The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. – Luke 16:19-31.

The Rich Man Also

Edna Lister created this sermon outline for June 19, 1938, Cleveland, Ohio. Scripture: Luke 16:19-31.

This story of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man paints a picture of utter selfishness, and what it will do for you, as opposed to sharing and giving. It also tells a story of heaven as a place. In reality, you have only heaven in different degrees of elevation and/or consciousness.

Hell is a place in consciousness, not meant to make one suffer, but to experience missing lessons. This torment is self-inflicted and self-imposed. While you must always accept, you must also remain divinely discontented with the place you occupy in consciousness. Every step that seems to hurt the self is a glory to the soul.

Ascension is the process of substituting gratitude for selfish will and desires. Finally your will becomes Wisdom, which plans. Selfish desires become Love, which executes Wisdom's plans.

Bridging the Abyss

This Linda Mihalic transcript is dated Palm Sunday, April 8, 2001, Cleveland, Ohio. Scripture: Luke 16:13-17, 19-31.

"[Jesus said] No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." – Luke 16:13-17.

Jesus said, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon," which is the world. The covetous Pharisees listened but did not hear — instead they derided him. Then he said, "The law and the prophets were all you had until John the Baptist. Since then the kingdom of God has been preached, the Gates of Heaven have been unlocked and everyone is pressing into it. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail."

When in the grip of events, you cannot see their full impact or historical significance. "The shot heard 'round the world" at the Battle of Lexington, for instance, opened the Revolutionary War. Martin Luther King was assassinated right after he gave his passionate "I have a dream" speech. All prophecy is foreordained in the law, and must come to pass. When he rebuked the Pharisees, Jesus was setting a vibration of remembrance that prophecy and Law were being fulfilled.

"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores." – Luke 16:19-21. It's hard to relate to this parable: We are not as rich as the man in purple, nor do we live in luxury. Most of us would have to watch the pennies before we could afford a wardrobe of designer suits or a luxury class car.

This rich man didn't have to work for his living. He had inherited or had made so much while young, he lived off his investments, as do the globalists and Fortune 100 "fat cat" billionaires. We certainly don't have a beggar covered with sores laying on our porch or front steps. Only the dogs and cats in our house want to be fed with the crumbs from our table. We don't know anyone like Lazarus, except perhaps a panhandler downtown.

This parable explains the difference between the truth of appearances and the truth of reality. Jesus had said, "You justify yourselves before men [according to the truth of appearances], but God knows your hearts" — the truth of reality. "For what is highly esteemed among men" — appearances — "is an abomination in the sight of God" — which is reality. When the beggar died, angels carried him to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, but was in torment in Hell. He lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar, and Lazarus in his bosom. Appearances and reality are reversed in the world to come. The beggar is comforted, but the worldly rich soul suffers the torments of hell. The rich man cried, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame."

The beggar had waited for crumbs, and dogs licked his sores, which reveals that the rich man was stingy. Had he been generous, the beggar would have been waiting for dinner, not crumbs. Had he been compassionate, he would have had his own physician tend the beggar's sores. Now the stingy giver was begging Abraham for a drop of water from Lazarus' finger. He still didn't see it: the dogs had licked the beggars sores, so he still saw the beggar as lower than himself — a "nobody," who should be sent to "do" for him. But Abraham said, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you fully received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and you are suffering." Both the rich man and the beggar had reaped the rewards of their spiritual debts in their lifetime. Lazarus had paid his debts with suffering, but the rich man had created more!

"And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." What is this great chasm? An abyss, like the Grand Canyon? The first abyss is the choice between the self and the soul, between the fate line or path of destiny. Then the rich man begged, "I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment." The five brothers represent five alternate choices in every situation: awareness, recognition, repentance (which is acceptance), surrender (to sacrifice of self and crucifixion of self-will), and ascension.

Abraham answered, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." An abyss may lie between listening to law and hearing it. The rich man said, "No, father Abraham: but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent." But he said to him, "If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one should rise from the dead." This is such a rich story, open to so many interpretations. It paints a vivid picture of the abysmal difference between self and the soul. It's easy to interpret it at face value, according to the truth of appearances.

Yet the Master of All Law was teaching here, so we must peel back even more layers to get at the truth of reality that he was teaching. A great Guardian of the Law once said: If darkness could be personified, it would be as a beggar, pleading to be changed into Light. Jesus was teaching this group in Jerusalem, about two miles from Bethany, where he often stayed as the guest of his friends, Lazarus (a rich young man), Martha and Mary. They were all in his audience that day, since he was again teaching so close to their home. Perhaps he had already revealed the truth to Lazarus, or maybe he waited until later to tell them that the beggar of his parable was in fact Lazarus, his friend.

Surely the story fit more than one of the rich Pharisees listening that day, and it was the kind of parable that irritated them most. They were so self-confident of their righteousness in obeying the letter of the Law. They all listened, but only a few of them could really hear what he was saying, as did Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Jesus was telling Lazarus, and all who could truly hear him, that they had either already accrued enough debt to make them beggars with sores, or they were only one or two lifetimes away, and could still lose it all unless they worked at balancing the scales.

Most of us are like the rich man. Maybe not wearing designer suits or driving luxury cars, but employed and doing well enough not to be called poor. A very few of us may be like Lazarus, unable to make ends meet, depending upon the charity of others, ashamed of our poverty but unable to do anything about it, since we're still at the mercy of our own earned spiritual debts. Either way, you can all be sure of one thing: Every situation will change! Every vibration, once begun, must wax until it peaks, then decline into apparent nothingness, where it starts again! Nothing lasts forever, except the harmony and rhythm of God's Divine Law.

This parable is also rich with hidden insight on the three great temptations to misuse Mind, Substance, and Power. The original sin is believing that you are separate from God, and therefore, from one another. This is an idea, which you let in and give room to in mind; some even let it take over their minds. Indeed, the whole world believes this appearance of separation, which is an illusion, so deeply held that we even call some nations "third world" countries. The "us" versus "them" concept controls our thinking every day.

Some people think that by telling a lie often enough, they can make it true. Politicians are notorious for this, as are terrorists and dictators. They finally believe their own lies as being the truth. This is where they set themselves up to become beggars with sores, lying at the doors of rich men.

Yet Divine Mind overall is uncompromising, unchangeable and immutable. You, as an extension of the Divine Personality, may not change principle to suit yourself, but must change to become perfectly in line with the divine principles, which form you. You must change, since law cannot. What you think about the world, and its relative value to your soul is always the essence of your temptation to misuse Divine Mind.

The temptation to misuse Substance seems straightforward, and it's an obvious good guess that the rich man, being stingy with alms and compassion, was creating his own horrific debt, which the story says he finally paid. It's equally obvious that Lazarus was paying off past debt. However, Substance is more than food (crumbs from the table) or bandages for sores. Substance deals with emotions.

Is it true, or does it simply appear that none of us has a beggar with sores on our porch? Sores are open wounds caused by blows inflicted from the outside, or arising from terrible misuse of our own body vehicle. Most people don't bear any sores that you can see, because you only look at the physical appearance of their souls, the body.

Inner vision reveals the reality and truth of their auras. What inflicts instant damage to another's aura? The tragic truth is that most often it is the knife-like words of a loved one or friend. You have seen a child flinch at adult's overly harsh reprimand. Often you identify with the child. But why don't you identify with the harsh adult? We are the adults. Why the double standard? We are all children of one Father.

Words carry a vibration of Light Substance, but your grasp of truth versus reality colors the words, and tone puts the knife-like edge on them. Most people think they are speaking the truth when in reality they are voicing a prejudiced part-truth from their emotional point of view.

Jesus' words stung the Pharisees, and later they felt justified in helping convict him in the Council of the Sanhedrin. We all know the outcome. Jesus died for bearing witness to the truth, and everyone involved has paid or is still paying their debts. The temptation to misuse Power is equally obvious. Lazarus had no power, but the rich man had plenty. That was the appearance. We think of Power in a two-fold way, according to appearances and in light of reality. All of the Elect have confused Power with control, and many are still doing so.

The truth of appearances teaches that having authority, which is another word for Power, somehow confers control over other people or situations. Parents have power over children, bosses over employees, politicians over governments, governments over the populace, money over poverty . . . the list goes on. Life teaches the reality of this: No one is really in control over anyone or anything forever. Somewhere, sometime, the imagined control ends, like any vibration that reaches its lowest ebb.

Divine Power comes from above, and we are its servants, having been created by God for His Power to use. Yet our choices, words and actions say otherwise. We fail in the temptation on Power every time we think, react emotionally, say or do anything to control another, to change their mind, to cause them to conform to our standard, rather than the Eternal Standard of Divine Law.

It takes many lifetimes to completely grasp the truth of reality and make it yours until you become that reality. Like the rich man, we are irritated by the beggars at our doorstep. We feed the world with crumbs from our table. We ignore the sores we have inflicted. We wish the whole mess would go away.

We have five brothers at home, too, within us. We meet and speak to them at least every holiday. Our youngest brother is Awareness. We dislike him because he shows us our taints. He's at every holiday family get-together, and we hold our breath that he blurt the truth.

Recognition, another least favorite, always reminds us that we are often guilty of what we dislike in others. He always tattles on us. We can take only so much of Repentance's company because he reminds us of what we shouldn't have said or done. He makes us miserable with guilt, so we wish he wouldn't show up after every holiday.

Surrender really makes us edgy. Who is he to suggest what we should give up? He won't argue about anything and says we're not supposed to fight and bicker with each other, or tell each other what to do. He moved out of the house years ago, but bought the property just up the hill. We often see him looking down on us. We think, Is he judging me? We feel so insecure around him, and really resent him for being such a wet blanket.

Ascension is the eldest brother, whom we hardly know. He moved out years ago, works hard and spends his time and money doing good deeds. But he talks about boring stuff, like God and what the world could be like if we all practiced what we've learned in religious school. We all go to church and to temple, but really, that's only for Sabbath and Sundays. You can't expect people to think about that stuff all week long. We have a life to live, and money to make.

Which of these brothers are you most like? Which would you rather emulate? It took you a long time to reach where you are today. Do you like it? Are you satisfied with it? Don't you long for something better? When you examine your life, do you want to stay on this side of the abyss, or would you like to cross the chasm and nestle in the bosom of your Father?

If you choose to do nothing, you remain bound to the fate line and endless lifetimes of working it out the hard way. If you choose repentance, surrender and ascension, you'll have some hard work ahead but you'll be strong enough to leap the chasm between self and soul. The abyss between desire and performance keeps you from becoming. You can bridge it only by surrendering self.

Why settle for less joy, life, love, and Light? Make up your mind to choose the Light! Light is all that matters. Follow the Light up and find the answer at the end. You cannot straddle the abyss. As Edna Lister said, "Decide which of you is going, 'I AM' or little me."

The name Lazarus means "without help." The beggar Lazarus had to do it "without help" because his past choices dictated his life as a poor beggar with sores. That was his incarnation of surrender the hard way. Lazarus of Bethany chose to resurrect the old and to ascend. Even though Lazarus the beggar had paid his debts while living, he still had to incarnate to finish the job of conquering. Why spend lifetimes doing the hard work of paying debts by painful living when you could complete the same conquering within a few years?

The only way to get ahead in conquering is to just do it now. Thinking you've done well enough or are good enough doesn't finish the job. While Lazarus was resting on Abraham's bosom, he still had to return to earth.

The time has come to walk on the water of our emotions. Most of us, forgetting to ask the Master to hold out his hand to us, have drowned several dozen times. Well, that's good. At least we now have fewer illusions about how in command of ourselves we really are.

Consistency is the goal, yet we consistently fail the tests. God still loves us despite our wobbly knees. All it takes is a little more awareness of God, a little more recognition that this means me, a little more Repentance before the fact of wrongdoing, a little more surrender of self, a little more ascension of soul, and we are there.

Just a little more love, a little more joy and a little more compassion poured out on a hungry, weary world. Stop living on crumbs! The Lord of Life is offering you all the living Bread. Your time has come. Cross the abyss! The time is now.