19-21 “There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man’s table. His best friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores.
22-24 “Then he died, this poor man, and was taken up by the angels to the lap of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell and in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus in his lap. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, mercy! Have mercy! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool my tongue. I’m in agony in this fire.’
25-26 “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It’s not like that here. Here he’s consoled and you’re tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from you to us.’
27-28 “The rich man said, ‘Then let me ask you, Father: Send him to the house of my father where I have five brothers, so he can tell them the score and warn them so they won’t end up here in this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham answered, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets to tell them the score. Let them listen to them.’
30 “‘I know, Father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but they’re not listening. If someone came back to them from the dead, they would change their ways.’
31 “Abraham replied, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, they’re not going to be convinced by someone who rises from the dead.’”
Jesus particularly used the name of Lazarus for describing a poor man who had been ignored by the rich man but receiving into the heaven with Abraham, while the rich man who had lost his sympathy for a poor man at his door step, and found his destiny in the hell and was tormented. Jesus used this parable to warn the rich men to have the obligation to look after the poor, and at the same time, to warn people, even those who claim to be religious but fails to really observe the words of God - practicing the righteousness and mercy of God in earthly life. Jesus warned the harden-ness of human's heart that life remains unchanged even though God's words are plain to them and Jesus had been resurrected from the dead.
My dear friend Jesus, please protect my heart from harden-ness and apathy to people in need. Please use your words to be my lamp on the feet everyday, speaking to me in my inner soul and stirring up my passion for loving You and your people around me. I know that I cannot serve You without Your heart and mercy for loving people. Also give me the faith that I focus my eyes on Your Kingdom and my final destiny within Your salvation plan through your church.
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