"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "
Luke 16v19-31 (TNIV)
This parable gets lots of attention for the supposed details it gives us about heaven and hell. That's unfortunate, because the real value of this parable is found in its broader context - a message to the Pharisees and anybody else obsessed with money.
Jesus had been teaching about money, and he gave us this famous aphorism: You cannot serve both God and Money. Luke records this detail: "The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight." Jesus goes on to provoke them by outlining significant, grievous sins the Pharisees were committing - revealing that they may be able to spout Torah and the Prophets, but they didn't really know it, love it, listen to it.
We can tend to get caught up in certain details of this story: Is Hell the same as Hades? Is it a place of fire-induced agony? Is there a chasm between Hades and Abraham's side? Is Abraham's side the same as Heaven? Can Abraham dialogue with people in Hades/Hell? Can other people shout back and forth? How does that work?
For Christians, anyways, maybe there are some other parts of the text we ought to focus on:
"If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."
Christians sometimes think that they can convince people to believe in Jesus because he was raised from the dead, or to believe in Jesus so that they can avoid Hell, or because it is a better way of life. And some of those reasons have probably worked for some people. But Jesus seems to focus on the appeal of God over the agony of Hell. In this life - as hard and bad as it can be - who will you serve? ...not because of wanting to avoid Hell, but because of wanting to know God's heart now. Do we want to value what God values now or not?
The best way to help others consider becoming a Christian is be the kind of Christian they might want to become: one who knows God's heart, one who serves God not money, one who does not justify themselves in others eyes, one who doesn't commit adultery, one who cares for the poor, one who listens to Torah and the Prophets, one who doesn't sneer at Jesus.
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