Daily Devotion

 

This is a parable constructed with such masterly skill that not one phrase is wasted. Let's start by looking at the two characters in it.

 

(1^st) is the rich man, usually called Dives, which is the Latin for "rich". Every phrase adds something to the luxury in which he lived.   He was clothed in purple and fine linen. That is the description of the robes of the High Priests, and such robes cost anything from $150 to $200, an extreme amount in days when a working man's wage was about 20-30 cents a day. He feasted in luxury every day. The word here for feasting is used for a gourmet indulging in exotic and costly dishes. He did this every day in a country where the common people were fortunate to have meat once a week.

 

(2^nd) there is Lazarus. Lazarus was waiting for the crumbs that fell from Dives' table. Food was eaten with hands, and in a very wealthy house, the hands were cleaned by wiping them on chunks of bread, which were then thrown away. That was what Lazarus was waiting for.

The name is the Latinized form of Eleazar and means God is my help. He was a beggar; he was covered with ulcerated sores; so helpless that he could not drive away the street dogs that pestered him. Then the scene changes abruptly; Lazarus is in glory and Dives is in torment.

 

What was the sin of Dives? He had not ordered Lazarus to be removed from his gate. He made no objections to his receiving the bread that was flung from his table. He was not deliberately cruel to him. So, what was his sin? His sin was that he never noticed Lazarus, that he accepted him as part of the landscape and simply thought it was perfectly natural that Lazarus should lie in pain and hunger while he wallowed in luxury. As someone said, "It was not what Dives did that sent him to hell; it was what he did not do."

The sin of Dives was that he could look on the world's suffering with no grief and pity in his heart. He looked at a fellow-man, hungry and in pain and did nothing about it. His was the punishment of the man who he never noticed.

 

Life Application: What did you learn from this story? How does it affect your way of living? Do you look away from people who are in need? Are you going to be making changes in how you view others?

Praise/Prayer: Dear Father, I thank you for this parable and all that it has made me wake up to. I don't want my eyes to be closed or for me just to look away from anyone in need. Help me to discern the real need of beggars that I encounter. Thank You for showing me Dives real sin, and help me to learn all that You went me to learn. Amen!