Sermon 9-28-25

Pastor Ray Lorthioir

Trinity Lutheran Church

W. Hempstead, NY

Based on the Gospel lesson for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost. Luke 16:19-31.

Rich Man; Poor Man

If the definition of a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, then the Rich Man and Lazarus is more than a parable. For we get a look into the heavenlies in more than a symbolic way.

So let’s break down the story. Luke 16:19-22, “19 ‘There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. . . .’”

Point number one. Everything in this life is temporary. Nothing is permanent. The rich man’s luxury didn’t last. Even Lazarus’ suffering was only temporary. They both died. Death absolutely ends everything in this physical world for those whose physical bodies have died.

Now the death of our physical bodies is very important. For our physical human bodies are the apex of Yahweh’s creative activity. How do we know this? First of all, there’s Genesis. We’re created last and given authority over everything else that has been created. But more importantly, there’s Jesus. Yahweh, God the Son, came incarnate in mortal human flesh. That in itself should tell us just how important our physical bodies are to Yahweh. And this news explodes to the nth degree when we consider that Jesus tasted physical death so that He might be the first to be resurrected from the dead in a glorious, immortal physical body. Scripture says that the redemption of our human bodies from physical death will be the absolute culmination of history.

However, for now, death is the end of our physical bodies. It’s the end of our sojourn in this world. And what then? What happens after death? That has long been the mystery — a frightening mystery.

As I told you three weeks ago, as a college student I first fell prey to the arguments of Philosophical Naturalism, or as it’s also known, Materialism. Materialism declares that physical matter is all that exists. There is no spirit, no supernatural realm and no God. If that’s so, then there is absolutely nothing after death. There is no final judgment, no resurrection to righteousness and no resurrection to evil. We just totally disappear except for the bones we leave behind. Some people take comfort in that. But I couldn’t. It was terror. So, atheism’s take on death is one position.

Then, there’s the position of some Eastern religions — reincarnation. But there’s a purpose for reincarnation largely ignored in the West. The goal is complete righteousness and reunion with “the One.” We have that in Christianity. Only you don’t have to keep on coming back here to be a bug or a giraffe. All you need is Jesus and one reincarnation from the dead into righteous reunion with your righteous Creator.

And here’s the thing that no one talks about. Reincarnation is the force behind India’s miserable Hindu caste system. If you’re born into an Untouchable family, you deserve all the prejudice and suffering you’re getting because of all the evil you supposedly did in previous lives. Therefore, all the people born farther up the supposedly righteousness caste system don’t have to do a blessed thing to help anyone born an Untouchable. Let them suffer. Let them die a miserable death. So Eastern religion’s take on death is another position.

But then, there’s Judaism and what Messiah Jesus taught. Luke 16:22-26, “22 ‘The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.” 25 But Abraham said, “Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, 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.”’”

Point number two. Physical death does not end the life of our souls. There is existence beyond death. There is even evidence for this in the scientific literature. As I’ve explained, the modern medical ability to resuscitate people whose hearts have stopped has caused reports to come in from all over the world of what are called Near Death Experiences.  Some of these experiences can be corroborated with things in this physical world. For instance, a person dies in ICU and while they are being coded and resuscitated, their spirit drifts up to the roof of the hospital and they see a sneaker of a particular color on the roof in a particular place. After resuscitation, they report what they saw and someone is sent up to the roof where they find the sneaker exactly as described.

Point number three. Jesus unambiguously tells us that our destiny on the other side of death depends on how we lived life in this temporary world. Capitalism didn’t exist in the ancient world. So the economic system that has created an enormous middle class able to live comfortably just wasn’t there. Consequently, those who were wealthy in Jesus’ time either inherited their wealth or tended to gain it in unjust ways. One thing was for sure. The rich of Jesus’ time lived far above everyone else.

Likewise, the social systems designed to help those needing help didn’t exist. So, people in Lazarus’ situation completely depended on what they could receive through begging. They depended on the support of their families or the private action of others in society.

Here are a few things written in Torah about the poor. Deuteronomy 15:7, “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother. . . .” Deuteronomy 15:11 “For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’” Leviticus 25:35, “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.”

Now, having heard that, what should the rich man have done about Lazarus? Merely fed him from his garbage cans? What about his skin condition? Apparently the rich man did nothing. And so Jesus warned us in this story. How we live this side of death determines our destiny on the other side of death.

All those who have held fast to our Creator, His will and His commandments, no matter what their status in this life or their difficulties in this life, will be consoled in the life beyond death. All those who have ignored or rejected their Creator, His will and His commandments, no matter their status in this life or their difficulties in this life, will be in torment in the life beyond death.

Point number four. Prior to the resurrection of Jesus, there was a place where the souls of the dead were gathered. This is the place known as Hades in Greek — the place of the dead. Both the souls of Lazarus and the rich man existed there.

Point number five. In the place of the dead, there was a division between those who were comforted and those who were in torment. But they could see each other across an enormous gulf.

Point number six. The rich man addressed “Father Abraham” as if Abraham were a guardian of the place of the dead. Of course, all Jews are descended from Abraham. But there’s another reason. In the New Testament, Abraham is known as the father of faith. For instance, we read in Romans 4:20-25, “20 No unbelief made him [Abraham] waver concerning the promise of God, [about the birth of Isaac] but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness.’ 23 But the words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” We’re to have the faith of Abraham.

Point number seven. The rich man begged Father Abraham for mercy. Just send Lazarus with a drop of water to cool my tongue. Mercy is the thing the rich man did not show to Lazarus in this life. And so no mercy is shown to the rich man beyond death.

Point eight. Nothing can be done about the rich man’s eternal situation. He should have realized that in this life his luxury was only temporary. But that mercy is eternal. Therefore, because he did not show mercy, his torment is eternal. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:7, “‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.’”

And so Jesus concluded the story in Luke 16:27-31, “27 ‘And he [the rich man] said, “Then I beg you, father, to send him [Lazarus] to my father’s house — 28 for I have five brothers — so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.” 29 But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” 30 And he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” 31 He said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”’”

Point nine. There is a monstrous danger lurking in this life — unrighteousness. It’s not only responsible for the judgment of physical death we endure in this world, it’s also the source of what Scripture calls the Second Death — the lake of fire.

At the conclusion of another parable Jesus said this about the lake of fire. Matthew 25:41, “‘Then he [Yahweh] will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” This tells us that the Second Death was prepared for spiritual beings of the unseen realms that rebelled against their Creator. At the final judgment, all human beings who have followed these rebellious spiritual beings in this life will follow them right into eternal damnation. The only ones who will escape this horrid fate are those who Yahweh has called to His righteousness in Messiah Jesus.

The reason Jesus is the only way out of such danger is because of the Original Sin we’re all born with. When Satan tempted Eve, he told her in Genesis 3:5, “‘For God knows that when you eat of it [the forbidden fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” A more direct translation of the Hebrew is “you will be god” or “you will be gods” able to discern good and evil for yourself.

Did you get that? You will be God. That’s the problem. There is only one Creator God. If we had created ourselves and brought ourselves into being, then we could be our own god. But quite obviously, that’s not so. Therefore, any human being playing God is the most dangerous thing in this universe. Playing God is responsible for all the evil we see here, especially Marxism. It’s responsible for all the evil and rebellion that comes out of each one of us. It’s responsible for the way we either ignore Yahweh or hate His guts.

And what Scripture tells us is that playing God is the very thing we have inherited from our first parents. It’s the very thing we’re born with. It’s the thing that leads us right into the Second Death, the Lake of Fire. It’s the sin we’re slaves to unless someone greater than us intervenes to rescue us. Therefore, the Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus of Nazareth was and is great enough to intervene — not only for all humanity but for each one of us.

Remember that ancient hymn we kept referring to during Lent? The one that’s found in Philippians chapter 2? Carefully listen again to the one thing Jesus had to do in order to save us. Philippians 2:5-7, “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, . . . .”

Hallelujah! Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped! Jesus successfully accomplished this by resisting all the attempts of Satan to get Him to grasp equality with God. Jesus resisted this temptation to His dying breath. Thereby He entirely undid the very thing Eve and Adam did. As a result we learn in Philippians 2:9-11, “9 Therefore God has highly exalted him [Jesus] and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Point Ten.  The only way to escape the monstrous danger of unrighteousness that we’re totally immersed in is Jesus Himself. Therefore, it’s possible for you and I and anyone alive here to be born again in this life so that we can be completely united in righteousness with our Creator in the life to come — the resurrection of the dead.

Jesus made it clear in the Rich Man and Lazarus that we have all kinds of warning about the monstrous danger surrounding us in Moses and the Prophets. Anyone who pays attention to both the commandments and promises found in the Old Testament can escape the Second Death. For anyone who pays attention will search for Messiah. Anyone who pays attention will expect Messiah to come in human flesh. Anyone who pays attention will expect Messiah to sacrifice Himself so that atonement might be made before Yahweh for all the sin by which we have enraged His holy justice and righteousness. Anyone who pays attention will expect the Messiah to be resurrected from the dead in glorious immortal, undying human flesh. Anyone who pays attention will expect to receive from Messiah a glorious inheritance of complete righteousness — complete goodness — and immortal, righteous life before our Creator in resurrected bodies created by Him. Anyone who pays attention will know that even in this present life the power of Yahweh’s Holy Spirit can change us from wretched little creatures of sin into budding children of God. Anyone who pays attention will find the fulfillment of all these things in the New Testament.

This is why Jesus plainly made it clear that any person who is willfully stone deaf to Moses and the Prophets will totally miss Him. One group Jesus addressed in this parable are those who lust after and bind themselves to the gods of the fleeting luxuries of this life. They are represented by the rich man. But He also addressed Jewish religious leaders because at this point in history only Israel had Moses and the Prophets. Therefore, anyone — any person corrupted by luxury and pleasure, and even any religious person — who refuses to listen to Moses and the Prophets will not accept Jesus, even though He bodily rose from the dead, as was prophesied in Moses and the Prophets. That’s what Jesus taught in this parable. And if people will not accept Jesus, the resurrected Messiah, they are in the crosshairs of the monstrous danger lurking in this life — the Second Death. They will join the rich man in eternity.

Point eleven. Those who do listen to God’s Word have a glorious escape hatch — Jesus, the Name above all Names. All we have to do is bow the knee and confess that Messiah Jesus is our Lord.

To aid us all in doing so, our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the holy sacrament commanded in Matthew 28:18-20, “28 . . . ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” 

Jesus promised us through the Apostle Peter in Acts 2:38, “. . . ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

Jesus promised through the Apostle Paul in Titus 3:5-7, “5 he [God] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration [baptism] and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Therefore, today, we’re going to baptize two young people born in Adam’s rebellion so that they may escape and be born again by the Holy Spirit as tender souls before their loving Father in heaven; that by the powerful grace of Yahweh poured out through their baptism into the resurrected Messiah Jesus they may escape the monstrous dangers of this life and come under the righteousness and protection of the living God to all eternity. Amen.

All Bible quotes are from the ESV.