NOTES for Luk 16:19-31

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is one of the hardest for us to understand. Much of this is because we read a written text, while Christ's parables are an oral genre. When we read a book, we can go back and consider different shades of meaning, but the listeners did not have that opportunity and grasped one or two essential images. Therefore, when Jesus wanted to communicate something truly new, He presented the background information in keeping with the system of ideas His listeners had. Check it: all His parables are built this way.

The two most essential points in this parable are, of course, its final phrase about the one who will rise from the dead, and the connection between existence here and existence after death. For the rest, Jesus relies on traditional ideas: Abraham's bosom, Sheol - without yet trying to change them. All of that still lies ahead: after descending into Hades following His death on the cross, Jesus abolishes the idea of Sheol as a place where God is not present.