Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-31)

Jesus seems to be within earshot of the Pharisees when he describes another parable.

A man rich had a gate where a beggar lay.  The beggar was named Lazarus and was very sickly with sores.  He longed to eat scraps of food from the rich man's tables.  Rather, dogs came and licked Lazarus' wounds.

The reference to dogs and table scraps reminds us of the woman in Tyre who begged Jesus to heal her daughter.  She said that even dogs get the scraps of food.  This was enough faith for Jesus to heal her daughter.

Eventually, Lazarus and the rich man die.  Lazarus goes to heaven with Abraham and the rich man goes to hell.  In hell, the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus to hell and give some water to him.  The rich man refers to hell as fire.  Abraham says this is impossible due to a great chasm between those in heave and those in hell.

Lazarus then asks Abraham to send Lazarus to the rich man's brothers to warn them about hell.  Abraham responds that they had Moses and the Prophets and if that it is not enough, they would not be convinced if someone rises from the dead.

There is a lot here.  

I think this parable has given a lot of wood to the proverbial (and literal) fire the popular conceptions of hell.  I would be cautious about interpreting too much about the details of heaven/hell based on the parable beyond that hell sucks.  There is at least one detail that hard to apply literally, which I discuss below.

A few conclusions I would be cautious against but are part of the parable:

1.  those in hell can talk to those in heaven
2.  Abraham had the ability to send people in heaven to earth (it is implied, but not demonstrated)

Rather, the conclusion of the parable emphasizes to the role that Moses and the prophets played with regard to the Jewish people.  They were not convinced that the essence of both was that God wanted people to treat each other better than to allow beggars at the gate of his home with dogs licking the man's sores.  This man is in need, but the rich man is on record of doing nothing.  

Further, the reference to the death of Lazarus obviously brings to mind the death and literal resurrection of Lazarus.  It is so strongly highlighted that one wonders which came first - this parable or the rising of Lazarus.  

This brings to mind a crucial detail in the parable that we know is false if applied literally.  In the parable, Abraham is reluctant to send Lazarus back from the dead.  The parable concludes before the decision was made.  In real life, Lazarus did return from the dead.  However, the parable's point was that the people would not be convinced because Lazarus returned from the dead.  This describes the situation surrounding the rising of Lazarus because it was then that Jewish authorities in Jerusalem started plotting to kill Jesus in the next Passover.