The Rich Man, Lazarus and Justice

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The Rich Man, Lazarus and Justice

Herb Montgomery | September 26, 2025

If you’d like to listen to this week’s article in podcast version click on the image below:

Our reading this week is from the gospel of Luke:

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31)

There are three narrative elements that are inescapable about Jesus in this week’s reading. First, the Jesus of Luke’s gospel was a theist, not an atheist. While I believe atheists can follow Jesus’ ethics and values (see here), the Jesus of the story believed in and taught the existence of God. Second, the Jesus of this story often refers to an afterlife. Humanists who do not believe in another life beyond this one can still embrace and promote the ethics in the Jesus story such as the golden rule, nonviolence, and economic justice. The Jesus in the story spoke of things such as laying up “treasure in heaven,” being rewarded at the “resurrection of the righteous,” and the meek “inheriting the earth.” After all, Jesus was a 1st Century Jewish man who lived in a world where these ideas and beliefs were overwhelmingly prevalent. This was the prevalent metaphysical worldview, the water that they swam in. And third, the Jesus of these stories spoke of being rewarded in that afterlife for following his “kingdom” teachings on how we relate to one another now. He spoke of both an intrinsic reward in the present life for the choices we make and another reward in the “age to come” for those who followed his teachings. This week touches on one of those occurrences: the story of the rich man and Lazarus.  

This story uses the then-popular belief that the afterlife would include a great reversal. Many teachers used the great reversal trope to value  spiritual pursuits in the present, like contrasting the poor scholar of the Torah and rich publican (see J. Jeremias, Parables p. 183). Luke’s Jesus makes his story less a contrast between a scholar and a tax collector and more a universal story of the poor and the rich. The poor don’t have to be Torah scholars to be deserving or for Jesus to critique the economic injustice of Luke’s time. 

There are so many little details in this story that have literary importance. In a world where people would have known the names of rich people while poor people would have only been the nameless masses, Luke’s Jesus leaves his rich man nameless but humanizes the poor man by naming him Lazarus. Lazarus is immortalized in the story, and that would have cut across the grain of expectations of the time. 

Some details of this story also offer a powerful message about economic justice, critiquing wealth inequality and wealthy people’s immoral disregard of the poor. In the story, the rich man lives in luxury, ignoring Lazarus, a poor man who suffers at his gate. When they die, their fortunes are reversed: Lazarus is comforted in “Abraham’s bosom,” while the rich man is tormented in Hades, another popular Hellenistic idea of what the afterlife might be like when this story was written.

The reversal of Lazarus and the rich man underscores the rich man’s moral failure and indifference. Lazarus wasn’t far away; he was at the rich man’s doorstep. Yet the rich man did nothing to ease his suffering. Over and over again, Jesus’ kingdom teachings taught that when his listeners had more than they needed, their call was to share that surplus with those whose daily needs were going unmet. The parable highlights the grave tragedy of having the ability to ease others’ suffering and instead choosing to ignoring the needs of others. Imagine that the five richest people on the planet could end world hunger forever, and each night they go to bed not doing it. 

The story is a call for economic justice. For Jesus, inherently instrinsic to wealth was the responsibility of making sure that very wealth was redistributed more equitably. “Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys” (Luke 12:33). Our reading this week challenges a worldview where people see prosperity as a sign of divine favor, and reminds readers that material comfort can blind them to the suffering around them. The parable also posits that posthumous regret in whatever afterlife there may be comes too late. That regret won’t undo the harm caused by economic apathy. The time to act is today. 

In today’s world, where extreme poverty and wealth coexist, this story remains deeply relevant. It calls on individuals and societies to recognize the humanity of the poor, act with compassion, and build systems that reduce inequality—not just out of charity, but out of justice.

Future reversals of reward or punishment in an afterlife can be a strong motivation. I would rather live by a different motivation though. We can choose to be motivated to do the right thing by a deep belief in the value, dignity, and potential of every human being. Unlike moral systems based on afterlife consequences, we can consider the consequences of our actions in this life and choose to ground our ethics in reason, empathy, and a commitment to human welfare. We can choose to improve the conditions of those around us whose needs are not yet being met.

One of the strongest motivations beyond self-concern and afterlife threats is empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. When we see suffering, we can choose to allow ourselves to be moved not by religious obligation or fear of post mortem punishment, but by a genuine desire to alleviate pain and promote the well-being of those who are suffering now. If we let it, this emotional connection to others can drive us to act with kindness and integrity in this life.

Reason and critical thinking also play a part and are not always easy. Ethical decisions have to be based on evidence, and while reason should be rooted in empathy, it also involves carefully considering the consequences of various options. Doing the right thing often means weighing competing interests and making choices that lead to the greatest good for the greatest number of people. An ethical approach rooted in empathy encourages us to be fair to all who are involved and discourages selfish individualism. 

We humans are responsible for each other, here, now, in this life. Whether we appeal to a higher power, an afterlife reversal, or post mortem punishments and rewards, the reality that we all can attest to is that we are accountable for the kind of world each of us helps to shape and create. The question is not what do we want to experience in the afterlife. It’s what kind of world do we want to live in, in this life! We can choose to act ethically if we believe that it is up to us to solve problems like poverty, injustice, and discrimination.

And ultimately this is what it means to live meaningful lives in the present. Doing the right thing contributes to a sense of purpose and personal integrity today. Caring for others and taking responsibility for making sure those around us also have what they need to thrive helps to build a society where we can all flourish through cooperation and a sense of our shared humanity. We are all connected. We are all part of one another.

Lastly, we can choose to do the right thing simply because we care. That is the question: not do we care about whether we will experience reward or punishment in an afterlife, but what kind of human do we want to be now. Do we care about others? Do we care about this world we share together, our home? Is only making sure that we are okay but not being concerned about whether others are too the kind of humans we want to be? How we answer these questions makes all the difference, not for a post mortem reversal, but right now, today.

Discussion Group Questions

1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.

2. In what ways do you wish our present economic system took better care of the poor? Share and discuss with your group.

3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone? 

Thanks for checking in with us, today.

I want to say a special thank you to all of our supporters out there. And if you would like to join them in supporting Renewed Heart Ministries’ work you can do so by going to renewedheartministries.wpcomstaging.com/ and clicking donate. 

My latest book Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political and Economic Teachings of the Gospels is available now on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and also on Audible in audio book format.

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Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.

I love each of you dearly,

I’ll see you next week.

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Season 3, Episode 27: Luke 16:19-31, Lectionary C, Proper 21

Just Talking is a weekly conversation centered on the upcoming weekend’s Gospel lectionary reading. Each discussion explores the text through the lenses of love, inclusion, and social justice.

Our hope is that these conversations will be more than just talking—they’ll be just talking, rooted in justice. And maybe, they’ll inspire you to go beyond just talking and into action.

Whether you preach from the lectionary or are simply curious about the Jesus story from a more progressive, justice-oriented perspective, we invite you to join us.

Herb Montgomery is speaker/director of Renewed Heart Ministries.

This week’s special guest is Alicia Johnston.

Watch at:

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New Episode of The Social Jesus Podcast

A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice. 

This week:

Season 2 Episode 39: The Rich Man, Lazarus and Justice

Luke 16:19-31

“Future reversals of reward or punishment in an afterlife can be a strong motivation. I would rather live by a different motivation though. We can choose to be motivated to do the right thing by a deep belief in the value, dignity, and potential of every human being. Unlike moral systems based on afterlife consequences, we can consider the consequences of our actions in this life and choose to ground our ethics in reason, empathy, and a commitment to human welfare. We can choose to improve the conditions of those around us whose needs are not yet being met. One of the strongest motivations beyond self-concern and afterlife threats is empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. When we see suffering, we can choose to allow ourselves to be moved not by religious obligation or fear of post mortem punishment, but by a genuine desire to alleviate pain and promote the well-being of those who are suffering now. If we let it, this emotional connection to others can drive us to act with kindness and integrity in this life.”

Available on all major podcast carriers and at:

https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/the-rich-man-lazarus-and-justice

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Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels.

 

by Herb Montgomery

Available now on Amazon!

In Finding Jesus, author Herb Montgomery delves into the profound and often overlooked political dimensions of the gospels. Through meticulous analysis of biblical texts, historical context, and social discourse, this thought-provoking book unveils the gospels’ socio-political, economic teachings as rooted in a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of the marginalized. The book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, presenting a compelling argument for a more socially engaged and transformative Christianity.

Finding Jesus is not just a scholarly exploration; it is a call to action. It challenges readers to reevaluate their understanding of Christianity’s role in public life and to consider how the radical teachings of the gospels can inspire a renewed commitment to justice, equality, and compassion. This book is a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the social implications of Christian faith and a blueprint for building a more just and inclusive society.

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