Lazarus: The Parable and the Real Man

In Church today someone mentioned the connection between the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man that Jesus gave.  The more that I think of it the more I believe that Jesus intentionally connected the parable to the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead that would happen afterwards. 

The parable was given in Luke 16 to the Pharisees who “derided him” (Luke 16:14).  Lazarus was the only character to receive a name in one of the Savior’s parables, so clearly there must be a reason that Jesus decided to name him rather than just describe him like so many other parables (e.g. “a sower” or “a merchant man” or “a certain man” or “a certain nobleman” or “a certain Samaritan”).  In the parable both the poor man Lazarus and the rich man died.  When the rich man found that Lazarus was in heaven and he was “in hell” and “in torments,” he asked Abraham to “send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue.”  Abraham explained that he could not come because the rich man had received his “good things” in life and because there was a “great gulf fixed” between them.  What’s interesting then is what the rich man requested next: “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.”  When Abraham declined the request because they already had prophets to listen to, the rich man protested saying, “But if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.”  Abraham responded in a way that I think clearly links the parable to the story of the real Lazarus: “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 16:31).  In other words, Abraham told him that even if the poor man Lazarus was raised from the dead and sent back to preach to this rich man’s kindred, they still would not listen to him or believe the prophets.  Well, that’s exactly what happened!  Jesus raised the real Lazarus from the dead and what did the wicked rulers in Jerusalem do?  They completely rejected his testimony thus fulfilling the words of Abraham in the parable.  Not only did the Jewish rulers not believe in Christ after the miracle, but “the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death” in order to get rid of the evidence of the miracle (John 12:10).  It seems clear to me that the parable was indeed a foreshadowing of and a commentary on the miracle.  The name Lazarus apparently means “whom God helps” and I think that’s a fitting description for the Lazarus of both of these stories.  God will indeed help the poor and downtrodden as well as the faithful disciple, and that help will come in the form of both spiritual salvation (the poor man Lazarus) and physical life and resurrection (the real Lazarus).