by George Sidney Hurd
The following is an excerpt from the book, The Triumph of Mercy. “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 Then 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.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ 27 Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.' 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.” (Luke 16:19-31) This parable of Jesus is consistent with biblical Universalism which affirms that the unjust will pass through purifying fires upon dying. What Jesus doesn’t say here is what traditionalists affirm - that the fire is eternal. Some cite verse 26 where Abraham says that there was a great gulf separating them which did not permit passage from where he was to where they were, and they couldn’t pass over to him. But the parable does not say that he would never be able to pass over. While one is serving a prison sentence it is very similar to what the rich man was experiencing. A prisoner may receive visits and converse with those on the outside, but as long as he is a prisoner, there is a great wall between them so that they cannot pass to where he is, and he cannot pass to where they are. They can only communicate through a bullet-proof window using a telephone. But once the prisoner has served his sentence, he is free to pass to where they are. It is like when Jesus said: “Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (Matt 5:26; Luke 12:59). There is a great difference between saying, “you will by no means ever get out of there” and “you will by no means get out of there until…” It is needful to combine all the teachings of Jesus concerning punishments in order to have a more complete understanding of the subject. We must see this parable in light of other occasions in which Jesus spoke of duration: “you will by no means get out of there until”; “they will have their part”; and “beaten with many stripes,” as opposed to “few stripes” (Luke 12:47). Also, it is probable that the descriptions of the flame, the tip of Lazarus’ finger, and the rich man’s tongue, are all figurative and not literal. Lazarus wasn’t literally in Abraham’s bosom. They are figurative descriptions of two distinct spiritual realms in Hades (the invisible world of the dead). The Pharisees used the expression “Abraham’s bosom” in reference to paradise. Also, the parable presents those in paradise as if they were seeing and talking with those tormented in Hades, which probably wouldn’t be the case in a literal sense - otherwise paradise would not really be paradise. This parable is the fifth in a series of five parables, the prior ones being: The Lost Sheep (Luke 15:3-7), The Lost Coin (15:8-10), The Prodigal Son (15:11-31), and The Unfaithful Steward (16:1-14). Some would argue that The Rich Man and Lazarus is not a parable because it begins like a real story; “There was a certain rich man.” However, the parable of the Unjust Steward begins exactly the same way; “There was a certain rich man.” Also the parable of The Lost Son begins as though it were a real story saying: “A certain man had two sons.” The Parable of the Sower also begins as though it were a real story: “a sower went out to sow,” but we know it was a parable because Jesus said it was (Matt 13:3). If we were to take The Rich Man and Lazarus as a real story and not as a parable, what kind of paradise would it be? Could we be comforted in “Abraham’s bosom” while at the same time watching those we love burning in Gehenna and hearing their endless cries for mercy? To me such a paradise would be unthinkable. It would be a torment for those in paradise as much as for those in the flames, unless God were to remove all sense of love and compassion from their hearts. This series of parables was a response to the criticism of the scribes and Pharisees against Jesus for receiving sinners: “Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, ‘This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1-2) All five of these parables are directed - not at the publicans and sinners who drew near to hear Him, but rather against the scribes and Pharisees who criticized Him for receiving them, since they considered themselves to be holy and despised the rest. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus was telling them in so many words what He said to them on a different occasion: “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you” (Matt 21:31). He does not say in the parable that they will never enter, only that the people they despised, like the beggar Lazarus, the tax collectors and the harlots, would enter before them into the kingdom. Jesus, in this parable, took a certain tale of Greek origin well known to them and changed the personages of the story. In the original story, a rich tax collector named Bar Ma´jan and a poor scribe died. The poor scribe went to paradise, but Bar Ma´jan was in torment beside a river desiring to drink of its waters but unable to reach them. [i] There were at least seven other similar folkloric stories circulated among the Jews of Jesus’ time. [ii] The scribes and Pharisees must have especially liked this story because it presented them in a good light while presenting the tax collectors, whom they despised, as being the ones in torment. But Jesus changed the story, presenting them in their typical purple dress with fine linen as being the evil ones in this parable, and sinners and beggars as those being received into paradise. This parable was directed specifically at the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus did not intend for us to draw from this parable the conclusion that all beggars go to heaven and all rich people are tormented in flames. Neither did He intend for it to be taken as a description of paradise or hell. Its sole purpose was to expose the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees by utilizing one of their own tales. [i] George W. Sarris article The Rich Man and Lazarus. http://www.georgewsarris.com [ii] Edward William Fudge The Fire that Consumes, i Universe.com inc. 2001 p. 203 
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