It’s Time to Hear Moses and the Prophets :: Luke 16:19-31

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Hallelujah! He is Risen! ...

The word for our meditation today comes from our Gospel reading, which is well known as the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. We need to hear this one again. 


[Jesus said:] Now a certain man was rich and was clothing himself in purple and fine linen, and he was celebrating himself brilliantly every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus had been cast aside toward his gate afflicted with skin abscesses and an overwhelming desire to be fed from what fell from the table of the rich man. But even the dogs came and licked his abscesses.

And it came to pass: The poor man died and was carried away by the angels into Abraham’s [embrace], and the rich man also died and was buried. And in hades, having lifted his eyes, existing in torment, [the rich man] saw Abraham from afar and Lazarus in [Abraham’s embrace]. And he, having cried out, said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus in order that he might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I am in anguish in this flame.

But Abraham said, Child, remember that you received your good in your life, and Lazarus likewise the bad, but now here he is comforted, but you are being anguished. And in all this, between us and you a great chasm has been established [and is still there] so that those wanting to pass through from here to you cannot, nor can they cross over toward us. 

So [the rich man] said, I urge you, therefore, father, that you would send him into my father’s house for I have five brothers; [that way] he may testify solemnly to them, in order that they also don’t come into this place of torment. But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. Then he said, No! No! Father Abraham. But if a certain one from the dead journeys toward them, they will repent. But he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if a certain one might rise from the dead.

[Introduction]

Can you picture what Jesus just described? 

A rich man is being tormented inside the gates of Hades. Everything is burning around him, notably his tongue. For the first time in his life, likely just moments after being cast into the fire, he cries out for mercy, and asks, If only I could have that man, whose name means My God Helps, give me one drop of water. 

Here he is ... separated from God by an impassable chasm. Here he is suffering in faithlessness, turning away from God’s character and promises, turning in selfishness and pride once again, looking down his nose at the outsiders. All of the luxuries of his life are gone. There’s no relief in sight, and God isn’t hearing his prayer.

It’s a chilling thought, isn’t it? 

The rich man has been damned, and he knows his brothers are in danger of the same fate. So he leans on his heritage and prays to someone who can’t save him ... that is, someone other than God. For some reason, he believes that if his five brothers could just see one more miracle, a certain man rising from the dead, they would finally repent. 

So Abraham delivers a terrifying verdict: If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced though one should rise from the dead.

In other words, Jesus said ...

NOW IS THE TIME TO HEAR MOSES AND THE PROPHETS; NOW IS THE TIME TO ORDER YOUR LIFE ACCORDING TO WHAT GOD SAYS

I. It is not easy to hear Moses and the prophets because too often we take offense at it.

The parable today is part of a larger narrative in the Gospel of Luke that the Pharisees take offense at. Beginning in chapter 14, Luke writes that it came to pass one Sabbath, [Jesus] went into the house of a certain ruler of the Pharisees to eat bread, and they were watching him carefully (v 1). 

After healing a man with edema, Jesus began teaching through parables ... the parable of the wedding feast and the great banquet, the parables of the lost and the dishonest manager. He’s teaching about love and hate, celebrations and rejections. Then Luke writes, when the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, they ridiculed Jesus. 

In response, Jesus said, You are those justifying yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, because what is exalted among men is an abomination before God. The Law and the Prophets were until John; from then [on], the Kingdom of God is being preached as good news, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to fall (Lk 16:14-17).

II. There are few people who actually knew Moses and the Prophets better than the Pharisees. 

They could quote the Torah like no one else. They knew where and when to dot their Is and cross their Ts. They remembered the sons of Israel being exiled, notably for rebelling against Moses and the Prophets. That’s why they were Pharisees. They strictly adhered to the idea of living on the straight and narrow.

But the Pharisees were missing the point of the Old Testament. These lovers of money ... these theologians of glory ... these white-washed tombs who outwardly shined beautifully but inwardly were full of dead bones and all kinds of uncleanness ... predicated their way of life on their tradition, on their values. They refused to see those with withered hands and edema, with skin diseases and moral turpitude, as equals. As Jesus says in Matthew 15 and Mark 7, [The Pharisees] were nullifying Moses and the Prophets by using tradition as their rule and norm and then shoving the scriptures into it to justify themselves. They didn’t think they needed the forgiveness of sins. They thought their status as children of the church protected them.

But Moses and the Prophets were not written as basic instructions before leaving earth. Moses and the Prophets were written to give us contrition and faith. As John the Baptizer taught us, now we can bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say among yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise children [in the family of the faith of] Abraham. 

And so he has.

III. God alone enables us to hear Moses and the Prophets, and to order our lives in accordance with what He says.

We don’t need someone to return from the dead to warn us to repent or face torment in Hades. We don’t because a certain man indeed has already done that for us. Our Lord Jesus Christ has destroyed sin, death, and the devil, and now holds the keys to Hades. 

Jesus is the son that God promised to give Abraham in his old age. Jesus is the one who hears our prayer. Jesus is our helper. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Exo 12). He is the one who holds the key, who opens and none shall shut, who shuts and none shall open (Isa 22:22). He is the one who, as Isaiah proclaims, was led silently to the slaughter (Isa 53:7), and on account of his blood sacrifice covered the sin of all who have faith. 

Jesus was pierced for our transgression and crushed for our iniquities. Jesus bore the punishment that brought us peace. Jesus heals all our abscesses ... not only physically but spiritually. Jesus was separated from the Father by a great chasm called the cross. Jesus was forsaken by the father for our sin. Jesus faced all the torment of God’s wrath for all the world. And Jesus died on the cross FOR YOU. He was buried in the garden for you (Jn 19:41). And on the Third Day, just as God promised through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Hosea, and Jonah alike, among so many other prophets ... 

... Hallelujah! He is Risen! ...

And all who confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead will be saved (Rm 10:9). 

[Conclusion]

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the voice of Moses and the Prophets indeed has gone out to all the earth. They told us who would save us, how he would save us, where it would all happen, why it would all happen, and the means by which it would happen. This is what Moses and the Prophets teach us to hear. 

So come, you all ye faithful ... you who have been called by the Gospel, enlightened with his gifts of Word and Sacraments, sanctified in Holy Baptism, and who are still being led to receive the Lord’s Supper. 

Come, and hear Moses and the Prophets. 

Come, and abide in Moses and the Prophets. 

Come, and share the true miracle of faith that God has worked in your heart today. 

We have indeed come to know and to believe the love that God has for us (1 Jn 4:16). 

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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