Friday 9 August
Dr Peter J. Williams is the Principal and CEO of Tyndale House, Cambridge. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he received his MA, MPhil, and PhD in the study of ancient languages related to the Bible. He has been leading Tyndale House since 2007 and is also an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity in the University of Cambridge, Chair of the International Greek New Testament Project and a member of the Translation Oversight Committee of the English Standard Version of the Bible.
It really has been a huge privilege for me to share God’s word with you all these times so thank you very much for the opportunity. Firstly a little advice:
How can you deepen your reading of the Bible?
Read slowly. Psalm 1 gives us a picture of a man of God meditating the word of God day and night. (At night because he has memorised it).
Study with other people – learn from others.
Using different Bible translations
Use www.StepBible.org – something that came out of Tyndale House but it enables you to look at the original words. It is a powerful tool and it is free.
Our context for today’s story is quite similar to the previous days. There were tax collectors and sinners, Scribes and Pharisees and then He turns to His disicples but we know that the Pharisees are still listening. This story also connects with the story we had in Luke 15 about the two sons.
- Both stories have someone who “longed to be filled” and then a reference to unclean animals.
- Both of them have the word “celebrate” or “feasting”.
- Also the two stories have the word “Father” (three times in both stories someone is called Father).
Diving in it says, “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day”. Where do we get purple and linen and feasting in the Bible? That would be Esther chapter one. Xerxes had a feast for 180 days. We already get the feeling that this man is treating himself like a king. He is feasting every day. There is excess in this.
We don’t know the name of the rich man but we can be sure that everyone would have known his name and yet the only one named in this story is Lazarus because we are seeing something about their relative importance to God.
I visited Egypt and saw the huge statues of Ramses. I lost count of the number of times these Pharaohs’ put their names. In Exodus we see that Pharoah was not named by the midwives were – showing who God values.
Lazarus was laid at the gate. He wasn’t just poor, he had some disability because he had to be put there. You see that there is a nexus between disability and poverty. In some societies, this is still the reality today. In some societies, people can be deliberately maimed in order to be more effective in begging.
In ancient societies, where all the labour was manual, there is a strong connection between disability and poverty.
We are not told how big this mansion was but we know that these sorts of properties only had one gate. It was a strategic place to be laid… next to someone who had the capacity to help. The rich man would have to pass by Lazarus every day.
Lazarus was covered with sores (just like Job who was a rich man who had always helped the poor but was covered with sores during his time of testing.) Jesus doesn’t divide people into deserving poor or undeserving poor. The requirement is to give regardless.
The poor man died but it leaves an uncertainty as to whether he was buried but the angel limousines turned up for him. He was taken to Abraham’s side or in older translations, his “bosom” – what we need to think of here is that space in front of someone when they are reclining at a meal. This is what is referred to in John 1 – the son is at the father’s side (in His bosom) and in John 13 when the beloved disciple is at Jesus’ side.
Abraham did the first home entertainment in the Bible. Who did He happen to entertain? God. And he entertained lavishly. He stood as a servant. God is no man’s debtor so he makes Abraham in charge of the heavenly feast. In feasting terms there is only on slot in Abraham’s bosom and it has been given to Lazarus.
It seems like an outrage. Look this man who is despised in the world and who had died from neglect has the one slot next to Abraham, the only man in the OT called a friend of God. This guy is honoured above all others. Think of those Pharisees who have been keeping all the rules. This guy is just a beggar.
Then we read that the rich man died and was buried. No doubt it was a big public event. But it is the last time he was called a rich man. He can’t take anything with him. This is the last time Lazarus was called a poor man (because he is not poor any more).
The rich man went to Hades (a Greek word). Matthew 16:18 “on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” The Greeks had something right. It was the idea of an actual payback. In secular thinking people have this deep down feeling that there must be some comeuppance. You see this in conflict situations people evoke this sort of language of what people deserve. Jesus uses this word to describe what people deserve.
Can you think of any time in the Bible when someone lifts up his eyes and sees afar off? That would be Abraham when he sees Mount Moriah from afar where he would sacrifice Isaac. The other one was Job’s friends. There are echoes with these two men who were both very rich but who were both very welcoming.
The used-to-be rich man sees Abraham and Lazarus. He doesn’t talk to Lazarus but he talks to Abraham. He still sees Lazarus as an errand boy. He is so desperate that he thinks it is worthwhile for that guy to take a long journey just to get a little bit of water to him so that it would quench his thirst.
There he is in hell but he hasn’t repented. He hasn’t learnt. How can God send people to hell for a lifetime of sin? In hell, people don’t stop sinning. The used-to-be-rich man knows Lazarus’ name.
Abraham reminds his of his past privileges – he’s had his good times – and he also tells him of a chasm. Those on our side who want to cross it aren’t allowed. How can there be anyone on Abraham’s side in bliss is not going to want to go across the chasm but of course Christ went across the chasm and He has made people to be like Him. His followers would want to give up their lives to save others.
The people in glory have been transformed but the one in Hades has not been. Lazarus used to be a beggar, now this man is begging. God’s justice is shockingly poetical.
“Father Abraham send Lazarus to my father’s house.” He is not completely self-absorbed. He cares about his family. We would like to see this rich man as utterly self-absorbed but now we see he is a rich man who wants his family to be saved.
He has five brothers. He was generous to that limited number but he made a mathematical mistake. Rich men are quite good at counting their money. You would have thought he would know how many brothers he had. He said he had five brothers but he calls Abraham Father. You cannot claim Abraham as your father and say you have five brothers. The law tells you that Abraham is the father of a multitude. So you cannot claim he is your father and reject Lazarus as your brother. You have to accept a wider group because Abraham is the father of many.
There he was wealthy and generous to a limited horizon, the comfortable family. He wasn’t generous to the uncomfortable family. That might be a challenge to us. There are people it is a quite easy to be kind to. The challenge of this text is how wide that needs to go.
He wanted a close relationship with Abraham when it suited him on his terms.
Abraham pointed him to Scripture – they have Moses and the Prophets. Abraham is God’s friend. This man has the cheek to say to Abraham, “if someone rises from the dead, they will be convinced.” This takes place within the Gospel of Luke, Jesus does rise from the dead.
If people don’t believe the scriptures, then they won’t believe in the miracle.
What an incredible story. Start with some things that it is not.
- It doesn’t mean it is wrong to be rich. In relative terms we are all wealthy. You may be well above wealthy for our setting.
- It doesn’t mean it is wrong to feast.
- It doesn’t mean you get to heaven by being poor.
- It doesn’t mean there are conversations between heaven and hell.
It tells us about money.
It is about the love of money and money deceives. Matthew 13:22 ( the deceitfulness of riches). People who have less see things more clearly. In general terms people with less see right and wrong more clearly. Wealth has an effect of our spiritual eyesight. Some are more easily corrupted than others.
Don’t be stupid. We can’t keep hold of the money. It is something that we are just stewards of. The rich man didn’t have a good heavenly investment strategy.
It is also telling us about his need to help people. When we look at the news, we are overcome with need. Do we go away from a story like this with a sense of guilt.
God has given us things to enjoy. This story is not saying you need to feel guilt-ridden until there are no more poor people on the planet. It is telling us about the poor man at the gate. For this man to feast every day in excess and ignore every day the need to pass by. We need to ask God to melt our hearts and show us who we should help. We need to recognise our brothers and sisters. We need hearts of compassion. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit. God is infinite and we to ask Him to guide us.
This man who was feasting every day hardened his heart, day after day. He rationalises why he is never going to help. Be careful of that form of rationalisation.
There are big political things that we are wrestling with. Jesus Christ shows at a personal level how we should show compassion.
Lastly I want to look at the place of the scripture. They are evidenced. They are something on which we can trust. We have a relationship with Jesus and that is mediated to us through scripture. It is not advancing bookish people because it was the sinners who were welcomed and the scribes were far off.
God has given us the Scriptures as a basis for our faith. As you think about going forward in your faith, it is really important that the scriptures are the foundation. We have a relationship with God, His Holy Spirit is in our hearts but we understand everything about God in the Scriptures. If you don’t enjoy reading, then memorise it and then you won’t need to read it any more.
People will not be convinced by a miracle like a resurrection if they are hardening their hearts to the scriptures. The scriptures melt our hearts.
As we look at Jesus’ life we see a model for of how our churches should be. He has forgiven us so can’t we forgive each other. Can’t we learn from His life and see how our communities can be transformed.
Our desperately broken land needs the gospel. The answer is the transformation that comes into the world through Jesus Christ and what He has done for us.