LIVING AND DYING
‘There was a certain rich man.… And there was a certain beggar.’
This is a solemn parable. It gives us a peep into the unseen world. It tells of a poor man who went to heaven, and of a rich man who went to hell. We must not suppose that he went to hell because he was rich, or that Lazarus went to heaven because he was poor. ‘ The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God’; but riches are a great snare to keep our hearts to earth and from God (Hosea 12:8; Deuteronomy 8:13-14; Proverbs 30:8-9; Mark 10:22-23). Do not envy people because they have wealth (1 Timothy 6:9-11).
Just consider this rich man living and dying:—
I. On earth (Luke 16:19). He was beautifully dressed, and fared sumptuously. What harm was there in this? He did nothing by fraud, nor did he live to excess (Matthew 19:20; Luke 18:11). What, then, was his fault? He only thought of himself (Zechariah 7:6; 2 Timothy 3:2). Only of his body, not of his soul (Job 27:8; Matthew 16:26). As he did not think of his own soul, neither did he of others (Proverbs 24:11-12; Romans 15:1-3; Php_2:4; Php_2:21). He cared less for the poor than for the animals of his pleasure (Luke 16:20-21; James 2:15-16). What was his end? ‘He died and was buried’ (Job 21:23; Ecclesiastes 2:16; compare Psalms 49:16-20). Such was his life.
II. In hell (Luke 16:23).— He is perfectly conscious. He knows who and where he is—Lazarus—and the circumstances of his father’s house (Luke 16:28). He is changed in condition, not in heart; no longer in luxury, but torment (chap. Luke 12:20). He calls to Abraham, not to God (Psalms 10:4; John 8:39; John 8:44). As he is unchanged to God, so to his fellow-men. He still looks down on Lazarus—‘send Lazarus’ (Luke 16:24). He sees the blessed ‘afar off,’ and is separated from them (Psalms 138:6; Jeremiah 23:23). How different it might have been (Ephesians 2:13)! He does not desire heaven, but only that he may suffer less (Luke 16:24; Luke 19:42). He would insinuate that he was not sufficiently warned; but Abraham reminds him of the sufficiency of Scripture (Luke 16:27-31; John 5:39).
III. What lessons should we take away with us?
(a) Not to live for self (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Galatians 2:19-20).
(b) That heaven and hell are real things (Psalms 9:17; Matthew 25:46).
(c) That the Bible is our only sure guide now with regard to both (Deuteronomy 30:15-19; Luke 16:31). You know the old couplet,
Live well, and die never;
Die well and live ever.
Bishop Rowley Hill.
Illustrations
(1) ‘It is not necessary to be rich ere we can commit Dives’ sin, for all are rich in the eyes of God and all are in danger of Dives’ fall. A faith which shows itself in love, a diligent determination to consecrate our whole life to our most merciful and loving God, this alone will make us accepted in the Beloved at last. Men praise us, flatter us in this life, nay, they may honour us as we pass to the grave, but all this will but increase our misery if we have missed the mark, and behind the veil are in that outer misery which every selfish man is surely and hopelessly preparing for himself.’
(2)‘Alas! I have walked through life too heedless where I trod,
Nay, helping to trample my fellow-worm and fill the burial sod,
Forgetting that even the sparrow falls not unmarked of God.
The wounds I might have healed, the human sorrow and smart!
And yet it never was in my soul to play so ill a part,
But evil is done for want of thought as well as for want of heart.’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
DIVES AND LAZARUS
There is much to learn from this parable.
I. The gravity of sins of omission.—People often think lightly of these; but omission of doing good when it comes in our way, is very differently estimated in the Scriptures. Such sins involve a loss of grace and a loss of glory, and may involve sufferings, as in the case of the rich man in another world.
II. God’s care of the poor sufferer—he was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. Here we have a glimpse of the spiritual world. Those pure and blessed beings, the inhabitants of heaven, seem to have a care for the poor and suffering, against whom man may shut up his bowels of compassion.
III. The responsibility of having wealth or the responsibility money brings with it, whether much or little. A man, it has been said, ‘may bury his talent in the earth or in the consols, but he will have to give an account to the uttermost farthing.’
Ven. Chancellor Hutchings.
Illustration
‘This man was “rich,” a description brief, but sufficient, like a keynote to a musical composition—he was a man, as we should say, of large means. That in itself might be no sin. I am not forgetting St. Jerome’s rather severe remark, that a “rich man is either unjust himself,” or “the heir of injustice.” There have not been wanting those who have attributed his terrible end to the fact that he had large property; but that is, to our mind, to miss the point. St. Augustine has shown the untenability of such an assumption by reminding the author of it, that Lazarus was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom, and that Abraham was a man of very considerable landed property. We have in this, as in so many cases, to separate the abuse from the use; but having said this, we will go on and notice the dangers which accompany wealth. Another early writer points out the perils in the getting, in the possession, and in the using of riches; and these are respectively, undue eagerness, outstripping the bounds of honesty; vanity, in the possession; and carnal sins, in the expenditure.’