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 things in thy life, and Lazarus, on the contrary, hath received evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And over all this 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.
In this Gospel, our dear Lord Jesus Christ has painted for us a picture and example of a rich and poor man, which is not so difficult to understand. For everyone soon hears what the opinion is, namely that God has to judge both. Rich and poor; if only it would go into our hearts to believe it.
(2) In particular, Christ made this parable at the same time against the Pharisees, who were covetous. He punished their stinginess here
*) Oesfentlich in der Pfarrkirche gehalten, 1535.
not only by the parable of the unjust steward, and what more he preached concerning the same parable, as is written just before this gospel: but also to set before them this example of divine judgment and sentence, which passed upon the rich man, to terrify them, that they should fear such sentence, repent, and amend themselves.
3 But such warning helped the stingy Pharisees in those days as much as our warning helps the rich and stubborn people of this world in our day. For
This is what the world has come to today, God be lamented, that they are all pious and no one is stingy anymore. In fact, almost all vices have unfortunately now become virtues. Being stingy must now mean: to be frugal, to act with prudence, to be modest and nourishing. And as one does with avarice, so one now adorns all sin and vice in virtue. Murder and fornication are still regarded somewhat as sins; but other sins must almost all have the name as if they were not sin but virtue. Avarice, in particular, has adorned itself so beautifully that it is never called avarice. No prince, no count, no nobleman, no citizen nor peasant is miserly any more, but all are pious, that they speak: This is a nourishing man, this is a skillful man, who thinks to nourish himself.
(4) So it is with other sins also: Hopefulness must not be called hopefulness nor sin, but honor. If a man is honest, it is said, "This is an honest man, he is respectable and honorable, he wants to make a name for his family. Anger and envy must no longer be called anger, envy and sin, but righteousness, zeal and virtue. He who is angry, envious, hateful, it is said, Man is so diligent, so earnest and zealous for righteousness, he has just cause to be angry, he has been wronged and wronged etc. So there is no sinner left in the world, but, let it be lamented to God, the world is full of saints. Seneca says: Ibi deest remedii locus, ubi vitia honores fiunt: When it thus happens that vices become virtue and honor, there is neither help nor counsel any more. Where the vices are adorned in virtues, there it is over.
(5) For those who do not want to be miserly, this parable and similitude does not concern them any more than it concerned the Pharisees. If a man is proud, and yet does not consider it to be proud and sinful, but honorable and noble, he must no longer be preached to as to being proud; for since he is not a sinner, but holy, how can he be punished? Likewise he that is envious, hateful, and revengeful, and yet thinks that he has cause to be so, is justly angry and avenges himself; for his neighbor has wronged him, and he cannot stand that etc.: he can no longer be helped. Who will punish and correct those who have done wrong?
Make virtue, sin into righteousness, shame and vice into honor? If avarice is called nourishment, hope is called honor, anger is called zeal, one must let it go unpunished as it goes.
6 This rich man was also of this kind: he did not want to be stingy nor punished for stinginess, even though he was so obsessed with stinginess that he let poor Lazarum die of hunger at his door. And the Pharisees were also of this kind, as St. Lucas reports. Christ preached hard and with all seriousness against mammon and avarice; but the Pharisees mocked him, did not want to be stingy; did as our nobles do now, who make honor out of vice and shame, virtue out of vice, nourishment out of avarice etc. Therefore Christ says to them: You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. As if he wanted to say: You Pharisees are pious; I cannot rebuke you, for you are no longer sinners, but vain great saints. But you will not deceive God. You deceive no one but yourselves. God will not judge you according to what men think of you. For men do not know you: they do not think of you as stingy, but as honest people. But God knows your hearts; and according to your hearts He will judge you.
(7) So the Pharisees and this rich man asked nothing about it; just as today our nobles, peasants, burghers, and gentry ask nothing about it either, let them preach and say what they will. It has now come to the point that the gross vice of drinking and revelry is no longer considered a disgrace, but gluttony and drunkenness must now be called happiness. And just as all vices have become virtues, so it is also with avarice, that I no longer know of a prince, a count, a nobleman, a burgher or a peasant who is stingy; and yet they all do it in such a way that if they could give a bushel of grain for four guilders at the market, they would. Everyone scratches, scrapes and scrapes so that it cracks, from the princely class down to the maid's class. In sum, everything is leprous of stinginess, and yet no one wants to be considered stingy. And
As it is with avarice, so it is also, as I said, with other sins, such as anger, envy, hatred, pride and the like. What can one do about it? If one preaches against it, they laugh and mock, do not want to recognize their sin nor have done wrong, want to go badly this way, which the rich man here has gone to hell; and they also go to hell with the rich man, no pleading helps. Cause, when they are punished, they color and adorn their sin and vice in vain righteousness and virtue; how then can they be helped? Because they want to have it that way, we also let them go with the rich man into the abyss of hell. What can we do about it, because they want to be unpunished and do not want to repent or amend?
Therefore, this is one of the gospels that speaks of the fruits of faith and righteous works of a Christian, which a pious man and righteous Christian should do. But at the same time it shows that all the world is full of avarice and is running toward hell, although no one wants to recognize his avarice. Let us take the words one by one before us, and chew them over to see if they will enter into the heart and move anyone. Listen, says Christ, you stingy Pharisees, who justify yourselves before men, I will tell you a history:
There was a rich man who dressed himself in purple and fine linen, and lived all his days gloriously and joyfully.
(9) The Jews had a good pretense to adorn their avarice, for God had promised them through Moses that if they would be pious and keep His commandments, He would bless them in the field, in the kitchen, in the cellar, and in the closet, that every corner would be full of food; and when the year came around, they would throw away the old, that they might pour out the new. They were soon able to grasp such a promise and teaching, just as ours now soon grasp the gospel, since it is soft. Then they continued, and made a false conclusion out of the promise of God and the right doctrine, and said: God says in His promise: He who is righteous shall
have enough: therefore he who has enough is pious; but he who has want, or is poor, is not pious. Therefore, poverty had to be a punishment from God, like pestilence or other plagues. The false prophets, priests and Levites helped them with their preaching, as the 144th Psalm prays against such false teachers and says v. 11-15: "Deliver me also, and save me from the hand of strange children, whose doctrine is not profitable, and their works are false. That our sons may grow up in their youth like plants, and our daughters like hewn out oriels, like palaces. And that our chambers be full, which can give forth one store after another; That our sheep bear a thousand and an hundred thousand in our villages. That our oxen work much, that no harm, no loss, nor complaint be on distant roads. Thus the false prophets preached to God's people, and yet they had Moses before them. Therefore, I say, the Jews had a good pretense to color their avarice. When they were rich, they could adorn themselves with such doctrine as if they had kept God's commandment, and condemn the poor as if God had punished them for their sin and transgression.
(10) Such a wrong mind Christ touches here and says: You Pharisees justify yourselves as if you were pious; because you have enough, you consider other people who suffer lack to be cursed, and adorn your avarice, so that your mammon must be called God's blessing, and you must have the appearance that you have kept God's commandment. But I will tell you an example of a rich man and a poor man, which example presents you with a different judgment, cursing you rich people and blessing the poor. If you had seen this rich man of whom I speak, you would also have declared him blessed, saying, "To this man God gives goods and all things enough for him to live in joy: therefore it is a sign that he has kept God's commandment. Just as Moses says, "Those who keep God's commandments shall be joyful, shall have peace, joy and all things sufficient; so it is with this one. But I will tell you what the opinion is, so that you may know your falsities.
and drop them. If God bestows wealth and gives goods, that is good and God's blessing. But if you serve mammon, scrape and scrape together goods through avarice, that is neither good nor God's blessing.
(11) So it is with this rich man. He has much goods; but he is stingy and unmerciful. He does not keep one letter nor one bag of the law of God; yet he has everything enough, has a delicious red purple robe (for purple was better with them than with us is velvet); item, has the best and most delicious white linen; so he is adorned. After that, he has the best, most delicious food and drink, has good, gentle days, goes to sleep at night with peace, gets up in the morning when he wants, is not in misfortune like other people and is not afflicted like other people. In sum, everything is full and he lives a life of joy. According to your judgment he is to be considered a blessed man; but before God he is a godless man who does not lift a finger to God's commandment.
(12) These things ought to be remembered, that we may beware of the false understanding of the Pharisees and perverse teachers. But here a miser would say: Is it evil to be rich and to have goods? Did Abraham, David, Job also have goods, and yet they were saved? Answer: Listen, miserly man: this rich man is not like Abraham, David or Job; for the goods he has, he has not with God and honor. Christ speaks here of such rich men who are stingy; he paints them in this example, and gives them their proper color. Although this rich man is not meager in his body, he is still stingy, snatching everything to himself, gathering goods from other people, so that he becomes a bankrupt and leaves the poor Lazarum to suffer hardship.
So it goes today, too. All the world scratches and scratches, and makes muthwillige theurung before great avarice, if nevertheless our Lord God gives quite years. Well then, I know for certain that you miser will not take your mammon down to hell with you as much as this rich man; otherwise the devil will not take your goods away. So you also need luck, so that your children can have it.
For the proverbs will remain true for your sake: Male quaesit, male perdit: Evil gained, evil lost; Et, de male quaesitis non gaudet tertius haeres: Unjust good does not come to the third heir.
14. it would not have been a sin for this rich man to clothe himself, to eat and to drink; for God created the clothing, food and drink, and says it is his blessing. To whom it may become, he may use it for necessity. But stinginess is wrong and sin. Christ speaks clearly, "There was a rich man." Now the word "rich" is a very suspect word in many places in Scripture. Abraham is also rich, but the Scripture does not call him a rich man for that reason; but "rich" in Scripture means almost as much as a usurer or an ungodly man, as Isa. 53. stands v. 9: "He is buried like an ungodly man, and died like a rich man." There the prophet takes "rich" and "godless" for one thing. He wants to say: Christ died and was buried like an evildoer, a rogue and a wicked man, even though he did no wrong to anyone. This is what the Scripture calls "rich." So I do not (should not) desecrate a rich man. Well, is someone stingy, and does not want to hear it from us nor accept that he is stingy and ungodly, he will nevertheless have to hear it, since this rich man has had to hear it. It applies here whether we will deceive God in heaven or ourselves.
(15) This is the rich man who thinks he is pious, sits in the goods before the world with all honors, adorns himself with the word that God spoke through Moses: He who is pious, I will bless him; he makes himself believe that he must not give anything to anyone, nor let anyone enjoy his goods. Think therefore, he that is poor is accursed; again, he that is rich is blessed. I am rich: therefore I am blessed and have kept God's commandment. Lazarus, on the other hand, is poor: therefore he is a sinner and God has punished him.
Now there was a poor man named Lazarus, who lay at his door full of sores, and fed himself with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table.
The Lord makes it bad enough, and weighs down the rich man hard. Poor Lazarus is full of sores and lies at the rich man's door. Therefore the rich man cannot excuse himself or say, "I did not know; if I had known that there was such a poor man, I would have called him to me, told him, healed him, and provided him with other necessities, so that he should not have lain in the street like a dog. He has no such excuse to make. For there lies poor Lazarus before his threshold, where he is always going out and coming in. Yet he leaves him lying there and gives him nothing; but has taken him for an accursed man, and thought, This man will be an ungodly, wicked man, therefore God has punished him, that he lies there in his pus and sins. So poor Lazarus stank in the eyes of the rich man, who thought he was holy, and yet he was full of all kinds of sins, without faith in God and love for his neighbor, full of avarice, hopefulness and unmercifulness.
17 After this it is also terrible that Lazarus himself comes and begs: not bread, meat, money, but only that which is thrown to the dogs. He asks for the pieces that are left over and fall with him, be they legs or bark, to be given to him. That is not enough. This weighs the rich man down even more, and helps him descend deeper into hell. Such an unkind and merciless man has avarice and hope made of him that he is even a stone to poor Lazarus, and there is not a drop of blood of Christian love, even of a human heart in him.
And what shall we say? The unreasonable animals and dogs come and take pity on the poor man. If they had had bread, they would have given it to him. They do what they can, take the best limb they have, namely, their healing tongue, with which they lick his sores and wipe away his pus. How easily the rich man could have done this, it would have cost him hardly a florin and would have been no harm or damage to his goods. But he despises and condemns the poor man with his
Swarm as a cursed and damned man.
19 Let these examples be told you, saith Christ unto the Pharisees. You think that if you leave poor people lying around, hungry or thirsty, it is a good thing. But turn the page and look at the text. You think that the rich alone belong to heaven, as they alone are the blessed of God. But learn here the contradiction, that no rich man (as the Scripture calls "rich") enters heaven, but that the very poor enter it. Therefore the gospel is preached not to the rich but to the poor. And this is also the truth. If our Lord God had taken only the rich into heaven, no one would be able to get along with the rich. Without that, they make such a fool of themselves with their little party, with the shameful Mammon, that they consider other people to be nothing but geese. What would have happened if God had chosen the rich as apostles? The rich would have been proud and would have said: "Yes, look, our Lord God did not want to take a poor person as an evangelist, apostle etc., but took only rich people. But Christ turns it around and says, "You who are rich must become poor if the gospel is to be preached to you and if you are to go to heaven. Though ye be not poor in goods, yet must ye be poor in heart.
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.
20. Poor Lazarus dies, having no one on earth to bury him gloriously, but he is carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also dies and is buried, no doubt most gloriously. But there are other angels who wait for him and carry him to hell. It is the other way around. The poor Lazarus is cursed and damned according to the Pharisee's judgment, while the rich man has obtained God's blessing according to the Pharisee's judgment and is a blessed man. And yet the text says: Lazarus goes to Abraham's bosom, but the rich man goes to hell. Therefore
one must judge rightly, not like the Pharisees, but as it is written here.
(21) But here also a right distinction must be made, saying, A poor man shall not go to heaven because he is poor; and a rich man shall not go to hell because he is rich: but that the former shall be right in his poverty, and have right use of it; and the latter shall not be right in his riches, and have wrong use of them. This is soon said, but this difference is not soon kept. For the old Adam is first of all a wicked mischievous man: when he has that wealth in itself is not evil, and poverty in itself is not good; but that it is up to the man who needs both rightly, and knows how to send himself rightly into them: as soon as he goes to and abuses this difference also for a cover.
(22) The difference is right and good: poverty is not good in itself; wealth is not evil in itself. But he who is able to put himself into it, and bears poverty with patience, for God's sake, and is content, as St. Paul says, Phil. 4, 11: "I have learned to be content with him with whom I am" etc.: then poverty is a delicious thing and a preparation for eternal life. So also, when a rich man recognizes God's blessings and gifts and says: God has given me riches, I will use them rightly, I will not be proud or proud, I will not be stingy; if a poor man comes before me, I will share with him, help here and there, where need requires it: such a rich man is right in his riches, as Abraham, David were such rich men, and Job, who did not eat his morsel alone. Job 31, 17.
This difference, I say, is right. But how many, think you, are who hold this difference? For old Adam, as I said, is a mischievous man who speaks thus: I know the difference well: poverty makes no one blessed; wealth condemns no one. Therefore, though I am rich, yet such riches do not condemn me. He then goes on, becomes confident and proud, and thinks he can do what he wants with his property. That's how the rogue, the old Adam, is clever. Let every man therefore take heed that he deceive not himself, lest it happen unto him as it hath done.
happen to this rich belly. For God, who is the mouth of all hearts, is not deceived; he knows every heart, and nothing is hidden from him.
(24) Behold, what a mischievous and wicked man the rich man is, that he will not look upon a poor man lying at his door, asking only for the crusts and crumbs, but will despise him, and think him accursed; and before he will give him the crusts and crumbs that fell under his table, he will let the dogs eat them, or they will perish. Such an example is not set here in vain, but is prescribed so that the rich may beware, lest avarice by riches take them by surprise.
(25) This day all the world is toiling and scraping, and yet no one wants to be stingy, but everyone wants to be good evangelicals and true Christians. And such toiling and scraping goes over no one so much as over brother studies, and over the poor pastors in towns and villages. For citizens and peasants no one can almost flay, without what poor people are, who have the house full of children and with their sour work can hardly acquire the bread. Otherwise, peasants, burghers and nobles can increase their grain, barley, work and trade, double or triple their pennies, and thus bear the stinginess and drudgery of others all the more easily. But priests and preachers, and those who have no trade, but live on interest, or, as they say, have to live on the string, and cannot increase their penny nor multiply it, they have to hold out, and let themselves be oppressed and strangled.
How many peasants, burghers, and nobles give to poor Lazaro, who lies daily at their door? Yes, should they give him anything? They prefer to exploit him to the hilt; and what they get they squander, waste and squander with all too superfluous food and clothing, either chasing him down the throat or hanging him by the neck. That is why I have often said that such a creature can no longer stand, it must break; either the Turk, or else Brother Vitus will come, and all at once take away purely what has long been maltreated and stolen,
has robbed and gathered; or the last day will throw in and put an end to the game. For God can no longer suffer avarice, arrogance, pride, splendor and stealing and robbery; he must intervene and take control himself, because nothing else will help. They would rather put everything into other things than help poor Lazaro with them. Under the papacy, people were lenient and gave gladly; but now, under the gospel, no one gives any more, but one only oppresses the other, and everyone wants everything for himself. And the longer the gospel is preached, the deeper people drown in avarice, hope and splendor; just as if the poor beggar should stay here forever. This is how the devil has gotten into the people.
27 Now poor Lazarus lies at the rich man's door, and there is no one to take care of him. But the dear holy angels sit there and look at him, because the rich man does not want to look at him. If I were to change, I would rather be poor Lazarus than the rich man, regardless of the fact that Lazarus lies at the rich man's door full of sores, hungry, famished, lonely, and has no guardian; but the rich man has everything. For I would rather have one angel for a guardian and watchman than a hundred Roman emperors with all their power. Now the text says that not one, but many angels waited for Lazarum, until his soul was delivered. O how evil it has happened to the man on earth that he has no one to wait for him. But now he has many angels waiting for him and carrying his soul into Abraham's bosom. I would also like to have such little children carry my soul, as Lazarus had. On the other hand, the rich man also has enough servants around him who look to him. Around his bed stand his servants, who take care of him; behind him a whole pharmacy is prepared. All around him, above him, below him, and on all sides are twenty or thirty devils, who wait for his soul to flee and carry it off to hell. These are very unequal little children compared to the little children who were waiting for poor Lazari's soul.
28 The Lord speaks and means these things.
with all seriousness, so that one may beware of avarice and not become safe. We are in great need of such a warning in our time, lest we also make a virtue of the shameful vice, the tiresome miserliness, as is unfortunately happening now with many. God also knows our hearts, and judgment is just ahead of us if we allow ourselves to be deceived by avarice, in which the rich man has come. Let us calculate what good we do in life, and we will find that we do little enough. What is the point of scratching and scraping and giving hardly a florin a year for God's sake to the church, school and poor, meager people? One will come who will reckon with us and say: "You had poor Lazarum at your door and gave him nothing; you thought you were doing right and well by not offering anyone a penny; you let yourself think that such was not stinginess, that God would not punish you: so now take your wages as you have earned.
We preachers can no longer resist the shameful avarice, which lives and rages as if it were God and Lord in all lands, and yet adorns itself most beautifully. We feel it at the market and in the kitchen, that we keep neither penny nor farthing; but we cannot see the persons whom avarice drives. Now we must let him judge who says here that the devil has led away the rich man. Therefore, let everyone be warned and beware. One now senses a great avarice among peasants, citizens, nobility, especially against the poor priests. This cannot end well. And this is the picture in which the rich man and poor Lazarus are depicted, both living and dying. But let us also hear how the rich man continues in hell.
Now when he was in hell and torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarum in his bosom, and said, 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 suffer torment in this flame.
30 Then the rich man lies in the hellish heat and torment, lifts up his eyes and sees a different face than before. For now it is revealed to him what he has made. The cover is now gone, so that he has adorned himself before. He can now no longer say that he had to do it for the sake of honor, that he dressed himself so deliciously and lived so gloriously in joy. He now sees that poor Lazarus, whom he condemned at his door, lies in Abraham's bosom like a mother holds her child in her arms. This is a different face. Before he did not want to see this, but now he sees how Lazarus is such a good man before God. Before he saw nothing in the poor man but pus, sores, mockery and contempt; but now he sees in him all glory and a blessed, lovely being.
31. He would like to be out of the torment of hell. "Ah, father Abraham," he says, "have mercy on me, and send Lazarum, that he may cool my tongue with but a few drops of water." This is atrociously prefigured. Christ is very strict and swift in this parable or simile. He is very hostile to the shameful, cursed avarice. That is why he depicts the rich man sitting in hell with a thirsty tongue, who would like just a drop of water to cool his tongue, but he cannot have it. He is answered in two ways. First, his Abraham scoffs and says:
Remember, son, that you received your good in your life, and Lazarus, on the other hand, received evil. But now he is comforted, and you are tormented.
Thirty-two to say, You have lost your good; now suffer torment and pain for it. And so you wanted it; therefore you are not wronged. You wanted to have your kingdom of heaven on earth, money and goods were your bliss, delicious clothes and glorious life was your paradise; now let your florins and thalers, your purple and delicious linen, your worldly pleasure and joy help you. What shall Lazarus help thee, whom thou hast forsaken and despised, because he was in a bad way? All this is answered by the divine judgment and sentence. He will
comforted, and thou shalt be tormented. This is the sum of it: the rich belong to hell; but the poor, who have sent themselves rightly into their poverty, belong to heaven.
And over all this 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.
(33) This is the other answer. Even though we would like to come to you and cool your tongue," he says, "it cannot be. We do not do it according to our will, for we owe it to God to will what he wills. We cannot do it according to our ability; even if we wanted to help you, we are separated in such a way that neither of us can help the other. When you and Lazarus were together, and were neighbors, so to speak, he was at your door, so one could serve the other; you were not allowed to step over any gulf; he was close enough to you. You could have had him carried into your stable if you had not wanted to give him a place in your house. But now he has come too far from you that you cannot do him any good, and he again cannot do you any good. The gulf is too wide; you cannot come to us, nor we to you. Therefore you cannot be helped. Thus the rich man is answered.
It is considered that this will be the greatest plague, that the rich and the damned will have to see the poor sitting in heaven, whom they have despised here on earth, as it is also written in Wisdom 5:2 ff. Therefore it will have hurt the rich man heartily when he saw Lazarum in Abraham's bosom. The hellish fire will have been even hotter for him, because he had to see Lazarum in such great honor, whom he had mocked before. And Abraham also does this to the rich man as punishment, that he shows him nothing else but Lazarum. For it is said, Per quae quis peccat, per illa punietur: Wherewith a man sinneth, therewith shall he also be punished, Wisdom 11:17. The rich man had sinned against Lazarum; therefore must he also be punished by him. It will be the same on the last day: our Lord God will punish the poor.
Orphans, and the rich, the miserly, and the usurers against each other. When a usurer burns in hell, a poor man who has been oppressed and tormented by him will sit in Abraham's bosom. The usurer will see this to his great sorrow.
This is the judgment that the rich man in hell must hear: We will not and cannot help you. Then the rich man must despair of all help forever. I do not want to say here what Abraham's treasure is; it is also not necessary, because people are all too curious without that, worry about unnecessary things and in the meantime leave the main thing. We will probably find out what Abraham's castle is when we get there. Now we shall be satisfied with this, and learn that Christ wants to warn us through this parable, so that we will not be stingy kingdoms. If God gives me his blessing that I have money and goods, then I should be of use to others. If I do not do this, I will hear here from the rich man how I should fare.
Mammon is a cursed treasure that helps no one; indeed, it is a heavy burden that pushes one deeper into hell. But if it is God's blessing that one has wealth and goods, then the goods will be useful to the people. If it is not useful to people, it is certainly avarice and mammon and belongs in hell. We should stick to this and not argue about Abraham's bosom, but let those argue about it who have to do it and cannot avoid it. To this answer the rich man continues, and says:
I beseech thee, 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.
037 As if to say, If it be so, that I am lost and condemned, but Lazarus shall be saved and eternally comforted, send Lazarum unto my brethren. There is no gulf fastened yet; for they are not yet here in the place of torment where I am. Therefore send Lazarum to my father's house, and let my brothers
and testify that I must burn here in hell, so that they may be reformed and saved. This is nevertheless a pious reprobate, who does not begrudge the others the damnation and torment in which he is! But it is not written that the damned are of the same mind, but that Christ so plainly wished to reproach the people, to warn them.
Abraham said to him, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear the same.
(38) Moses and the prophets, saith he, ran every sabbath day in their synagogues; let them hear the same. For this is how God has ordained it. Just as God's word is preached every Sunday in our country, so Moses and the prophets were read every Sabbath among the Jews. Then Abraham said, "Let them hear Moses and the prophets, and they will know how to live and what to do. We are to keep to the church office and the outward word. God does not want to start anything new with us.
And he said, No, father Abraham, but if one of the dead went to them, they would repent.
(39) Now they are used to the Mosi and the prophets, he will say, therefore it will not do so; but it would be a great and unusual thing, and have a great reputation, if one of the dead should appear to them, and testify to them of my torment in this flame.
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if any man rise up from among the dead.
40 The will of the damned must not be fulfilled even in the least. The rich man will be fed and watered as dry in hell as he fed and watered Lazarum here on earth; everything he asks and desires must be denied him. If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, he says, that is, if they can despise God's word, knowing that it is God's word, they will not ask for the dead. And this is true. If God already today
If a priest sent an angel and did this three or four times, people would get used to it and think as much of it as of the priest's sermon. The same would happen if one of the dead were to rise. For whom God's word does not move in itself, no person moves him, no matter whether he is a dead man from hell or an angel from heaven.
(41) It may be pretended, saying, The preaching by men is vile: but if any man should rise from the dead, we would believe. Item: If the gospel were preached by great men, by princes, kings and emperors on earth, or by angels from heaven, we would believe. But how can we believe, because it is preached by men, and in addition by poor fishermen and lowly, despised people? Such things can be said, but in the end it is nothing. For the person does not bring a man to believe rightly; but God's word must bring him to know that it is God's word who is the supreme person. Whoever can digest that he despises God's word, since he truly knows that it is God's word: how should he not also despise the word of an angel and of the dead? Therefore he says rightly, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if any of the dead rise." For the profession and mission of Moses and the prophets is a higher profession and mission than that of a dead man. He who does not hear Moses and the prophets will hear much less the dead. Out of spite, he might want to hear one of the dead for a little while, as today and tomorrow; but the day after tomorrow, such a mission of the dead would be nothing.
(42) Sirach says Cap. 51, 33, 34: "Buy wisdom for yourselves, because you can have it without money, and submit your neck under its yoke, and let yourselves be drawn"; and sets his own example, saying v. 18: "When I was young, before I was deceived, I sought wisdom without timidity, with my prayer." This is spoken from God's word, that whoever is to become pious must start from wisdom, that is, from God's word, which is preached in the church by the pastor. If already Paul, Peter, yes, Christ himself preached it,
it is nothing if one wants to despise it. But it is the same when one loves God's word and believes that it is preached by Paul or Peter, Christ or John the Baptist, the priest or the chaplain; nothing depends on the person, but everything depends on the word. Whoever holds his baptism in high esteem only because he was baptized by the bishop of Mainz, by a cardinal, or by the pope, bases himself not on baptism but on the person. Such a reason will not last long. But the one who highly respects his baptism because it is God's sacrament, order and command, has a certain, permanent reason for himself. The person does not make the baptism better, no matter if it is a pope or a bishop, a priest or a chaplain, it is still not a better baptism than the baptism of the mother of the womb, who baptizes at home in case of need. So the word that the priest preaches is not a better word than that which the chaplain preaches. In sum, it does not stand on the person, but on the word.
(43) If all the dead stood up and preached, it would be nothing; indeed, one could not base oneself on the preaching of the dead, for they could well preach lies. Therefore, God does not want the dead to preach, otherwise He would not have established the office of preaching and appointed apostles, bishops, pastors and preachers for such an office. He gives us his word through the ministry of preaching, which he has commanded men to do. He will not give us his word through the dead, nor has he commanded the dead to preach. So it is written, Isa. 8, 19-21: "But if they say to you, 'You must ask the soothsayers and the interpreters of signs, those who smatter and dispute,' say, 'Should not a people ask their God? Or shall one ask the dead for the living? Yes, according to the law and testimony. If they will not say this, they will not have the dawn, but will go about in the land, smitten hard and hungry." It says that one should not ask the dead nor hear them, but by the law and testimony, that is, by the word, one should judge. God has forbidden the dead to preach, and has commanded those who have a profession to preach His word.
44 Therefore this is a strong testimony against the poltergeists, that they say, Lazarus shall not preach, but be in Abraham's bosom; neither shall the rich man preach, but be in hell. Now if a poltergeist comes and rumbles in the house, say, Devil, do you not know where you belong? Abraham has Lazarum in his bosom, and the devil has the rich man in hell. If I want to hear a sermon, I want to hear it where God has placed it and ordered it etc. Where has God placed it? Into the preaching office, into the mouth of the pastor in the church, and into the mouth of the father, the mother, the master, the women in the house. Whoever hears them, hears God. He who will not hear them may hear the devil in the dead and poltergeists. How he then
certainly hears the devil in the dead. For God has not commanded the dead to preach; but directs us to the living, to whom He has commanded His word.
45 Thus we have this image of the rich man and the poor Lazari, which is a terrible and serious image against avarice. It is, first of all, a shameful vice, which makes vain unmerciful people, full of all injustice, and hinders all the fruits of the gospel. Therefore, the Lord is not hostile to this vice without cause, especially because it adorns itself so and does not want to be a sin. Our dear Lord God graciously wanted to protect us from it, so that we would not fall into it. But if we are in it, he would help us to come out of it, amen.