Jesus continues His use of the foil technique in the second scene of the parable. Both characters have died, and their positions begin to invert. The Rich Man is “buried” while the Lazarus is “carried by angels” (22). The Rich man, who once enjoyed a life of comfort, is in Hades in torment. Whereas Lazarus is now at Abraham’s side enjoying heavenly prosperity. (23). Remarkably, we see that the Rich Man has now become the beggar, asking for a single drop of water to cool his tongue (24). Jesus’ ability to teach in parable and via contrast is brilliant.

For centuries, scholars have debated whether Jesus’ story of the Rich Man and Lazarus is a parable or an account of a true, historical narrative. Thankfully, regardless of whichever side of the fence one falls on, it doesn’t change the clarity or the message of the story. Both hermeneutical approaches yield clear warnings about the eternal consequences of sin and the hope we have in the gospel, as preserved in Holy Scripture. Truly, the perspicuity of God’s Word is a gift to His people!
One of the primary arguments of those who hold to the historical narrative point of view is that Jesus uses specific names in the text. Such is not the case for Jesus’ other parables. Instead of proper names, characters are usually given descriptive archetype titles such as “The Dishonest Manager” or “The Prodigal Son”. The giving of proper names is a compelling argument for this historical point of view. Yet, despite this fact, I still hold firmly to the notion that this story is indeed a parable. Why? Because of Jesus’ spectacular use of poetry. This has been overlooked by some commentators. One of the amazing things about studying scripture is that highlights the infinite breadth and brilliance of Jesus.
The Juxtaposition of Characters
Juxtaposition is a powerful communication tool. By contrasting two, unlike things, we glean more than looking at these things by themselves. This is exactly what Jesus uses in the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus. The two characters rely on each other to teach the message of the parable. Notice that while Jesus never directly condemns the Rich Man’s actions, He manages to effectively build a case against him by holding him up against his counterpart, Lazarus. Truly, this is brilliant storytelling. Writers sometimes refer to this type of juxtaposition as a “foil”. Meaning, that the two main characters and their qualities are only rightly understood when they’re placed side-by-side.
Jesus tells us that the rich man is clothed “in purple and fine linen” and that he “feasted sumptuously every day” (Luke 16:19). How about Lazarus? Comparatively, Jesus tells us that instead of being covered with clothes, he is covered with “sores”, and that instead of feasting he is starving. It says he “desired to bed fed with what fell from the rich man’s table” (16:21). The Rich Man’s behavior, when isolated, is hardly compelling. Yet with the juxtaposition and plight of Lazarus, the heinousness of the Rich Man’s crime is displayed. He is a self-absorbed man who lacks compassion and kindness.
I’m reminded of Proverbs 14:31, which reads, “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” The Rich Man has greatly neglected his poor neighbor and his conduct has shown contempt for God. The Rich Man has sinned against a holy and just God.
The depth of the crime is emphasized when Jesus adds the interesting element of the dogs in verse 21. Jesus says, “Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores” (16:21). In this culture, dogs were viewed as little more than troublesome scavengers. The Jews looked with disdain upon dogs; they were among the dregs of animals. Again, Jesus uses distinction to point out how wicked the Rich Man was. The detestable dogs demonstrate more kindness and compassion towards Lazarus than him.
Jesus continues His use of the foil technique in the second scene of the parable. Both characters have died, and their positions begin to invert. The Rich Man is “buried” while the Lazarus is “carried by angels” (22). The Rich man, who once enjoyed a life of comfort, is in Hades in torment. Whereas Lazarus is now at Abraham’s side enjoying heavenly prosperity. (23). Remarkably, we see that the Rich Man has now become the beggar, asking for a single drop of water to cool his tongue (24). Jesus’ ability to teach in parable and via contrast is brilliant. In just a handful of verses, largely via juxtaposition, Jesus paints a poignant picture of two men, their lives, and their eternal states.
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We are called to love the church, but also the specific people in the church that he has given us to enjoy closer relationship with. When that gets hard, we need to remember the God dwells among us. We were each saved by the blood of Christ, given faith by the Father, and have been indwelled by the Spirit. This means that even in the darkest of times, even when separation or distance might be called for, that we do so prayerfully and patiently considering God’s call upon our lives to love his people.

Dear Tim,
Thank you so much for your gracious letter, it will come as no shock that your reminder of Jesus’ example of faithful suffering struck my heart. This exhortation has stayed with me ever since I read your letter, “[Jesus] gave us an example of how to suffer, so let’s apprentice ourselves to him in this too.”
Thank you for challenging me to imitate him again.
Here is our passage for today:
“I exhort you all, therefore, to yield obedience to the word of righteousness, and to exercise all patience, such as you have seen before your eyes, not only in the case of the blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and Rufus, but also in others among yourselves, and in Paul himself, and the rest of the apostles. [Do this] in the assurance that all these have not run in vain, but in faith and righteousness, and that they are [now] in their due place in the presence of the Lord, with whom also they suffered. For they loved not this present world, but Him who died for us, and for our sakes was raised again by God from the dead.”
“I exhort you all, therefore, to yield obedience to theword of righteousness, and to exercise all patience”
The title in the translator gave to this passage was “Patience Inculcated.” Inculcated isn’t a word that we hear used very much in common parlance, but I think in this case it’s a very poignant one. The has a kind of dual meaning; it evokes a sense of a parent instilling virtues in their children that they’ll indwell for life, but it also has an element of repetition. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, and is therefore something that believers, both young and old, should expect to possess in some measure, however in order for that fruit to grow it needs to be constantly fed and watered.
I have gotten in the habit, when people have come to me for advice during times of particular personal or relational stress, of asking whether they have recently asked God to give them more patience. I have about a 90% hit rate. One of the best ways for us to grow in patience isn’t simply by being told, but rather to have regular “system updates” by meeting difficult people and situations. This inculcates the kind of patience fitting of those obedient to the word of righteousness.
It’s no wonder then that Polycarp’s passage on patience is written within the context of relation, both to the broader family of the saints, but also more specifically to those in our personal spheres. This gives us people to be patient with, and people to patiently imitate.
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They love these people in front of them who bear the image of the true God, and so they want them to turn from idols to the true God. Paul and Barnabas love the God who has made, saved, and kept them, and so they wants others to know, love and worship him too. And it isn’t simply that they recognise God as the source of all being; the God Paul declares to the people is the kind God, the source of all joy. 

In Acts 14:6, Paul and Barnabas arrive in Lystra, a city that must be one of the most pagan places we encounter in the Acts of the Apostles. This seems far, far away from the Jerusalem of Acts 2 where people are cut to the heart as they realise that Jesus truly is the Messiah they had been expecting for centuries. And yet, even here, the grace of God is at work – and not only through the preaching of the apostles.
Paul and Barnabas bring about the healing of a man who had been unable to walk and so, amazed at what they have seen, the people of the city begin to shout praise. Trouble is, they aren’t shouting praise for the God who has healed the man, they are worshipping Zeus and Hermes; ancient Greek deities. And, while Zeus is right at the top of the pantheon, both he and Hermes are no gods at all. As Psalm 115 says,
They have mouths, but cannot speak,eyes, but they cannot see;they have ears, but cannot hear,noses, but they cannot smell;they have hands, but cannot feel,feet, but they cannot walk;nor can they utter a sound with their throats.Those who make them will be like them,and so will all who trust in them.
In fact, because the people seeing the healing decide that Barnabas and Paul must themselves be Zeus and Hermes, they are the ones who receive the praise. How would you feel if the people of a city you’d just arrived in decided to bring sacrifices and worship you? Might there not be a temptation to enjoy the adulation?
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True love means proclaiming the truth. True love means proclaiming the gospel. True love means proclaiming the love of God and the wrath of God, and the most unloving thing we could possibly do is withhold the truth from those who are perishing without Christ—the truth about God’s love, holiness, justice, and grace; the truth about man’s sin, death, and hell; the truth about faith, forgiveness, and an eternal life coram Deo, before the face of God in heaven, where God’s love will reign over us forever.

God is love, and love never fails because God never fails. Love cannot be separated from God and cannot exist without Him. God’s love is the foundation and definition of love, just as He is the source, fountain, sustainer, and enabler of love. God gives meaning to love, and without Him, love isn’t only worthless but meaningless. Without God as its source and center, that which humans conceive of as love is impatient and unkind, envious and boastful, arrogant and rude, always insisting on its own way, irritable, resentful, rejoicing in wrongdoing and falsehood. Without God, love is nothing more than a hateful lie of Satan.
Every day we hear people talk about love as if it were some sort of impersonal force and independent energy that alone has the power to change hearts, restore homes, cure diseases, rebuild communities, and unite nations. The world is infatuated with the idea of love. Even the word itself, love, has degenerated into an all-encompassing, catch-all term that seems to be at the heart of a rising one-religion-politically-correct world language—
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In this the love of God was manifested toward us… (1 John 4:9, NKJV)
Think of the most impressive Christmas display you’ve ever seen. What struck you about it? Was it the huge number of lights? Perhaps those lights were programmed to keep time with the grand plan of a majestic musical score. Those lights would have been even more spectacular at night, their beauty and radiance standing out from the darkness.
Keep that picture in mind as you read these words: “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9).
Imagine the pitch black darkness of a world spiritually dead in sin. Death reigned everywhere you looked. But, according to plan and right on schedule, the glory of God Himself appeared. The Light of life entered the world, something history had been waiting for since the exit from Eden. John describes that in his Gospel account. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Holiness also refers to God’s perfect, righteous character. A. W. Pink explains, “The sum of all moral excellency is found in him.”1 No other purity comes close to the purity of God. He holds the full measure of all that is good and right. Every act, thought, and intent of God is completely righteous and perfect. He does not err or fail, nor does He act unjustly toward His creation. 

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.—REVELATION 15:3–4
Prayer
Gracious Triune God, there is none like Thee. Thou alone art high and lifted up and worthy of my worship. Indeed, Thou art holy, holy, holy. As Thy child, please tune my heart toward Thine, and shape my mind by the power of Thy Word. Be pleased with the meditation of my soul, for Christ’s sake. Amen.
Biblical Perspective
Can you think of a time when you have been the stranger? Or maybe you might be able to think of a time when you have felt completely different from other people? Similarly, God is altogether different from us. He is in complete control; we are not. He is perfect and righteous; we are not. He is God; we are not.
The holiness of God points to two specific elements of God’s character. First, it points to the fact that God is fully set apart and different from anything and anyone else. Second, it points to the fact that He is morally righteous in His manifold perfections. In Genesis 2:3, God set apart the seventh day as “holy,” which means it was to be different from all the other days. In Exodus 3:5, God tells Moses that the ground on which he stood was “holy” ground, which means that it was set apart and different. Paul tells Timothy that whoever is cleansed from sin is “sanctified” (2 Tim. 2:21). Being holy, in the first place, then, means that God is altogether different and set apart in glory, power, wisdom, righteousness, authority, goodness, love, truth, grace, and knowledge.
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This craving for uniqueness is a race to escape the reality of our human nature. You were made to mirror God’s glory as a free creature of a Sovereign God. To despise this truth is to despise your humanity, and to succumb to beast-hood; descending into the thoughtlessness of a herd creature. Every glory of art, science, literature, music, and mathematics accomplished by mankind is a borrowed glory.

There is a nefarious lust within us as humans. It’s a craving for uniqueness, originality, and innovation. This is seen clearly in how insistent modern man is on society’s unquestioned acceptance of every person’s supposedly unique identity. It also shows up the erasure of great men and women from history. We don’t want to be reminded of the glories of past generations because that would cast a shade on our lame livestream.
No matter how dearly we believe in our individuality and uniqueness, there’s a truth that haunts at every turn: absolutely everything you are and do is imitative. Peter tells us that we receive a “vain tradition” from our forefathers; a tradition of conformity to sin (1 Pt. 1:14,18). Solomon tells us there’s nothing new under the sun (Ecc. 1:9). Generations rise and fall, but they invariably follow each other’s footsteps of folly.
This craving for uniqueness is a race to escape the reality of our human nature. You were made to mirror God’s glory as a free creature of a Sovereign God.
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