his disciples this means that he knows his disciples don’t have unified hearts. Our hearts are divided and distracted by many things. And the antidote to this idolatry is to follow Jesus. We don’t follow Jesus because God’s love lives in us without competitors; we are disciples so that through following Jesus our hearts will come to love God alone, and all else through and because of this love.

And then, immediately after that parable and its teaching, from 16:14 onward, we are told that the Pharisees – “who were lovers of money” - ridiculed Jesus. But Jesus sees their hypocrisy. Their hearts do not match their outward piety, and they justify themselves in the sight of others. But God does not love outward show, but it is the heart, and the true heart, that God desires in us. Jesus tells them that the law is to be fulfilled, and not ignored or only acknowledged by outward behaviour. (16:16-18)

Then – and Jesus is still addressing the Pharisees not his disciples – he tells this parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. It means something that the text deliberately has Jesus tell this parable to those who are lovers of money and will kill him, and not directly to his disciples.

But what does it mean? Sometimes, it is easier to say what a passage doesn’t mean before we turn to what it means. This is one of those passages. Here are some thoughts on what this passage does not mean.

• It does not follow from this parable that wealth is evil. It is not wealth that is the problem. On the contrary, wealth is a blessing from God. The problem is that we make wealth into mammon.
   
• It does not follow from this parable that we should feel guilty about wealth. The presence of poverty does not mean that wealth is morally wrong.
  
  
• And it does not follow from this parable that the presence of poverty means that the disciples of Jesus must universally be without wealth.

It does follow from this parable that the Pharisees, as opponents of Jesus, and who were lovers of money and hypocrites, rejected the law and the prophets and neglected their duty to the poor. So, just as in the parable, the rich man’s rejection of his duties to the poor and his rejection of the law and the prophets resulted in his rejection in the post-mortem reversal, so too the Pharisees are rejected. So, the parable is a parable of condemnation and rejection of the rich man and therefore (because the parable is directed to them) of the Pharisees. But the parable also points to the larger story of the gospel. The Pharisees reject Jesus in his ministry, preferring their vanity and love of money, and refuse to hear the call of God. And this rejection of Jesus will result in his crucifixion, and when he returns from the dead they will still reject him and his message! (Lk 16:31)

But is that all we are to make of this parable? No. Like any other parable of condemnation there is a message for everyone, whether disciple or not. In the previous parable of the Unjust Manager, the disciples were told to use their wealth to be welcomed into the eternal homes. (Lk 16:9) It is the divided human heart, the heart that prefers competitors to God, that is to be combatted by a generosity of giving and living. And Jesus then tells us that we cannot serve two masters. We are to serve God alone. (See also Lk 4:8 for an account of Jesus rejecting this temptation.) That Jesus teaches the danger of a divided heart to his disciples means that he knows his disciples have divided hearts. (Otherwise, why bother telling us this?) It is in the following of Jesus that our hearts will be purified. If our hearts become more and more divided, and gradually turn more and more to God’s competitors like mammon, then we will lose our discipleship. We will end up loving a competitor to God, not God. And that is the warning for all disciples in this parable and teaching (Lk 16:14-31), even though it is directed at the opponents of Jesus. The end point of the unhealed human heart is rejection of Jesus, and our rejection according to the parable.

(And remember, the full sweep of the good news of Jesus is for all people, even those who have rejected Jesus.)

Luke 16:1-13

This might be the most difficult parable of Jesus to interpret. It is just not that clear what we should make of it. 

• Most people object to the dishonesty of the manager. And yet he is praised by his Lord! 

• And is God a character in the parable? Most probably see the rich man as God, so is Jesus the (dishonest) manager? 

• Or perhaps we should go with the interpretation in 16:8-9 and see ourselves as the manager. “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” This does at first glance solve some of the problems. Except the parable encourages to use other people’s mammon! What about our own mammon of unrighteousness? If that were the point – to use our own mammon of unrighteousness – the parable doesn’t say it. We have to make (a not unreasonable) jump. The point is that perhaps the parable was originally about something else than our use of mammon. 

• And the first moral drawn by Jesus from the parable (16:8b) isn’t the moral drawn in 16:9. It is almost like the parable had a life before 16:9 was added. 

• And what is being praised by the master? The manager’s shrewdness, and specifically his shrewdness in using what belongs to the Lord (that is, the debts owed). Might the parable originally have been about forgiveness? We could say that Jesus is praising the way people use mammon for their own benefit. Disciples should do likewise, but the benefit is to enter the kingdom. This teaching to use wealth to secure an eternal home is similar to the teaching of Jesus at Lk 12:33-34. He says we should make purses for ourselves in heaven by giving alms. 

• The manager responds to the crisis with ingenuity in the hope that he will be remembered favourably by those he is helping. And surprisingly, he is praised by his Lord, even though he continued to misuse his Lord’s wealth! (Most listeners when Jesus first spoke this parable wouldn’t have seen that coming.) So, what conclusion might we draw? 

First, Luke has this parable and its interpretation in 16:9 continue his teaching on the danger of a divided heart. Recognising the tendency of the human heart to make wealth into mammon, Jesus teaches us to use our wealth in such a way that we do not divide our hearts and wealth cannot become mammon and an impediment in our love of God. 

Another, second, conclusion might also be possible. If the parable did circulate not as a parable about mammon and its use, what might it have been about originally? Acting shrewdly with our own generation? (Lk 16:8b) But we don’t get anything more to add to this. Perhaps the parable might have been about forgiveness. (The parable immediately before is the Prodigal Son). The surprising element of the parable is that the Lord praises the ingenuity of the manager in forgiving debts when propriety dictates opprobrium. That sounds like Jesus and the Law: according to his opponents Jesus misused God’s Law. He forgave what only God could forgive, and perhaps he did so too easily. 

The parables of Jesus can be a little too commonplace for those who have digested them over time. His parables still remain a challenge, even if some of  the shock has been lost. But not with this parable of the Unjust Manager. We are still a little shocked - perhaps shown in our confusion - that the Master praises dishonesty, even if the guy is shrewd. All the parables can still be like this for us. We just need to hear them afresh, occasionally. And let the shock jolt us into a new perspective. Even if only a bit.