Luc. 16, 19-31.
Now there was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and lived all his days gloriously and joyfully. But there was a poor man named Lazarus, who lay at his door full of sores, desiring to be satisfied with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table; but the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the poor man died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And when he was in hell and torment, he lifted up his eyes, and beholding Abraham afar off, and Lazarum in his bosom, cried out, saying, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarum, that he may dip the uttermost part of his finger in water, and cool my tongue: for I am in torment in this flame. And Abraham said, Remember, son, that thou hast received thy good in thy life, and Lazarus, on the contrary, hath received evil: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And
For all these things there is a great gulf fixed between us and you, that they which would go down from hence unto you cannot, neither can they go over from thence unto us. Then said he, Then pray thee, O father, that thou send him to my father's house: for I have yet five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. And Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the prophets: let them hear the same. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one of the dead should go unto them, they would repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if any of the dead arise.
This is an excellent gospel, the like of which is found nowhere else in all of Scripture, of the judgment that will come upon men after this life. And it is not necessary to argue whether it is a historia or only a similitude. For since Christ names the two persons, and says what was their life in both parts, and what judgment came upon them after death, how the rich man was tormented in the flame, but poor Lazarus was in joy, we believe that it happened in this way. And we must also believe that the same judgment will be passed on all those who follow either the rich man or poor Lazarus here on earth.
(2) For these two examples of the rich man and the poor Lazari are set forth by the Lord to all the world. The first is of the rich man, who for a short time lived happily and joyfully, and there is lost and eternally sad; and the other is of the poor man, who here for a time is poor and miserable, but there is eternally rich and blessed. That everyone may learn to follow this example; for both parts require that one have a certain instruction and keep himself right; if not, eternal life is lost.
3 Therefore whoever is poor and miserable here on earth, like Lazarus, may learn not to be offended by such a miserable being, and not to draw his comfort from this temporal life, but to hope for the future and eternal.
(4) For no Christian, when he is in trouble, should think that God has forgotten him or is hostile to him. For this is God's way, that like a pious father with a rod he is always after his children, so that by such punishment they may be admonished and kept from sins; otherwise, where the punishment would not be, they would be safe and persist in sins. Therefore, a Christian should not be distressed by his misery.
but trust that God loves him, remembers him, and seeks his best. As the wise man also says: "If a father loves his child well, he will discipline him.
Therefore, it is a great mistake to count God's goodness and grace only by how you are doing here on earth. It is true that money and goods, a healthy body and the like are God's gifts and blessings, but such blessings do not last forever. For in the end one must leave money and goods and everything behind. In addition, there is the misfortune of not keeping oneself particularly in the fear of God and having good regard for the word that such blessings, because of our sinful nature, give rise to many sins.
(6) Hence it is seen that God places upon rich people many a cross and trial, sickness and other misfortunes. Not only because they deserve it because of the sins they have committed, but also because God wants to prevent future sins and thus keep them in His fear, since otherwise, apart from the temptation, they would decrease in prayer, faith and diligence against the Word from day to day and even get away from it.
(7) The true, highest and best blessing, from which one can and should really and rightly feel God's goodness, is not temporal good, but the eternal blessing that God has called us to His holy Gospel, where we hear and learn how God, for the sake of His Son, wants to be merciful to us, forgive sin and make us eternally blessed; in addition, He graciously protects us against the tyranny of the devil and the world. Whoever considers such blessings, even though he lacks temporal blessings, being poor, sick, despised, unhappy, and burdened with all kinds of adversity, yet all this is a small thing to him, for he sees that he always keeps more than he has lost. If money and property are not there, then
he knows that he has a merciful God; if the body is weak and sick, he knows that he is called to eternal life and that this is promised to him in baptism and the Word. The same is true of other trials and tribulations. If it is up to him, as God wills, his heart always has the consolation: "If it is about a little thing, it should be better, and so better that no one should take my joy from me; for I have a gracious God through Christ, who is my Father and wants to place me in the eternal inheritance through Christ.
8 So this poor Lazarus also comforted himself. The pain hurt his body, so that he often wept and cried over it. His heart will also often have softened and gone out of control because he was so desolate in addition to the illness that he had no food and drink, since the rich godless man lived in abundance. Woe, I say, was this to him; for it is not possible that a man's heart should not grieve over this. But on the other hand he kept this comfort firmly in his heart, that he said: I see that my God in heaven wills it so; therefore I will gladly suffer such things for his service, knowing that they cannot be eternal. It is to be done for a short time, then sickness and all plagues must cease, and the blessed change must take place, so that instead of temporal suffering there will be eternal joy and comfort. For I have ever had the promise that God would be merciful to me for the sake of His Son Christ, that He would forgive my sin, set me free from the curse and accept me with grace. Therefore, let it go as it goes. If people do not respect me and do not give me the crumbs they give to the dogs, I take comfort in the fact that God will take care of me and will not let me live in want for eternity; for this reason I will suffer and be oppressed for a while and wait for something better.
(9) That Lazarus had such thoughts and thus comforted himself in his suffering is evidenced first by his name. For "Lazarus" is the Hebrew name "Eleazar", and means as much as: God helps; that he put all his trust in God's eternal help alone.
not on men. The evangelist also testifies to this in that he says how Lazarus was carried into the bosom of Abraham by the angels. This is nothing else than that Lazarus put his trust in the promise made to Abraham, when God promised him that in his seed all generations of the world would be blessed. Lazarus kept this promise and was comforted by it: Although all the world considered him a cursed man, because he was so poor and miserable; yet he would enjoy the blessed seed, and not remain under God's curse, but under His eternal grace. And such faith sustained him that when he departed here on earth, the angels carried him into the bosom of Abraha.
(10) Now Christ, our dear Lord, would have us diligently observe and learn this example. For his Christians must fear that they will be in want on earth with poor Lazarus, and that they will suffer all kinds of misfortune. Whoever does not have or know the comfort that Lazarus has cannot help, becomes impatient and finally despairs. For flesh and reason do not leave their kind. Where God's word does not increase, everyone thinks, when he is in trouble, that God has forgotten him and does not want him; otherwise he would help and not leave him so mired in misery. That one should look to the future and take comfort in it, nothing comes of it. That is why many an untried man becomes impatient and thinks: If God will not help, let the devil help and whoever else can. This means to fall away from God, to become an enemy of God and to do nothing good for Him, and to incur God's eternal wrath and damnation in addition to temporal suffering and sorrow. One should be on guard against this and not forget poor Lazari. He is a poor, miserable man; but because he holds firmly to the promise of Christ and the life to come, and gives himself into a willing obedience to God, he is abundantly refreshed by such suffering, and instead of a little suffering has an exuberant, eternal joy and consolation. This is the example of poor Lazaro,
since all Christians are to conform to it and thus comfort themselves in their affliction.
(11) The other example is the rich man, who is well here on earth and according to all his will and desire, but in that life he must lack and be damned for eternity. Here again we must believe that our Lord Christ tells us the truth about such judgment and condemnation, that the rich man lies in the hellish flame and suffers horrible torment, the like of which cannot be spoken in words. And that such suffering is also a great cause, that he sees poor Lazarum in eternal joy, whom he so miserably despised before, and cannot enjoy his as much as a drop of water, and must remain in such misery without some hope of help in eternity.
12. But what is the cause of the poor man's eternal misery and torment? It is not that he is rich and has much money, that he clothes himself, eats and drinks; for these are God's gifts and ordinances: only that you keep a measure in it and do nothing in excess, then God will gladly grant money and goods, food and drink, joy and splendid clothing and other things. But this is the reason that this rich man has money and goods, dresses himself deliciously and lives splendidly, and does not think about the future life when he passes away today or tomorrow, how he will fare in the future life. All his care and concern is that he may have here enough and a good chamber; just as if he needed nothing else. As Christ warns in the Gospel that one should not weigh down the heart with eating and drinking and worrying about food. This is a cause that promotes him to condemnation, for it follows that God's word has not gone to his heart; he has not allowed himself to be challenged that God promises or threatens whatever he wants, if only he has no lack here.
13) The other cause is that he sees poor Lazarum lying before him: but there he does not grant him so much in all his trouble and hardship as a dog; so that the evangelist says that the dogs had more compassion on him and served him more than
the rich man. He does not think that God has given him more to help others who lack; but like a sow, if she could eat it all alone and leave nothing for others, so this rich man also thinks, if he only has enough, and does not worry about the poor people's lack. Such sins cause the ghastly judgment that here he has a little time for pleasure and courage, but there he suffers eternally.
14 For this reason the Lord sets such an example before us, so that we may learn from it and beware of such sins and judgments, and not be sure that there is no other life than this temporal one here on earth, and that we should especially let poor people be commanded to us. For to whom God has given it that he may help poor people, and yet does not do it, to him this will be a severe torment and torture on the last day and in eternity, that he will see the poor, whom he despised and did not help, living before him in joy; just as the rich man here did to Lazarum. Again, whoever has served many, done good and helped, it will be a joy for him in that life. But is it not a pity above all pity that this rich man desires only a cold drop of water, but it cannot prosper him for eternity?
(15) Therefore let us not forget poor people, and gladly help and give to them: not only with the common alms, that one gives a penny, penny or guilder, according to our fortune and his need; such help is owed to poor people in all ways. But after that there is another alms, where each one can serve and help his neighbor in his position and profession, and the same all days and all hours, namely: that each one conduct his trade, handicraft and business in such a way that he does not deceive anyone, does not cheat anyone with false goods, is satisfied with a fair profit, and pays people their pennies well; that one gives right measure and weight, and neither in buying nor selling seeks such an advantage that comes to the disadvantage of others. For what is unfaithfulness in all dealings is evident. But he who acts faithfully, even though he may be
If a man gives nothing for free and takes a good profit, he gives alms. Others, on the other hand, who spend their goods for profit and seek their own gain, steal money from people's pockets.
16. as when a baker makes the bread too small, or falsifies the stuff, a butcher gives too small a weight, a wine-giver gives or falsifies the wine too dear; and who will tell it all? No trade is so small and small, if you deal with it faithfully, that you let right goods happen to others for a right penny, then it is a charity. Again, if you take people over or pay them badly, it is theft, and you are a thief before God, and on the last day you will see poor Lazarum before you, to whom you have denied such alms of your trade, and on top of that have stolen from him by your avarice and taken away what was his; as you hear here that it happened to the rich man. So everyone could make all his business, whether large or small, a right alms, pleasing to God, and surely not only would temporal blessings follow with abundance, but, as Christ says, we would also make friends here on earth from unrighteous mammon, whose testimony we could have and enjoy in eternal life.
But the world is and remains the world; it can neither be advised nor helped. He who has much wants to give nothing and have more. He who has little thinks that however he gets something, it will harm whoever wants it. For this reason, God must inflict all kinds of punishment on the wicked world here, and then punish it with hellish fire. And yet, although the world partly learns about this and hears about it in the sermon, it does not turn away from it and does not improve. But is not this a terrible, horrible blindness and hardening? We can use this caution in other things. If it happens that there is a theuria to worry about, whoever is able to do so will stock up for one, two or three years, so that he will be ahead of the shortage. But why don't we do the same here, since we know that a perpetual shortage must follow if we don't get ourselves into it right?
18. but such a judgment is so much the more
Once you enter it, you will never be able to come out again for eternity. For all help is cut off. Abraham and Lazarus, as you have heard, not only do not want to help with a drop of water, but also cannot help. How then do we poor people get into this misery, that we take so little notice of such eternal journeys, and do not seek to be insured against them, when we can otherwise keep ourselves so well and take care in very small matters, which often do not amount to one or two florins? Is it not true that the devil takes our sense and wit; otherwise should we ever look more to such eternal harm than to temporal? But everyone goes along and worries only about how he may have enough, how he may leave plenty for his children and how he may keep himself well off. He who has this, lets himself think that he has enough. He who does not have it cannot rest, for he also overcomes it. So the hearts are weighed down with cares of food, that their judgment comes upon them like a snare, and they are sooner in death and condemnation than they know it.
19 This is the reason why the Lord presents this example of the rich man to us and has it preached, that he would like to make us worry so that we do not worry about the temporal alone, but rather about the eternal and imperishable; but deal with the temporal and perishable in such a way that we do not give cause for our own condemnation. For this rich man, if he had not had so much, and had suffered and tried something besides, he would not have come into such distress. But money and goods make him brave, so that he thinks he needs neither God nor his word, so he lives in ease and does not let himself be challenged. He is not concerned about eternity; and because he has enough of everything, he is not concerned about the temporal either, without thinking how he can create good days and pleasure for himself, and spend the time in joy. Christ warns us against this and says: "Watch, if you, like the rich man, want to strive here alone to live gloriously and joyfully, this is how it will be with you.
The first is that such short, fleeting, and uncertain joy will be followed by eternal, unending sorrow and suffering.
(20) These are the two examples which we should never forget throughout our lives, so that we may have some consolation in suffering and temptation, and so that we may walk in the temporal, that we may not thereby come to the loss of eternal goods.
21) For such a lesson the Lord Christ further tells how the rich man, since no help can be hoped for him, thinks of his brothers, and asks Abraham to send Lazarum to them, so that they do not follow the rich man's example and are also condemned. But Abraham refuses such a request, saying, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear the same." But when the rich man continues, thinking that it would be more fruitful for them if a dead man came and preached to them, than if they heard it in the church, Abraham answers again, saying, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one of the dead rises up."
22 The rich man sees that if one is to escape such a judgment, one must repent and behave differently from him; he also considers that it can happen to other people just like him, that even though they have God's word and the sermon, they still despise it and do not particularly improve on it. Therefore, it seems to him that his brethren could not be better advised, because a reputable preacher would come, whom one knew, and would know that he had died and was now in that life, and could certainly give an account of how things were in the same life. And it is true that we ourselves think that such a sermon would not be despised, as otherwise we hear and despise the sermon that is preached by men. But Abraham rejects such things altogether, saying, "If anyone wishes to escape such eternal judgment and be saved, he should neither look nor wait for any other warning, but only listen to Moses and the prophets; this is the only way to escape eternal damnation.
escape and come to salvation. But whoever does not want to listen to Moses and the prophets, it is in vain: even if a dead man stood up, even if an angel or God himself preached, they would not believe it. This means that the ministry of preaching is highly praised and the people are faithfully exhorted to preach, since there is no other means by which one can protect oneself from the terrible judgment of eternal damnation.
(23) What do Moses and the prophets preach? Primarily these two pieces: the first, that they point to the promised woman-seed, which shall crush the serpent's head, that is, take away the devil's power, and turn away the damage, which he inflicted on all of us in paradise. Moses and the prophets deal with such a woman-seed, who is the Son of God and brings divine power and righteousness to us on earth, and teach, admonish and prophesy when he will come and appear, that one should hear him, keep his word and believe his promise.
(24) He that heareth thus Moses and the prophets shall first despair of his life, works, and estate, and shall comfort himself only of this seed, which alone is a blessed seed, and bringeth blessing upon us, who are cursed and damned for our sins. So faith in Christ Jesus is the only and right way, by which one can escape from sins and death and come to salvation. This rich man did not accept such salvation and comfort, he considered himself pious. As he must have been outwardly pious before the world; for the gospel does not blame him for being an adulterer, robber, etc.. Therefore he will have thought: If I were not so pious, God would not give me so much happiness and blessing.
(25) For it is natural to every man that, when things go badly, he soon thinks: God is angry with you, does not take care of you, you must perish without counsel, help and consolation. Again, is it well with him, is everything fully there and goes to him according to his desire, then he lets himself think, he is well with God; otherwise
he would not be so gracious to him; yet, as said above, such temporal blessing is a very small and bad thing. For this reason the wicked have more advantage on earth than the pious. But let there be money and goods, as much as there may be; take heed that thou consider thyself not saintly, but put thy trust and comfort only in those things which Moses and the prophets preach of; otherwise it shall be unto thee as it was unto that rich man, which heard Moses and the prophets, and yet took no comfort of the Lord Christ.
The other thing that Moses and the prophets teach is this: After we have established our righteousness and happiness from the promised seed alone, that we also obey God, and in this temporal life do and keep that which He has commanded us; again, avoid and refrain from that which He has forbidden us. For this is to fear God and to have Him before our eyes. But he who will not do this, and will not follow the law of God, but his own will and desire, that is, sin, cannot boast that he is a child of God, or that he has God before his eyes.
For this reason, he must be on the alert at all times that God will come and attack him and, as He finds him, judge him; so that both faith and obedience to God must be together. Faith serves to make us free from sins and become children of God. Obedience, or love and works of love, serve to make us
show ourselves to be obedient children and not anger God any further, and have a good conscience; which those cannot have who lie in deliberate sins and continue in them without amendment or repentance. In sum, fear God and be pious, and yet do not rely on such piety, but take comfort in our Lord Jesus Christ alone, and you will have no trouble. For such faith helps you against sin and death. And because God has commanded obedience, he will also put up with it, and does no harm, even though such obedience is imperfect. For it is not alone, but depends on faith, through which we are forgiven that which such obedience still lacks.
(28) Thus shall men hear Moses and the prophets, that they may learn therefrom to believe in Christ, and to be godly. The rich man did not do this, and for this reason he must be damned for eternity and suffer, along with all those who hear Moses and the prophets, and yet do not follow their preaching. But those who hear and follow, that is, those who believe in Christ and know that God, for His sake, will be merciful to us, will not impute sin to us, and will make us blessed, and then keep themselves in the fear of God, not following the devil and their flesh, but looking to God's word and will: these are the ones who belong to Lazaro in the bosom of Abraham and shall be eternally blessed. May God grant us this for the sake of His Son Christ Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, Amen.