Greek
19
Ἄνθρωπος δέ τις ἦν πλούσιος, καὶ ἐνεδιδύσκετο πορφύραν καὶ βύσσον
εὐφραινόμενος καθ᾿ ἡμέραν λαμπρῶς. 20 πτωχὸς δέ τις ἦν
ὀνόματι Λάζαρος, ὃς ἐβέβλητο πρὸς τὸν πυλῶνα αὐτοῦ ἡλκωμένος 21
καὶ ἐπιθυμῶν χορτασθῆναι ἀπὸ τῶν ψιχίων τῶν πιπτόντων ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης
τοῦ πλουσίου· ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ κύνες ἐρχόμενοι ἀπέλειχον τὰ ἕλκη αὐτοῦ.
22 ἐγένετο δὲ ἀποθανεῖν τὸν πτωχὸν καὶ ἀπενεχθῆναι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν
ἀγγέλων εἰς τὸν κόλπον Ἀβραάμ· ἀπέθανε δὲ καὶ ὁ πλούσιος καὶ ἐτάφη.
23 καὶ ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ ἐπάρας τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ, ὑπάρχων ἐν βασάνοις,
ὁρᾷ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἀπὸ μακρόθεν καὶ Λάζαρον ἐν τοῖς κόλποις αὐτοῦ. 24
καὶ αὐτὸς φωνήσας εἶπε· πάτερ Ἀβραάμ, ἐλέησόν με καὶ πέμψον Λάζαρον ἵνα
βάψῃ τὸ ἄκρον τοῦ δακτύλου αὐτοῦ ὕδατος καὶ καταψύξῃ τὴν γλῶσσάν μου,
ὅτι ὀδυνῶμαι ἐν τῇ φλογὶ ταύτῃ. 25 εἶπε δὲ Ἀβραάμ· τέκνον,
μνήσθητι ὅτι ἀπέλαβες σὺ τὰ ἀγαθά σου ἐν τῇ ζωῇ σου, καὶ Λάζαρος ὁμοίως
τὰ κακά· νῦν δὲ ὧδε παρακαλεῖται, σὺ δὲ ὀδυνᾶσαι· 26 καὶ ἐπὶ
πᾶσι τούτοις μεταξὺ ἡμῶν καὶ ὑμῶν χάσμα μέγα ἐστήρικται, ὅπως οἱ
θέλοντες διαβῆναι ἔνθεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς μὴ δύνωνται, μηδὲ οἱ ἐκεῖθεν πρὸς ἡμᾶς
διαπερῶσιν. 27 εἶπε δέ· ἐρωτῶ οὖν σε, πάτερ, ἵνα πέμψῃς αὐτὸν
εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός μου· 28 ἔχω γὰρ πέντε ἀδελφούς· ὅπως
διαμαρτύρηται αὐτοῖς, ἵνα μὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔλθωσιν εἰς τὸν τόπον τοῦτον τῆς
βασάνου. 29 λέγει αὐτῷ Ἀβραάμ· ἔχουσι Μωϋσέα καὶ τοὺς
προφήτας· ἀκουσάτωσαν αὐτῶν. 30 ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· οὐχί, πάτερ
Ἀβραάμ, ἀλλ᾿ ἐάν τις ἀπὸ νεκρῶν πορευθῇ πρὸς αὐτούς, μετανοήσουσιν.
31 εἶπε δὲ αὐτῷ· εἰ Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν προφητῶν οὐκ ἀκούουσιν, οὐδὲ
ἐάν τις ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῇ πεισθήσονται.
English
19"There was a rich
man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted
sumptuously every day.
20And at his gate
lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores,
21who desired to be
fed with what fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and
licked his sores.
22The poor man died
and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died
and was buried;
23and in Hades,
being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and
Lazarus in his bosom.
24And he called
out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the
end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in
this flame.'
25But Abraham said,
'Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and
Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and
you are in anguish.
26And besides all
this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that
those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may
cross from there to us.'
27And he said,
'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house,
28for I have five
brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place
of torment.'
29But Abraham said,
'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'
30And he said, 'No,
father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will
repent.'
31He said to him,
'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'"
Larger Thought Unit
Chapter 16
is a single unit with the two main parables with totally different emphases
beginning with the phrase: “There was a certain rich man.” The first one
emphasizes the shrewd steward who acts decisively to secure his future when
faced with coming judgment, with the warning to disciples to do likewise.
The latter attacks the Pharisees and those who think that their wealth
(however defined) provides them with a certain status all the while
neglecting those who have no status at all.
Notes
This
parable is about the centrality and the perennial value of the Law and the
Prophets, i.e., the word of God as embedded in the words of the Old
Testament, for Jesus’ followers. This is corroborated by the introductory
assertion: “"The law and the prophets were until John; since then the good
news of the kingdom of God is preached, and every one enters it violently.
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the
law to become void.” (Lk 16:16-17)
It is this
word, according to Paul, that teaches through and through that the love for
the neighbor is the epitome of God’s will and is therefore the key to our
inheritance of the kingdom (Gal 5:6, 14, 21-23). Furthermore, according to
the same Paul, the central expression of this teaching is table fellowship
(Gal 2:1-14).
In this
parable, the Jew, rich in that the Law and the Prophets were delivered to
him (notice that he is aware of their content, Lk 16:29-31; see also Rom
3:1-2), does not want to share even the crumbs of his table with the Gentile
Lazarus (notice how he lives with the dogs; see Mt 15:6, 26-27; Mk 7:27-28).
However, Lazarus (whose meaning in Hebrew is ‘God is [my] help’) is saved
through God’s mercy, as the gospel teaches, whereas the rich man incurs the
curse of the Law because he contravenes it. Not even the resurrection from
the dead will be of help for him, since the function of the resurrection is
not to save us but to bring us into judgment. It is only our abiding by
God’s will that allows us to inherit the kingdom.
Further resource
Paul Nadim Tarazi, New
Testament Introduction, Vol.2: Luke and Acts, St Vladimir’s Seminary
Press, Crestwood, NY, 2001; pp.143-36.
Charles H. Talbert, Reading
Luke, Smith & Helwys Publishing, Macon GA, 2002; pp. 183-188.