Jesus The Great Story Teller

Ezra 5; Ezra 6; Psalm 138; Luke 16
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Scripture

Luke 16

Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

19 Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. 20 At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. 21 As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.

22 “Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and his soul went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.
24 “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’

25 “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’

27 “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. 28 For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’

29 “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’
30 “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’
31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Observation

One of the ways that Jesus taught his disciples and the crowds was through story telling. Read this story very slowly and see if you don’t begin to visualize the entire scene. As you read the first few verses don’t you begin to feel compassion for poor Lazarus as he lay on the ground covered with sores longing to have just some of the crumbs from the rich man’s table.

How do you feel when Jesus talks about the dogs coming and licking the open sores of poor Lazarus? Then the story quickly shifts to what it is going to be like after their deaths and suddenly our feelings change about the situation of Lazarus. It is no longer poor Lazarus, but instead it is poor rich guy because we find him in eternal torment begging for a drop of water to cool his tongue because now he is in torment surrounded by flames. So the tables are turned.

In a few seconds Jesus has told a story that once you read it or hear the story told you will never be able to forget it. The message of the story is very clear to you and to me and that message is that we should repent of our sins and turn to God while we have the chance!

Application

I will use this story Sunday in my message.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me to share with people the urgency of the Gospel. Help me to take every opportunity to be a witness today.

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