44 - Lazarus and the rich man: parable or a story?

It makes a difference

What is a parable?

What is a story?

Specifically, what is the difference?

Which is the story of Lazarus and the rich man?

How do we know?

What does that do for us?

What is a parable?

“a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parable

A parable is a short narrative of general characters without personal names. I know that MANY people claim that the story of Lazarus and the rich man, in Luke 16, is a parable. I say it's not; so let’s get into the topic and see if it is a parable or a story – and why.

Because a parable is generally identified as having a religious principle, let’s look at the parables Jesus told. I’ve listed 34 parables and that should cover most, if not all, of them. (I’ve included Lazarus and the rich man at this point).

If you review these parables you will find that none of them, except Lazarus and the rich man, in Luke 16, list any names of the people involved. All of Jesus’ parables are stories about general people/ideas, but NEVER about any specific person(s).

I will get to this in a short while. But for now, parables are not about any specific person; they are generally about moral attitudes and religious principles. Note, in Ecclesiastes 1:9, Solomon wrote “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”. There have been myriad inventions, that bring new ideas/products, since he wrote that, but he was writing about mankind’s behavior, not about inventions. “There is nothing new under the sun” doesn’t mean that new inventions won’t come about, it means that mankind, and nature, are the same over and over, again and again. In verses 4-7 he wrote “Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.” The topic is truths about the behaviors of people and the world; King Solomon didn’t specifically mention anyone because it’s not about anyone in particular. People like to get drunk; people like to smoke; people like to indulge in sex; people like to lie about others; people like to gossip; people like to cheat, etc.

What is a story?

There are many differences and similarities between stories, biographies, narratives, histories, fiction, etc., and depending on who you are speaking with, they can be classified as each other. Someone may say a biography is a story; someone may say a biography is a history; if someone is telling it, a biography may be called a narrative. So, please bear with me as I try and delineate a specific use of the term.

A story, with characters, always assigns names to the characters included (at least the main characters; there might be “a man leaning against the lamp post as Larry walks past in the cold, evening rain”, but Larry is a main character while the random dude against the lamppost is just a back drop). The story’s characters are identified individually, or as groups, to relate their individual/group experiences and development as the story progresses through events.

A story details a specific account of chronicled events that start from one point and end after completion of some type of personal, or personality, endeavor that may include change or learning something. Usually, something occurs that causes a change in a main character, or the main character causes a change in something exterior to him/herself.

I’ve never heard a story that goes like this – “There was a guy who underwent some bad circumstances. Another guy told him that when life gives you lemons you should make lemonade. He turned that advice into a business and came up with a recipe for lemonade that many people liked and purchased from him. He became a millionaire, and was really glad he learned from the advice.”

A story would be “Kris told Tom that he should make lemonade. Tom made some lemonade and got rich.” One of the characters had to either experience some personal changes or events, or he would have had to make a change in events outside of themselves - with someone/something else. “Kris fell off a horse and broke his leg.” is an anecdote, not a story.

Keeping in mind that there are probably myriad dopey stories with no point; at least one specific person, or group, should experience changing circumstances to have a literary story of value. My brother, Rick, once told me that he had composed the world's shortest story and it goes like this "Once upon a time, and they lived happily ever after". That right there is not a story.

Specifically, what is the difference?

The specific difference is who is being referenced in the account. If we were to examine all of the parables Jesus told we would notice that NOT ONE parable EVER used anyone’s name; there is THE sower”, “THE prodigal son”, “THE two sons”, “THE ten virgins”, “THE friend at midnight”, “THE persistent widow”, etc.

Why didn’t Jesus name these folks? Because these spiritual truths are used to relate the way people generally behave, or benefit, not to talk about the way a specific person behaved/developed. The hidden treasure parable doesn’t list a guy named Frank who bought a field. The idea behind parables is to convey spiritual truths that people need to know.

In Matthew 13: 10, 11, 18 “10 The disciples came to him (Jesus) and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” 11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means...” Jesus told His disciples that they were chosen to understand certain truths most people wouldn’t understand, then followed up by explaining parable truths. He didn’t explain stories or events. Sometimes He told them what was going to happen before it occurred, and why. Before the triumphal entry in Matthew 21:1-17 He told the disciples to go ahead of Him and what would happen - it is a story that included specific characters and changed the way people behaved (granted the owner of the colt wasn't named, but the disciples sent ahead were characters and they didn't have to be mentioned by names as Jesus was talking to the). He explained parables after he told them, but there was never a guy with a name.

Which is it, a parable or a story of Lazarus and the rich man?

This has become my favorite example of someone who doesn’t understand the difference between a parable and a story, and the reason is simply because this guy (Tim Mackie) holds a bachelor's degree from Multnomah University, a theology degree from Western Seminary and a PhD. in Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; has pastored several churches and has co-founded the Bible Project https://www.nae.org/mackiepodcast/#:~:text=Mackie%20holds%20a%20bachelor's%20degree,the%20University%20of%20Wisconsin%2DMadison.

 but he doesn’t get it. He uses the story of Lazarus and the rich man (though he calls it a parable) to teach that the account is an allegory of Hades, not really what Hell is like. He says that Hell is not what the story of Lazarus and the rich man says it is. After saying that Jesus most commonly used the words “fire” and “darkness” to describe Hell, at 9:22 into the video he says “Let’s just pause for a second here alright. These two images alone (fire and darkness), if we stop and think about them, for three seconds, you see they have to be metaphors. If Jesus is describing an actual subterranean chamber of horrors, it cannot be full of fire and completely dark at the same time; right? Can we just grant that?”

You can Google or Yahoo “dark fire” and see plenty of images of fire where it is encompassed in darkness. These images are all of fire and it's quite dark in all of them.

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If you want to, please watch Mackie’s entire video (linked below), it’s 37:33 long. I don’t like him; I believe he teaches falsehoods. At 15:20 into the video, found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urbk9ueilzw, Tim Mackie says; Luke 16:19 “As we go there, let me kind of throw out another thought to help us kind of get our way into the story that Jesus is gonna tell. Hell, the scriptural notion of Hell, of the separation, it’s about God honoring our decision for a life and identity apart from Him. It’s about God honoring what we want. 

(Sidenote here, inserting my thought here – the definition of Honor: Merriam Webster: “a showing of usually merited respect, an exalted title or rank, an award in a contest” – God does not “honor” our evil decisions to ignore Him. Honor is a positive term; Hell is not positive in any fashion. God doesn't "respect" anyone He sends to hell; they are sent as punishment for ignoring Him and not believing Him, all their lives. In Acts 10:34 – “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons …" KJV. Now back to Tim.)

Let’s jump in; Jesus is dialoging with a number of Pharisees here in this narrative setting here and He’s gonna tell a story starting in verse 19. Let’s jump in ‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.’. OK, stop for a second here; when Jesus begins a story with the phrase ‘ah, ya know, there was this guy, there was this guy walking down the road, there was this vineyard owner who had a vineyard, He’s cluing us in to what kind of story He’s about to tell. What kind of story is it? It’s a parable. A parable – uh, there’s this certain rich guy. This is a parable. It’s a parable, Jesus used these all the time. They’re short fictional tales, almost like folk tales as they are. And He used metaphor and imagery to pack a punch to His listeners. Jesus is actually picking up a common Jewish folk tale and He’s gonna give it a little twist here; just remember this is a parable as we read on’ a lot of readers tend to forget that as we get into the parable here...”

Now let’s go back to where Tim Mackie begins, Luke 16:19 – 31 “19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’””

Notice the persons included in this account are three specifically named individuals, the rich man (who is not named, but described) and multiple angels. We have Lazarus, Abraham and Moses named; that’s three of the four humans.

Most often, angels are not named; sometimes they are named, but those are limited to four, Lucifer (Satan), Michael, Gabriel, and Apollyon/Abaddon (“Destroyer” in Revelation 9:11). A great explanation of why angels don’t tell us their names is given in Judges 13:17, 18. When Samson’s dad, Manoah was talking to the angel who announced that Samson would be born, the conversation went as follows, “Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?” He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.”” If their names are too wonderful for us to understand then that’s probably why they’re not revealed. (Jesus probably didn’t discuss E=mc2 with the disciples either – they probably wouldn’t have understood it)

(Lucifer is not exactly Satan’s previous name, before the fall. He was known as the light bearer, or presenter of the Light, and often compared to the planet Venus, the morning star. Lucifer is often described as meaning "light bringer". I have a slightly different opinion, but still in line with the term "light bringer" The title “light bearer”, or bringer of light, was translated into Latin as “lux ferre”. “Lux” means “light”, “ferre” means “to bring” – “lux” is the SI unit (measurement) of luminance, we have ferries that bring cars across rivers and lakes – see how that works? So a transliteration of lux ferre (sounds like lucifer) became Lucifer, and because they treated it as a name it was capitalized into Lucifer. Jesus is THE Light. Apparently, Lucifer was the one who went before Jesus to present Him. Lucifer was never the Light; he was the light bearer/presenter. He is now known as Satan, which means adversary. Of course, there is always room for me to be incorrect, so you need to be sure you know what you believe, and why you believe it.)

In this story of Lazarus and the rich man, we have three of four humans named and are left to wonder why the fourth man isn’t named if he has an important role in the story, otherwise we might go ahead and assume that it may be an unusual parable with some names mentioned. Again, Jesus NEVER ONCE named anyone in a parable (except this one??).

If there is no biblical explanation for the rich man’s missing name, we are free to assert that it is an unusual parable structure. If, however, there is a biblical explanation for his missing name, then we must adhere to the reason and understand this as a story, regardless of what some bible scholar (?) says.

Tim Mackie can have a personal misunderstanding of the text, but he CANNOT be allowed to say that what Jesus stated, as fact, is metaphorical. Mackie is calling Jesus, THE creator, a liar when he says that Jesus was speaking in metaphors.

In Matthew 25:41 Jesus said ““Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels...”.

In Colossians 1:15, 16, Paul wrote, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” (Thrones, powers, principalities, etc., usually refers to positions of angels, and demons)

If Jesus created everything that exists, and HE said that Hell (eternal fire) was created for Satan and his angels/demons, then I would have to default to Jesus knowing exactly what He is talking about more so than some guy who lived 2,000 years later and said Jesus was using a metaphor. Jesus spoke of actual fire and actual darkness, not comparison to fire and darkness.

How do we know?

Why would Jesus talk about the rich man and not name him while He named Lazarus, Abraham and Moses?

First, we have to notice the difference between the types of people in the story. Righteous people – Abraham, Moses and Lazarus, and unrighteous/evil people – the rich man. Luke 16:22 says ““The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.”. The righteous man was carried/escorted by angels to his rest, the unrighteous/evil man was put in the dirt and obviously sent to his torturous destiny. There is a difference in how people are treated after death; righteous are carried/escorted by angels, vs unrighteous are sent.

Second, and this plays off the first reason of righteous vs unrighteous/evil. In Job 24:20 we are told, about evil people, “The womb should forget him; The worm should feed sweetly on him; He should be remembered no more.”. It would seem that the rich man was not remembered by name because that is the way that God has structured our legacies. He was remembered for his actions and lifestyle, which is common amongst that group of people, but his name was intentionally removed from recollection. Remember, Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun – no new behaviors. This rich guy could have been swapped with another rich guy and the story probably would have played out the same way, so he was forgotten and the discussion was just about his type.

Proverbs 10:7 “The name of the righteous is used in blessings, but the name of the wicked will rot.”

Job 18: 17 - about evil people - “The memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name in the land.”

Jeremiah 11:19 - about evil people - ““Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.””

Psalm 34:16 “but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth.”

Third, we get to see the rich guy in the story develop through events; Lazarus NEVER speaks, Abraham speaks for him.

• There’s a rich guy and Lazarus.

• The rich guy has a great life, Lazarus is covered with sores and begs for food scraps.

• Both die; Lazarus is escorted to his eternal rest; the rich guy is sent to everlasting torment.

• The rich guy asks if Lazarus can come help ease his pain although he is not recorded to have ever helped the poor guy, the rich guy just keeps wanting comfort at someone else’s effort.

• The rich guy finally asks if Lazarus can go teach his brothers to provide them comfort by not experiencing Hades like he is experiencing. His final step in development is learning that he ignored truth and received everlasting consequences for it - no relief, ever, His brothers have the same opportunity that he had and it is up to them to pay attention to Moses and the prophets. If they won’t learn, they just won’t learn, until death – like the rich man.

• His final stage of development is learning that the consequence he is suffering is completely his fault, as it is with everyone in Hades. There is no reprieve or comfort from God’s wrath.

I think, that at this point, we can be assured that the rich man was a real guy, who had a name, but because he was evil his name was intentionally blotted out, forgotten. When I say “evil”, I don’t intend that the rich man often murdered and raped people; it is more in line with the idea that God says anyone who does not recognize Him and believe in Him is evil; the opposite of good. God is total goodness, anyone who doesn’t believe in Him has at least some bad in them, and any bad constitutes evil.

Abraham, Moses and Lazarus had their names written in the Lamb’s book of Life, mentioned in Revelation 20:15. They are adopted children of God. God remembers them and their names forever. He paid for their everlasting residence with Him via the death and resurrection of Jesus (God Himself).

Evil people, of which group the rich man belongs, are not to be remembered. They failed to recognize God as their creator, provider and savior, so He has returned the same; He fails to recognize them forever. They will not be saved, nor remembered.

What does that do for us?

Knowing that God says evil people will be forgotten, and that Solomon wrote that there is nothing new under the sun – people do the same thing over and over... The rich man was mentioned by description of behavior, but not mentioned by name because his name was forgotten when he died. Sure, his family probably remembered him for a generation or two, but after that, he just became “some greedy dude with lots of money who never helped anther guy who needed help”.

He became a sidenote in a story where God’s adopted children are named but he wasn’t. Because we know why he wasn’t named while 75% of the people in the story were named, we can be sure that this is a true story and not a parable. The ironic thing about this story is that the unnamed, rich man is the main character, but he gets no billing in the story other than his flawed character.

Why is it important? Because we can be absolutely sure that Jesus was telling a story about what Hell is like and not an allegorical idea about existence after death being uncomfortable. Hell is absolutely real. It is a consequence of not believing in what we have been told.

The character of the rich man in the story developed from being rich and content into complete despair and agony; because of his actions he received the consequence that accompany his behavior.