(LONG) Re: FIVE BROTHERS
MF Blume (mfblume@ns.sympatico.ca)
Sun, 02 Mar 1997 00:58:42 -0800
LONG POST WARNING:
Fretwell@aol.com wrote:
> FIVE BROTHERS
>
> Jesus told a parable to His disciples one day, about a rich man,
> and a beggar named Lazarus.
>
> There have been multitudes of explanations of the parable, and
> even a few feuds about whether it was, in fact, a parable, or a real
> happening. Let me inform the reader that about two-thirds of the times
> that Luke said "A certain Man", you will find the exact same story in
> another Gospel, but it is called a parable in the other Gospel.
> Unfortunately, THIS ONE is NOT recorded anywhere else, so the battle lines
> remain.
>
> Our judgement is that it WAS a parable, and that it was NOT
> dealing with the awfulness of hell, but was pointing up another situation
> that those folks were familiar with, namely:
>
> THE SINS OF THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE END OF CEREMONIAL LAW
I agree with you and also disagree, but I think you will agree with
my thought. ;-)
I also noticed that it was aparable about the pharisees, since the context of
the discussion immediately before Jesus mentioned this story was about the
pharisees and how they covet the esteem of men.
> The Levitical priests were "clothed in Purple". They also "fared
> sumptously every day". Read in Leviticus how much revenue the priests
> received from the Altar. Figure out how the tithing system worked, and
> see that the High Priest received 16 times the amount which Joe Blow was
> paying tithes on. Rich man, faring sumptously every day.
Great point! But since the pharisees coveted taht which man esteems and
cared less for that which God esteems, I think we could also
say that they feasted lavishly on the esteem of men.
> In hell, the fat, rich man woke up to reality, and started calling
> for mercy, of which he had shown none, in his lifetime. He was rebuffed
> by the Father of the Faithful, who assured him there could be NO CONCORD
> BETWEEN LAW AND FAITH.
Excellent point!!!!!!!
>
> ABRAHAM WALKED WITH GOD BY FAITH, and pleased Him. He lived apart
> from the Law of Ordinances. It was not "showy" in any sense of the word.
> He walked alone, just as you and I have to walk alone with God. The Law of
> Moses, with the Priesthood, could never find a place in the "Bosom of
> Abraham". There was no DELIVERANCE in the Law. The Law was cruel and
> unmerciful. It HAD TO BE DONE AWAY WITH.
>
> The rich man said he had five brethren. HERE IS THE KEY to
> understanding the parable. The names of the brethren were: Reuben, Simeon,
> Judah, Gad and Asher. The name of the rich man was Levi, instead of Dives.
> Levi was the priest of Israel, and one of the six sons of Leah and her
> handmaid. Leah was not favored, but Rachel was the one Jacob loved.
Excellent! I was looking for more thoughts about the five brothers!!!!
> We walk with God by Faith, or not at all. If we try to mix Mosaic
> Law with Faith, we commit spiritual adultery. Our allegience is to Jesus
> Christ ALONE. HE, ALONE, CAN SAVE US. HE, ALONE, IS OUR HOPE. "MOSES, MY
> SERVANT, IS DEAD."
>
> --Marion Fretwell
Thought you might like to see my study on this:
THE RICH MAN AND THE PHARISEE
Michael F. Blume
The story of the rich man and Lazarus is NOT a story about
heaven and hell. In this story, Jesus is teaching us the vital
aspect of our need to seek that which God esteems. It is a lesson
that explains how we must concentrate upon that which is inward,
rather than seek the outward attention of people and outward
pleasures of the flesh. In this story, the aspect of seeking
outward, fleshly joy versus inward spiritual righteousness is
Jesus' main emphasis. Instead, however, many have missed
the emphasis Jesus was pointing towards, and instead stressed
the horror of hell versus the pleasures of heaven. Let us seek to
know exactly what it was the Jesus was trying to teach us in
this story.
Luke 16:19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed
in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
Luke 16:20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus,
which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
Luke 16:21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which
fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and
licked his sores.
Luke 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and
was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man
also died, and was buried;
Luke 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in
torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his
bosom.
Luke 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have
mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of
his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented
in this flame.
Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy
lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus
evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art
tormented.
Luke 16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is
a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence
to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come
from thence.
Luke 16:27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father,
that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:
Luke 16:28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify
unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
Luke 16:29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the
prophets; let them hear them.
Luke 16:30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one
went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
Luke 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and
the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one
rose from the dead.
THAT WHICH MAN ESTEEMS
When time came for Samuel to anoint a new king for Israel,
when it became clear that God had rejected Saul, Samuel
recalled the choice of Saul, while Saul was humble in his
beginnings, and how Saul was head and shoulders above all
other men. Samuel unwittingly yet looked for that physical
and outward aspect when seeking he whom God chose to anoint
as king. God rebuked the prophet and told him that man
looks on the outward whereas God looks at the inward, the
heart. And Samuel was directed to anoint a ruddy, young boy
to be king!
Strange it is that God desires man to not look at that which
man always looks at! God told Samuel to look at that which
God looks at. See as God sees.
Similarly, in Luke 16:15, Jesus said we must not justify
ourselves before men.
Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify
yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that
which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the
sight of God.
God sees the heart and it is the heart which must be
justified, and not the flesh. The things of the flesh are
what is highly esteemed among men. Jesus said that such
estimation is an abomination to God! The act of putting on
a good appearance by way of works and efforts is
abomination! Yet it is a means by which people have found
profit in seeking to attain esteem of men.
THE LAW AND JOHN THE BAPTIST
Then Jesus continued and spoke about the Law! And this is
notable!
Luke 16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: since
that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man
presseth into it.
The context regarding that which man esteems did not end
before this last statement. The idea which Jesus was trying
to convey was yet being conveyed with the mention of the
Law. In fact, this is actually the crux of the context in
this chapter.
By referring to the Law, Jesus was actually saying,
"Pharisees, stop performing. It not only is an abomination
to put on such a facade, but Moses' law went out with the
inception of John's ministry of the Kingdom."
The Law was until John. And then we read another very
notable statement which YET continues Jesus' thoughts. (At
the surface, these thoughts seem isolated and "un-
relatable", but they indeed do relate!)
THE EXTENT OF JOHN'S POWERFUL MINISTRY
Luke 16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass,
than one tittle of the law to fail.
This actually can be paraphrased as: "It was a great event
when John preached the Kingdom; so much so that the demise
of Heaven and earth could not change what John's ministry
changed!"
And then, as though there weren't enough seemingly isolated,
non-relatable passages, Jesus spoke another strange
statement, that also is actually part of His conveyance of a
marvelous, single truth throughout this chapter.
Luke 16:18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth
another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her
that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
This chapter is not like the book of Proverbs' manner of
throwing out tidbits of wisdom, of which each statement
often has nothing to do with the former. Oh, this statement
very much has to do with Jesus' overall thought for His
listeners to learn.
By referring to divorce and marriage, Jesus is using an
illustration to bring His point home.
Here it is: If one puts away his wife and marries another,
that one commits adultery. For another man to marry the
woman who was put away is an act of adultery also. (Now
this is not a lesson on divorce and remarriage, but rather
an illustration to drive home another point). That scenario
depicts somewhat of what it is like to see the passing away
of the Law take place. The Law is intact and one is bound
to keep it since one is, as it were, "married" to it.
Such a "marriage" BINDS one under Law for as long as one
lives.
The picture Jesus is conveying may not likely be evident in
this verse yet. However, it becomes clearer when we take
notice that Paul brought forth the very same point as he,
too, was speaking about Law as follows.
Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that
know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as
long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the
law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband
be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be
married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress:
but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so
that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another
man.
One is bound to the LAW so tightly that LIFE, itself, must
end before one may be free from that Law. This is similar
to the thought that heaven and earth shall pass before Law
passes away.
In Paul's illustration, to reveal this truth and the freedom
from such bondage, the only way that the woman can be free
to marry another man, is through death. One party must die.
And it became evident that Paul and Jesus, both, were using
this picture to illustrate the same truth concerning
deliverance from LAW.
Law was going to stick around in such a tenacious manner
that the "woman" (you and I), who was "married" or bound
to it, was simply not going to see it die. In fact, Law was
so tenacious, that heaven and earth would pass away and die
before the Law would pass away..... under normal
circumstances.
In Romans 7, we clearly see that DEATH is the only way out
from underneath the Law, just as death was the only way out
from marriage. Normally, the woman simply had no hope but
to remain bound to her cruel husband. But what is
impossible for man to achieve is not impossible for God. If
the Law (husband) simply refused to "die", then the woman
(you and I) was going to have to die. And that is precisely
what we read as follows:
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to
the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we
should bring forth fruit unto God.
"WE" are the woman. We are desirous of BRINGING FORTH
fruit to God - the fruits of a truly virtuous lifestyle.
Goodness. And instead of the husband dying, since he is
simply not going to die, the woman must die that she might
be free to marry another. And THIS seems most ridiculous,
for how can she be freed to marry if SHE IS DEAD? However,
it is not so ridiculous when you consider that we indeed did
die to the Law and are free to marry Christ, since CHRIST
DIED INSTEAD OF US. Therefore, we can say "we" died.
We are like the woman who desires to bring forth children
("fruit", as Romans says) that are "good" children.
These "children" are actually virtues and "fruit" of the
Spirit that we are to bring forth. Yet, marriage to the Law
binds us down and manifests a cruel union, for the Law is
like a cruel husband. And the "children" we bring forth
under the Law are works of the flesh - cursed children (Gal
5:19-21)! Paul later says, in this same chapter, that his
efforts under Law to perform good works proved futile, for
he instead manifested evil:
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins,
which were by the law, did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death.
(See also Rom 7:19-21)
Therefore, again, since the husband (Law) won't die, the
wife dies. And we, as it were, and most spiritually so, die
through Christ. He died for us, so we can say that we are
dead (2 Cor 5:14). And, praise God, we are free to marry
Christ and bring forth "children", or fruit, unto God!
We could not accomplish such a feat ourselves. How could we
die and enjoy a second "marriage"? But Christ did for us
what we could not do.
THIS is what Jesus was likewise referring to in Luke 16.
Notice that Christ said the Law was over at the inception of
John's ministry. And yet Jesus said that Heaven and earth
would pass before the Law would pass. What power there must
have been in John's ministry! Jesus actually said that the
Law ended at John's ministry, and then commented that such a
feat had to be very great since the Law was so solid that
heaven and earth, themselves, could not outlive it! Yet
John's ministry put an end to that Law! No wonder Jesus
said that there was never a greater prophet before John's
time in all of mankind's history!
What was it about John's ministry? How did it perform such
a powerful accomplishment?
DEATH - THE WAY OUT
The great aspect of John's ministry that made it so
effective, so as to end the very Law, itself, was that it
stressed the baptism of repentance. Repentance brings a
DEATH TO SELF to such an extent that, as far as God is
concerned, self's past is forgiven and FORGOTTEN! Our past
is erased in repentance!
DEATH freed the woman from the cruel husband. You and I
died through Christ and our baptism of "death" and burial
to self took out of the marriage bond to free us that we
might be married to another!
Jesus had a baptism into which He was to be baptised.
Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and
how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
We were baptised into HIS baptism of death. Therefore, we
died!
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized
into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
NO MAN SERVES TWO MASTERS
Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold
to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon.
Luke 16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard
all these things: and they derided him.
These words also have much to do with Jesus' context
regarding the story of the rich man and Lazarus.
Jesus spoke about the fallacy of thinking one can serve two
masters. His listeners mocked him. You see, the Pharisees
were living a lifestyle that coveted the things of the
world. They were "covetous", He said. They craved the
things which man esteems. And when Jesus "nailed" them in
their true light as being covetous, they were convicted
within and derided Him, regretting the "sting" of His true
accusations.
Serving two master, you must understand, is like committing
ADULTERY. And therefore the thought of adultery was brought
into the picture to better explain His point. Being
covetous and trying to serve God is a contradictory
lifestyle and deserved the penalty of death, just as
adultery deserved death under Law. The very law these
Pharisees were preaching actually damned them! They were
committing as much a heinous sin of adultery in the spirit
as though they literally took their neighbours' wives. And
adultery warranted death under their Law.
What a sad dilemma. How could the Pharisees avoid sinning in this
manner? How could they be free from hypocrisy and sin when
only death could free them from such a binding Law? How
could Christ accuse them of something they could never
solve?
The truth is, that Christ came to solve it for them, but
they would not accept Him!
WHY DID LAW COME, ANYWAY?
The Law was finished at John. Performance was over.
Deliverance had come!
Law was necessary for a time. Some might ask why it ever
came, since it performed such an ugly task of binding
mankind. It had a purpose, though. You see, God leads us
in stages. One certain thing is necessary for a time,
though it be not God's ultimate goal for our lives. And Law
was like that. It served a purpose in helping us understand
something, and was, therefore, a means to an end.
Let us explain it like this. People must work in this
world. Careers must be taken up in life so as to simply
have us "get by" in life. Going to school and counting
pictures of apples and oranges in textbooks is ultimately
not the goal of society for an individual. Yet it is
necessary in order for that child to one day benefit
society.
The principles learned by counting apples and oranges may
form the building blocks for that child to become a nuclear
physicist one day!
Such is the place the Law held among Israel. God was going
to bring humanity into a grand and ultimate experience with
Christ and salvation, but the "building blocks" of Law and
ritual had to be implemented beforehand in order to PREPARE
man, through types, figures and foreshadows, for this great
spiritual work. Simply casting us headlong into a most
spiritual exercise of listening to Jesus chat about a
"Kingdom WITHIN" us, and the great sacrifice for humanity
by Christ would be too much for our minds to grasp. But Old
Testament led man up to understand these truths by acting as
elementary lessons which later proved to be material
foreshadows of Christ's most spiritual work.
When time came for Israel to "graduate" from the grade
school of Law (Gal 3:23-24; 4:1-5), they did not recognize
this ultimate goal for them in salvation, and chose to
remain in the elementary Law. It is very interesting what
they did with this Law. They actually missed it's primary
purpose and used it to elevate their egos. "They" were
the religious leaders!
Jesus used divorce to discuss how that Law was removed by
the most powerful ministry of the Kingdom of God, preached
by John Baptist.
Then, Jesus used another illustration to bring home his
great and ultimate point in Luke 16 of man's need to esteem
what God esteems rather than continue esteeming what man
esteems: The Rich Man and Lazarus.
After relating to them of the now commonly known scenario of
who went to paradise and who went to hell, the Lord said
that the rich man desired Lazarus to rise from the grave and
tell his five brothers of the awful place that hell really
is, since they were on their way there, too, lest they
change. Jesus said these men would simply not change.
The rich man was the PHARISEE. After all, Jesus was talking
to Pharisees when he gave this story. The Pharisees were
"covetous". They coveted that which man esteems - power
and attention of others. Self-exaltation was their pathway
to prominence amongst the "world". Yet one needs not have
power and fame in order to be described as covetous. The poor
man who lusts after wealth in his heart is as much a rich man
of covetousness as the Pharisees. To simply be covetous over the
things of the world is to be the rich man in this story.
In speaking of the rich man's five brothers, was Jesus
referring to the people who are "addicted" to exalting
themselves through law-preaching of the FIVE books of the
Pentateuch? Oh, the Law is and always was holy, to be sure.
But the USE of the Law by the Pharisees was most unholy.
And that ABUSE of the Law was characterized by the five
brothers of the rich man.
Law is the whole topic of discussion in Luke 16. (By the
way, Jesus mentions another rich man in the early part of
Luke 16).
Law could not change the lives of the Pharisees towards the
better. In fact, God never intended it to be a stepping
stone of itself. It did teach man a valuable lesson, but
that lesson was that WORKS will not save us. Works will instead
find us becoming worse the more we try to become better (Ro. 7:19-
21). And when we truly have that drilled into our heads,
after trying so hard to make ourselves do good, as those
under Law did, we will realize WE NEED GOD TO DELIVER US.
The Pharisees would not accept that message.
If Law was misunderstood and would not change them, then
neither would the resurrection of Lazarus change them.
Moses and the prophets should have dissuaded the brethren of
the rich man from a life of lavish living, basking in the
high esteem of others, for that is how they were rich. They
were wealthy and "loaded" with the things men esteem -
power, prominence and position. They made such their goals
and they indeed found them, but it was not what God esteems.
They missed the grand purpose of Law in showing them the
futility of self, and they twisted it into a thing of no
effect.
The Pharisees were represented by the RICH MAN who was
covetous. They should have humbly sought God's help, had
they truly heard Moses' message. Moses' Law was so hard
that it forced sincere people who truly desired
righteousness to cry out for God to help them, since they
could not achieve righteousness through works of the Law.
The Pharisees were covetous. If the people really heard
Moses correctly, they would have accepted Jesus Christ.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us
unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Since works of Law would not work in making them righteous,
they would be driven to accept Christ's righteousness by
faith.
They would have accepted Jesus Christ, had they heard Moses
correctly, who indeed DID rise form the dead.
Luke 16:30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one
went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
Luke 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and
the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one
rose from the dead.
Why would Pharisees not heed a man risen from the dead? We
must ask ourselves this question in order to "get" what
Jesus is teaching.
Jesus mentioned REPENTANCE in Luke 16:30. This is an act we
commit after we have faith in the One who rose from the
dead, Christ. Baptism unto repentance was that which ended
the Law - John's ministry.
The rich man's brothers were covetous Pharisees. They were
not hearing He who would resurrect from the dead any better
than they heard Moses, though they fully believed they were
most proficient law-keepers.
Covetousness is still the root of all evil.
The Pharisees performed. Such was their feasting and
sumptuous faring. They performed in order to garner as much esteem
from men as possible and lavished and feasted in the
attention. They coveted esteem of men more than anything
else in life. And Mosaic Law was their means of getting it.
Thus, they heard not Moses. That was not what Moses' Law
was intended to provide!
The feasting and lavish living of the rich man represents
the amount of high esteem the Pharisees were getting from
men.
Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify
yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that
which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the
sight of God.
The beggar, on the other hand, received no glory from men.
He characterizes the believers of Christ who care not for the esteem of
men and who appear lowly and beggarly. The Gentiles in that
day were considered "dogs" and outside the uppity class of
"God's people", Israel. The dogs licked the beggar's
sores. How revolting and lacking are the believers who seek
no esteem from men at all. And when you seek no esteem from
men, you get the downcast glares from men. You look like a
beggar whose lowly decrepit state is licked by very dogs.
Self-denial is the opposite of gaining esteem from men. God
sees the heart. God esteems the qualities of the heart.
And Lazarus is the believer who esteems what God esteems.
Lazarus put himself there. He chose to live the poverty-stricken
life, starved of esteem from men. He chose self-
denial. He chose to lay at the rich man's gate! He knew
true peace and happiness awaits he who seeks not his own
glory.
Lazarus is not the example of a believer who must live a
poverty-stricken life! This story does not teach us that
the poorer we are, as hermits, the more godly we become!
No! Lazarus teaches us that to not crave esteem of men,
which is outside of material possessions, is to be pleasing
to God, for we will then desire the esteem of God. And the
esteem of God is directed towards humility and being poor,
yes, but not in material terms necessarily. It is being
poor in SPIRIT.
Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
What was Jesus referring to? What did John preach? The
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN! The Lazarus' of this world are the poor
in spirit. They may have a cadillac in their driveways, but
they behave as though they have not and are not exalted in
it. Or they may not even have a car, but they live as
though they have all the pleasures they need! For, truly
they do, if they have Christ's righteousness by faith!
1 Cor 7:30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and
they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they
that buy, as though they possessed not;
1 Cor 7:31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it:
for the fashion of this world passeth away.
LAW WAS NOT CONTRADICTED
Law never did fail. However, Law served its purpose. It
was fulfilled. Now, in order to enter the next phase of
God's will since Law, one must be born again. In such an
experience, all of one's past is forgotten. The "divorce"
from Law is effected due to the substitutionary death of
Christ.
Law had no rebirth to offer. As hard as it was to be
released from Law, so was it utterly impossible to be freed
from a spouse under that Law. It simply could not be done.
Only death and rebirth could accomplish the freeing from the
Law of sin and death that man required.
A person is "taxed" by God's Law until one becomes a child
of God. The children are free of the Tax!
Mat 17:25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the
house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou,
Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or
tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?
Mat 17:26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith
unto him, Then are the children free.
We become a child of the King, and are freed from his
taxing.
But they would not be persuaded, though one rose from the
dead.
LAZARUS RESURRECTS
Lazarus indeed did rise from the dead.
John 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a
loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
John 11:44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and
foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a
napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
And the Pharisees, who were represented by the rich man and
his five brothers, still did not believe.
John 11:45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and
had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
John 11:46 But some of them went their ways to the
Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.
John 11:47 Then gathered the chief priests and the
Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man
doeth many miracles.
John 11:48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe
on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our
place and nation.
John 11:49 And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high
priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at
all,
John 11:50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that
one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation
perish not.
John 11:51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high
priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for
that nation;
John 11:52 And not for that nation only, but that also he
should gather together in one the children of God that were
scattered abroad.
John 11:53 Then from that day forth they took counsel
together for to put him to death.
They even sought to KILL LAZARUS!
John 12:10 But the chief priests consulted that they might
put Lazarus also to death;
John 12:11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews
went away, and believed on Jesus.
You see, they lost their esteem when Jesus recieved attention.
They were losing their wealth! They coveted the wealth of
men's esteem. And when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead,
Jesus received a bit of attention, for people began turning to
Him in faith! But not the brothers of the rich man! They would
not believe though one rose from the dead. And it is still so
today!
Jesus exaplained in his story that the Pharisees were so full
of covetousness for the esteem of men that they were blinded to
not believe their need existed due to the severe craving to gain
that attention. They craved it so much that they even tried to
kill the one risen from the dead since it was by that man's resurrection
that people were moved to believe in Christ. What blind jealousy!
The resurrection of Lazarus occurred before the Triumphal
entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. And so, too, was the
discourse of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Reference to the
desire of the Pharisees to kill Lazarus is found immediately
before the reference to the triumphal entry. Luke's
reference to the story of Lazarus occurred in chapter 11,
whereas the entry occurred in Luke 19.
During that entry into Jerusalem, the Pharisees rejected
Christ! They did not believe, though one rose from the
dead.
This lesson goes hand in hand with the words of Christ
speaking about losing our lives that we might indeed gain
them, whereas holding onto our lives only awards us the loss
of our lives. Saving our lives in the self-centred natural
satisfactions of life will only cause us to lose our lives
in the end, for life's material pleasures seek to blind us
from serving Christ and attaining eternal life.
After speaking about the rich man and Lazarus to the
Pharisees, Jesus turned to the disciples and spoke.
Luke 17:1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible
but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom
they come!
In other words, continue to neglect the esteem of men,
though it cost you the suffering of persecution. You will
win in the end!
Lazarus was laid at the gate of the rich man. Yet he CHOSE
to be "barred" away from the high esteem of men of which
the Pharisees had plenty of.
Throughout chapter 17 of Luke we read admonitions to the
believers to forgive and have faith. All these things go
against the grain of one who seeks esteem of men, for these
things are "unseen" treasures, which God highly esteems.
One would not seek to forgive if one sought to be esteemed
among men, for one would take advantage of the trespasser
and exalt self by casting down others.
May God help us see the ultimate treasures of what God
esteems, and be truly rich!
--
In Christ,
Mike Blume
mfblume@ns.sympatico.ca
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/mfblume/mblume.htm