‘And a certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores.'
There was also a beggar. He was probably a semi-invalid for he was ‘laid' (the root of the verb means ‘thrown') at the gate of the rich man, with the hope that some pity might be shown to him. He was full of sores (and therefore ritually ‘unclean'), but the only ones who had any association with him were the dogs who licked his sores, and this only aggravated his sores. His misery was thus added to by the fact that scavenging dogs snuffled around him, and he could do nothing about it. No one else wanted even to touch him. But there is one other difference. He has a name, in Hebrew ‘Eleazar' (Eliezer), ‘he whom God had helped'. It tells us that although no one else was willing to touch him, God was willing to do so. The world saw a man to be pitied, a man who had nothing. But he had all the riches in the world, because he had God. And his name is mentioned because it was written in Heaven (Luke 10:20), and would be used when he went there. It may well be that in choosing the name Jesus remembered Abraham's faithful servant (Genesis 15:2). Here was one who was faithful to Abraham's memory.
The story has in mind that in general it is the ‘poor' who tend to seek God, and the rich who keep Him at a distance (see Luke 6:20-26, and compare the use of ‘poor' in the Psalms e.g. Psalm 40:18; Psalms 72:2-4).
‘Gate.' A large oriental gate leading into a city or a mansion (Matthew 26:71; Acts 10:17; Acts 12:13; Acts 14:13).
‘Desiring to be fed.' All he wanted was a few crumbs, and he did not even get that. It is a picture of total lack of concern and utter callousness. (We can almost hear the rich man saying, “Don't give him anything. It will only encourage him”).
‘The crumbs that fell from the rich man's table.' All he wanted was what was thrown away. But they were not for him for he could not get near the table. Such ‘crumbs' were regularly eaten by dogs (Mark 7:28). So the only taste of the crumbs he got was from the misery of the dogs licking his sores! (Compare here the vivid description in Judges 1:7. Even those poor souls were better off than he was).
Some have said that the rich man was condemned for being rich. But that is not strictly true. Abraham had been rich too. The stress is rather on the fact that he had the opportunity to show kindness and compassion on his doorstep and did nothing. He was totally callous. His sin was that he did nothing when much needed to be done. It was that that revealed the true state of his heart.