No matter how much we try, we can’t beat the Bible for dealing with issues in a way that fully honors the complexity of the real world while still whittling down the very essence of things into simplistic stories. It’s honestly amazing to me. And so today I will let a story Jesus told speak for itself. This is Luke 16:19-31.
(19) There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and lived it up luxuriously every day. (20) And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, covered with sores. (21) And longed to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. And the dogs came and licked his sores. (22) And so it was, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. (23) And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus on his bosom. (24) And he cried out and said, Father Abraham! Have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that the 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 you in your lifetime received your good things, and so also Lazarus received evil things; but now he is comforted, and you are tormented. (26) And besides all this, there is a great gap set between us and you, so that anyone who might want go pass over from here to you cannot, nor can they pass over to us, who would come from there. (27) Then he said, Please, Father, send him to my father’s house–(28) for I have five brothers–that he may be a witness to them, so that they don’t 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 someone went to them from the dead, they will repent. (31) And he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, they would not be persuaded even if someone rose from the dead.
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No matter how much we try, we can’t beat the Bible for dealing with issues in a way that fully honors the complexity of the real world while still whittling down the very essence of things into simplistic stories. It’s honestly amazing to me. And so today I will let a story Jesus told speak for itself. This is Luke 16:19-31.
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