Sermon - Trinity I 2024 - Luke 16:19-31

Parable of the Rich Man and the Beggar Lazarus, Codex Aureus Epternacensis, circa 1035-1040

The Inner Wealth of Faith

1. The true contrast between Dives and Lazarus

2. Righteousness by faith

3. The eternal misery of hell and the eternal comfort of heaven

Things are not always as they appear. This is especially true when it comes to people. The life lived publicly may not accurately represent the life lived privately. This is especially noticeable when there are great scandals. The successful coach or teacher goes to jail for doing terrible things to children. The head of a local charity gets caught embezzling funds. The well-loved local celebrity is physically violent at home. Or it goes the other way, too. The rough and loud man is gentle and tender-hearted at home. The guy who had lousy jobs and lived in a dinky house was actually a millionaire and gave away millions to church and charity throughout life.

The same is true for the rich man and Lazarus, since their lives lived publicly didn’t accurately represent who they were. The contrast between these two men before and after death is stunning. The rich man was apparently successful and well-loved. He was clothed splendidly, and ate a feast every day. At his death he was given a grand funeral, and probably it was well-attended. He was buried in a notable tomb, not unlike the tomb Jesus occupied for a few days. His burial place would serve as a memorial of his wealth for years to come.

In life Lazarus was just the opposite of the rich man. He was poor and alone. Evidently he was also unsuccessful and despised by others. He was dressed in rags and his body covered in sores. He had to beg to eat the rich man’s table scraps which were thrown out in the refuse, to be eaten by wild animals. He wasn’t even strong enough to prevent the wild dogs from licking his open sores. When he died, who knows if anyone loved him enough to bury him or give him a funeral, it just says he died; he was probably tossed out like the table scraps.

But in death a reversal occurs, although the contrast between the two men remains extreme. Although poor, Lazarus was carried not by a hearse but by angels to be laid into the lap of Abraham. The imagery here is of father Abraham receiving into his arms one of his dear children for whom he long waited. Like God promised Abraham: “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them. So shall your offspring be.” Although Lazarus was quickly forgotten on earth, no lasting memorial for him there, no name to be remembered, Lazarus was known by name in paradise, and His name written in the book of life. He is a true child of Abraham, and his home is in heaven, because like his father Abraham he trusted in the Lord and his faith was counted to him as righteousness.

The rich man on the other hand received just the opposite. Although rich and given a grand entrance to the grave on earth, his entrance to hell was immediate and without any fanfare. Although he was always comfortable in life, in hell he is in constant torment, forever enduring the flames which lick his body. He calls out to Abraham as his father, and Abraham even calls him his child, but he is not treated as a child. Perhaps by blood he was a physical descendent of Abraham, perhaps in his earthly life he even gave the religious appearance of being Abraham’s child, but in truth he was not. Abraham doesn’t even know his popular name on earth, since his name is not written in the book of life; he just calls him child. His eternal home is in hell, because unlike Abraham and Lazarus, he did not trust in the Lord, he was without faith, and was therefore unrighteous.

His unbelief and unrighteousness persisted in hell. He didn’t cry out in sorrow and repentance, with remorse for his wickedness and unbelief. In death he remained as selfish as before, still treating Lazarus like a servant who should descend to hell to serve him, or descend to earth to serve his brothers. He doesn’t beg for his brothers to repent of their hardness of hearts, for their unbelief; he just wants them to be warned by Lazarus’ ghost and scared into faith. The writings of Moses and the Prophets, the Holy Word of God, remained insufficient to him even in hell.

The parable is a powerful lesson to us who have not yet died and there remains some time for us to prepare for death. On the face of it, you might be tempted to think that this is just about money, and if you’re poor you will go to heaven and if you’re rich you will go to hell. Or you might interpret it like a Marxist, if you’re an oppressor on earth you go to hell, but if you’re the oppressed you go to heaven. But that’s not it. Rather, the lesson today is about the inner wealth of faith. There are many outwardly rich people who are in heaven, because they also have the inner wealth of faith. There are also plenty of poor people in hell, because they are impoverished of faith.

The true wealth worth gaining in this life cannot be measured using any sort of human scale of success. Because the true wealth worth possessing is faith. Just as Abraham had faith in God’s promises, and his faith was counted to him as righteousness, so are we to be like Abraham. “The words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” This faith which lays hold of God’s promises is what receives the gift of salvation, and gives us the right to be called children of Abraham, and indeed children of God.

This is important, because it is faith in God’s promises which allow us entrance into God’s kingdom. Outward and visible claims on God’s kingdom are not enough. This lesson would’ve been very obvious to first century Jewish Israelites, especially the Pharisees. Just because they claimed Abraham as their father, didn’t mean they were actually children of Abraham. The same is true today. Just because Muslims and modern day Jews claim to have Abraham as their father, doesn’t mean they are children of Abraham. Because a true child of Abraham is a child of the faith of Abraham, which is to have faith in a very specific descendant of Abraham, namely Jesus the Christ who lived and died for the forgiveness of sins. Without that faith of Abraham, without faith in Christ, the only thing awaiting them in death is the torment of hell.

The same principle applies to us. Just because one outwardly appears to be a good person, to be a descendent of a faithful Christian, to have the outward trappings of Christianity, to have their name on the membership roster of a congregation, does not necessarily make that person a child of God. Instead, the internal faith of the Christian is what matters. The one who believes God’s promises, who trusts in Jesus’ sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins, who is repentant over sin, who listens to Moses and the Prophets, to the Evangelists and the Apostles, that one is a child of God and shall receive comfort in paradise.

For the unrepentant, for the self-righteous, let the eternal torment of hell and the agony of the flames be a warning. This seems harsh, perhaps, but hell is eternal. When you die, there’s no second chance. Jesus says: “Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.” If you die in unbelief, you will be in hades forever. 

Related to that, there is no purgatory. Jesus makes it plain there are just two places one may enter after death: paradise or hell. If you’re banking on purgatory in order to get yourself or someone else into heaven eventually, don’t give yourself false hope, because it may very well land you or someone eternally in hell. Now is the time for repentance and faith; there’s no second chance.

But for the faithful and those who trust in Christ, may you find comfort and hope in the eternal joys of paradise. Just as you can’t go from hell to heaven, neither can you lose your place in heaven and go to hell. Once you’re in paradise, you’re in it for good. Even if you’re lonely and poor on earth, unsuccessful and quickly forgotten, know that your name is written in the book of life and shall be remembered for all eternity. Even if your whole family were to hate you in this life, in paradise you shall have a family, known by name to all. Even if you suffer on earth, you shall be comforted in heaven. Like a child you will be laid into the lap of your family, consoled and cared for. You won’t just be laid outside of the walls of the king’s house, but you’ll be carried by the angels inside the home to dwell with the King. Perhaps in this life you’ve received many bad things, but in paradise you will be comforted and receive everything good. 

Although things are hidden on earth for now, and things are not always as they appear, in time the inner true wealth of faith shall be known to all, and you will be comforted as a true child of Abraham.