Meaning of LAZARUS (HISTORY OF THE RICH)

Generally referred to as a parable, it is a narrative of Jesus recorded in the gospel of Luke (Lk. 16), and is actually a story that surely occurred in the real world.

It does not remain in a vague framework, but the proper name of one of the characters is given. The lost remains anonymous, perhaps indicating absolute oblivion, the absence of posterity for those who suffer the terrible fate of eternal damnation.

Lazarus was at the rich man's door, waiting to feed on his leftovers; The dogs licked the beggar's ulcers. Jesus does not comment on his character or that of the rich man.

They both died: the angels carried Lazarus to Abraham's bosom, while the rich man found himself in a place of torment. The fact that he was rich is not at all what determined the final fate of these two men.

The rich man seems to have lived in the most total spiritual lack of foresight, in materialism and in total selfishness. His brothers, as undoubtedly happened with himself, did not take Moses or the prophets seriously, and they were not going to repent (Lk. 16: 27-31).

In any case, it is evident that both the ultimate destiny of the rich and the poor was a consequence of their moral and spiritual attitudes. Jesus also teaches in a solemn way that the fate of man is definitively fixed at the moment of his death.