Torment as Punishment: The Rich Man and Lazarus

Luke 16:19-31

Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

In this parable it sure does seem like the rich man is experiencing suffering presently during the time Jesus spoke those words and it doesn’t seem like this parable is referring to a future reality either where the world no longer exists because the rich man mentions his brothers who are still alive. We must also notice that the place Lazarus is at is at “Abraham’s Bosom.” That is, in proximity to Abraham. Recall that when the thief died on the cross with Jesus, He told him that “today you shall be with me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:43). Notice also that although the rich man and Lazarus are experiencing different things in the afterlife, they are both within earshot and they are both conscious enough to have a conversation. One could conclude that because of this they are both in Hades. Whether you draw that conclusion or not; nonetheless, there is a great chasm fixed between the two areas in which no one can cross over from one side to the other. In this parable it also seems like the flame is literal because the rich man is physically thirsty and wants water. He describes himself as being in agony because of the flame. However, I do not take this parable literally because it is after all, a parable, a story.

It would not be faithful or wise exegesis to take one of the parables of Jesus and turn it into the basis of one’s own systematic theology. Parables are not for this purpose. Parables are meant to teach one or a couple main truths or lessons and that’s the purpose. The details aren’t there for us to extract some hidden meaning through over-spiritualizing or overanalyzing the text. So, what is this parable really about? What does it teach? What is Jesus trying to tell his audience? Well, given the elaborate background story that Jesus tells about the rich man and Lazarus, it seems to me that Jesus is teaching us that the roles were switched after both men died. Even Abraham in the story tells the rich man this.

It is a story of irony. It is a story of justice. It is a story that says, you can’t undo the actions you did after you die. It is a story that conveys the responsibility of one’s actions here on earth and their consequences later on; and the consequences seem to be measured according to one’s actions or lack thereof when living on the earth. Lazarus was the poor man when he was living on earth and was in agony with his sores and his constant hunger, begging even for the crumbs from the table of the rich man in which the rich man didn’t provide for his needs. The implication here is that since the rich man neglected the needs of the poor man, when both men died, the rich man became poor and the poor man became rich. The rich man received an agony perhaps equivalent to the agony he neglected to remedy that was right in front of him while he was on the earth. Meanwhile, the poor man who was in agony then was now no longer in agony and was at Abraham’s bosom. For this reason, I take the “flame” to be a symbolic word for God’s judgement on the rich man rather than it being used to convey something literal. The rich man’s thirst in the story was merely to convey the fact in a more vivid/emotional/imaginative way that the rich man was suffering agony. The purpose of this is to warn people of the consequences of their sin.

Further Resources:

This article explains the different stories and background information of the Rich Man and Lazarus story and how Jesus naming “Lazarus” is not necessarily indicative that Jesus was speaking about an actual historical event:
Hypocrisy, Not Hell: The Polemic Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man | Rethinking Hell

Also, Will L. Hess from The Church Split argues that this parable was a series of many parables that were actually Jewish in origin. Then Jesus took those Jewish parables and put His own twist to them. There is a particular document that Will reads from in his video with I believe was part 2 of his Hell series. Also, another argument to be made is that the previous stories Jesus shared were all parables, so it would only follow naturally that this next one in the series of parables would also be a parable rather than for Jesus to suddenly switch up the story to a factual story.