Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.’ Abraham replied, ‘My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Jesus said to the Pharisees: “There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. Happy are they who have kept the word with a generous heart, and yield a harvest through perseverance. They are like chaff which the wind drives away.įor the Lord watches over the way of the just, More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy who can understand it? I, the Lord, alone probe the mind and test the heart, to reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: it fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth. Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord. In the name of the One who has compassion on us, Amen.The rich man and Lazarus (Leandro Bassano). Lord, instill in us your heart of compassion, and lead us to do some good with the earthly treasures you have given us. His stony heart ignored the call to share food with the hungry and to provide shelter and clothing for people in need (Isaiah 58:7). In Jesus’ parable, the rich man’s sin was not that he was rich it was that he refused to care for a person in need. And he will bring justice to the oppressor. One of their spiritual songs speaks of God as the “Rock of my soul” in “the bosom of Abraham”- an expression referring to “Abraham’s side.” Where could those slaves find justice when their children were ripped from their arms and sold down the river, when the earthly powers-that-be were stacked against them? But the Lord saw their plight. This parable was a comfort to many slaves in the American South in the 1800s. Lazarus had had no comfort in life, but in death he received the blessings of life with God in heaven. The rich man had lived for his own pleasure and had ignored the message of Moses and the Prophets. In Jesus’ parable, the poor man Lazarus who died was carried by angels to Abraham’s side in heaven, and the rich man was sent to hell, where he was in torment. Like the prophets who brought God’s Word to the people, Jesus had sympathy for the poor and often rebuked rich people who were selfish and did nothing for the poor.
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