Why We Are Here
Luke 16:19-31
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. Luke 16:31 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.’ ”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… What happens to the soul when a person dies? Is there a heaven or a hell? And, if so, what are they like? And who goes where? Jesus’ story about the rich man and poor Lazarus gives us some answers to these questions, answers that are also found elsewhere in the Scriptures, but that really paint the picture for us vividly.
Is there a heaven or a hell? Absolutely. Both exist, and Holy Scripture speaks of both often. What happens when a person dies? The body, as we already know, is laid in the ground to decay and await the resurrection. But the soul is taken immediately either to heaven or to hell. Ecclesiastes 12:7 – “Then the dust (the body) will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”
Well then, what is heaven like? Jesus describes it as a place of rest and peace and comfort for the soul which is carried to “Abraham’s bosom.” Picture Abraham embracing Lazarus with a big hug after the hard and painful life Lazarus had just left behind. It is Abraham whom Jesus mentions from the Old Testament, because God had promised an eternal inheritance and place of rest to Abraham’s seed, to Abraham’s descendants, the children of Israel. So of course, heaven is pictured with father Abraham there, receiving his children into his embrace.
What about hell? What is it like? Jesus describes it as a place of fire and torment and despair. The rich man in today’s story said he was “tormented in this flame.” And there is no crossing back and forth between heaven and hell. As Abraham stated, “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.” So, once you’re in either place, you’re there for good. No backsies.
Now the even more important question: who goes where? What is it that grants a person access into heavenly rest or that sends a person to hellish torment? And, ultimately, why are we here on this earth in the first place?
First, consider what doesn’t get a person into heaven. Neither riches now wealth will do it. The rich man in Jesus’ story had all the riches anyone could ever want, but he went to hell. Poverty and being poor won’t get a person to heaven either. Yes, Lazarus was poor. But Abraham was one of the richest men in the land of Canaan during his earthly lifetime. So poverty is no ticket to eternal life.
What about earthly sickness or suffering? Again, no. Abraham didn’t suffer intently as Lazarus did, and he was in heaven. Will eating well get you there? Wearing fine clothes? No, the rich man ate well every day, and still went to hell. What about genetics? Does having the right genes, the right family history write your ticket to heaven? Well, both the rich man and Lazarus were physical descendants of Abraham. But one went to heaven, and the other went to hell.
Well, then, the answer must be that doing good works makes the difference. The rich man was evil! Lazarus was good! Not so fast. Jesus tells us of no great evil that the rich man did, nor does He mention a single good thing that Lazarus ever did.
So what is the answer to the question of who goes to heaven and who goes to hell and why? Here we look to the end of the story, where the rich man pleaded with Abraham to send Lazarus back to the land of the living, to the five brothers of the rich man who were still alive and who, he knew, were on the same path to hell that he was on. What does father Abraham reveal to the rich man in hell that his brothers on earth need in order to escape the torments of hell and reach the comfort of heaven? Only one thing could possibly help them: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.”
Now, the rich man didn’t believe Abraham. There must be something else they need, he thought, because he had Moses and the prophets during his lifetime, too, and he didn’t repent. And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ” Hearing Moses and the prophets, that is, what we know as the Old Testament Scriptures, is all that anyone needs to be “persuaded to repent,” in order to escape hell and enter heaven when they die.
And what do those Scriptures teach? For one thing, they certainly teach the Law, the Ten Commandments, summed up this way: “You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deut 6:5), and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:8; Lk 10:27). And, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ez 18:4). To hear Moses and the prophets, therefore, is first to hear the Law. It is to hear these commandments and threats of God, to take them to heart, and then to be very afraid, because there is no one who does not sin, and God threatens eternal death in hell to the one who sins, to the one who fails to love God and his neighbor at all times, with a perfect, unselfish love. To hear Moses and the Prophets is to hear the very Word of God.
Then there is that other word that is found throughout Moses and the prophets: the word of the Gospel. What does Moses say about Abraham? How was Abraham justified before God so that he was accepted into heaven when he died? Moses writes (and St. Paul repeats it in his Epistle to the Romans): “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:3). Abraham was justified by faith alone, apart from works.
So, call it not just purchase cialis from india an ED solution but a beneficial deal on hands. Another brand of sildenafil is Revatio, viagra professional uk which is used in formulating the medicine involves relaxing of the penile muscles to relax, which subsides the stress on arteries. Calcium Channel Blockers: These drugs block calcium from entering heart and blood levitra on line sales vessel muscle cells. About 30 per cent of this category of men feel uncomfortable in discussing this with their partners and even doctors, they at times opt for unsafe methods to increase length and girth of the male organ to create more contact and friction in her genitals and satisfy her fully in lovemaking. buy cheap viagra deeprootsmag.org And what did the prophets write? They wrote especially about the coming of the Christ, who would be Israel’s Redeemer from sin, who would make atonement for the sins of Israel, even for the sins of the whole world. They wrote about faith in the coming Messiah as the only way to live eternally, the only way to escape the just punishment for sins that sinners are condemned by the Law to receive in hell.
Now look back at Jesus’ parable. What do we see in Lazarus and what must we assume about Lazarus? Well, we do not see any works of love toward his neighbor in Jesus’ story. Frankly, he wasn’t in a position to do much at all, except, perhaps, to pray for his neighbor. But since the Law condemned Lazarus as well as the rest of mankind, he clearly committed himself to the mercy of God. As a true son of Abraham, Lazarus believed in God’s promise of salvation, in spite of the difficult life he was forced to lead on earth. He continued to trust in God and to bear his afflictions patiently.
That, dear friends, is a trust that comes only from hearing God’s Word. That is love for God. Lazarus was poor in possessions, but he was rich in faith, even though the rich man ignored him, and even though it appeared that God was ignoring him or had forgotten him. But as the angels carried Lazarus’ soul to Abraham’s bosom, the truth was revealed. God had not been ignoring him, nor had He abandoned him. God had accepted him as a beloved son through faith; and God had been sustaining his faith and preparing to receive him into heavenly glory and peace and rest.
There is great comfort here for you, dear Christians, who are suffering; and we are all, to one degree or another, suffering somehow. You could be suffering from the actions of others, you could be abandoned by friends or family, you might be poor or sick or frail or weak or persecuted or whatever. And sometimes it seems as if God has forgotten you or that He is so hidden that it seems as if He has checked out of the scene altogether and couldn’t care less about you. All these situations cause us to suffer here on earth and sometimes to look as if we are the most wretched of all people.
But the fact remains that God sent His Son to be your Redeemer from sin. He made you His beloved child through Holy Baptism, and after the hardships and injustices of this life are passed, your soul will most certainly be carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, too.
Back to the rich man in the Gospel. The rich man, as a Jew, heard the word of the Law from Moses and the prophets during his earthly life. But he didn’t listen. He didn’t repent. He didn’t think about God or his neighbor or his sins or his need for salvation. He had a fine life on earth without bothering himself with such things, so he also paid no attention to that other word from Moses and the prophets, the word of the Gospel. He had no faith, no trust in God for redemption and for the forgiveness of sins.
I suppose it is possible that the rich man deluded himself during his life, thinking, “I’m an Israelite, a son of Abraham. Of course I love God!” But what did St. John say in our Epistle? “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” The rich man may object and say, “I didn’t hate Lazarus!” But God doesn’t necessarily define “hate” as having strong negative feelings toward someone. To hate your neighbor is to not love him, to refuse and ignore the opportunities to show love to him.
And so we see the rich man showing no love for his neighbor, Lazarus, lying at his gate every day, yearning to be filled by the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Love for God and love for our neighbor go hand in hand, and they both flow from faith in the God who loved us first, when we didn’t deserve to be loved at all. Where there is no faith, there is no love, because love is the product of faith and the testimony of faith.
So examine your heart and your actions today. This Gospel doesn’t warn us about mistreating our neighbor. It warns us about getting caught up in our earthly life, to the point that we take our salvation for granted, to the point that we stop hearing and paying attention to the preaching of God’s Word and neglect His Holy Sacrament, to the point that we lose saving faith in Christ and become apathetic toward our neighbor, which is a symptom of apathy toward God.
We are not here on this earth to get rich, to live it up, to make money, or to live comfortably and to die at a ripe old age. We’re here to hear Moses and the prophets – the Word of God. We’re here to be brought to a knowledge of our sins and our constant need before God. And we’re here to be brought to a knowledge of Christ as our Redeemer from sin, as our refuge from wrath and condemnation, to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then, as a believer, to grow in love and service to our neighbor.
And all of this is wrapped up in the most important reason we are here: to know how Jesus serves us and how and in what way He loves us. Jesus serves us His very self each week here in the Divine Service by coming to us in His preached and spoken Word. Jesus serves us by bringing us to remember our Baptism wherein He gave us forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil and eternal salvation. Jesus serves us by forgiving our sins in Holy Absolution. And Jesus serves us by giving us His own body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar for our forgiveness and strength.
If God allows us to live it up a little bit while, to make some money, to live comfortably and to die at a ripe old age, fine! Thanks be to God! Abraham enjoyed those things on earth. Lazarus didn’t. The important thing is that God loved them both, and they both knew and believed that and put their trust in God their Savior. And after a brief time on earth, both Abraham and Lazarus ended up with the same reward of grace: eternal comfort and peace and rest in the presence of God.
The same eternal reward awaits you, dear fellow redeemed, who hear God’s Word, repent of your sins, believe in the Lord Jesus, and “abide in love.” That’s why you’re here on this earth. Knowing and believing that the Lord has a place in heaven for you and that the eternal reward is already ours by faith is all we really need to keep us going in this life.
So, look forward in certainty to what God promises you. And because of that, you get to live your life to His glory and the good of your neighbor.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
