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Luke
16:19-34
There was a certain
rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen; and feasted sumptuously
every day. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his
gate, full of sores, Desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from
the rich man's table, and no one did give him; moreover the dogs came, and
licked his sores.
And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell.
And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off,
and Lazarus in his bosom:
And he cried, and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus,
that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue: for I
am tormented in this flame.
And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that thou didst receive good things
in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazareth evil things, but now he is comforted;
and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you, there is
fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from hence to you, cannot,
nor from thence come hither.
And he said: Then, father, I beseech thee, that thou wouldst 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 torments.
And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear
them.
But he said: No, father Abraham: but if one went to them from the dead, they
will do penance.
And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will
they believe, if one rise again from the dead.
Commentary
from the Catholic Encyclopedia
The rich fool
and Dives and Lazarus raise the question whether we should interpret them
as true histories or as instructive fictions. Both are directed against the
chief enemy of the Gospel, riches loved and sought after. The rich fool ("Nabal",
as in I Kings 25) was uttered on occasion of a dispute concerning property
and Christ answers "Man, who hath appointed me judge, or divider, over you?"
Not injustice, but covetousness, "the root of all evil", is here reprehended.
Read St. Cyprian, "De opere et eleemosyna", 13.
The story of Lazarus, which completes this lesson by contrast, appears to
have no concealed meaning and would therefore not fulfil the definition of
a parable. Catholics, with Irenaeus, Ambrose, Augustine, and the church liturgy,
regard it as a narrative. The modern school rejects this view, allows that
our Lord may have spoken the first half of the recital (Luke 16:19-26) but
considers the rest to be an allegory which condemns the Jews for not accepting
the witness of Moses and the Prophets to Jesus as the Messias. In any case
our Lord's resurrection furnishes an implied reference. "Abraham's bosom"
for the middle state after death is adopted by the Fathers generally; it
receives illustration from IV Mach. 13:17. St. Augustine (De Gen. ad Litt.,
viii, 7) doubts whether we can take literally the description of the other
world. |
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