"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," Jesus says in St. Luke's 18th chapter. These words probably ring clear after listening to today's parable. By today's standards of social justice and the social gospel of American civil religion, we feel hate and anger toward the rich man for his neglect and contempt toward Lazarus, because he is rich and we are not. And we feel pity toward the downtrodden Lazarus, because he has nothing but sores and is in need of any and all help he can get. It is only fitting, by our logic, that "[t]he time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side," or heaven, and "[t]he rich man also died and was buried" and went to hell.

But hold on a minute. Jesus didn't tell this parable in 2004 America. He told this parable in ancient Palestine, and there are certain key phrases which clued his first audience in to what was really going on.

The rich man was "dressed in purple and fine linen." Many may recall from Sunday School that if someone deals or dresses in purple, they have great wealth, and that is true. But what is also true is that this phrase indicates that the rich man was a prominent person in his community, like a leader or merchant whose business fueled the local economy. For that reason, he probably enjoyed the respect and admiration of his fellow citizens.

Lazarus, on the other hand, occupied the lowest tier of society. He was covered in sores, so he was considered unclean. No one would touch him, talk to him, or even approach him, except for the dogs that would lick his sores, probably causing much pain and torment. He did not occupy a position of respect or even pity. His pain and torment was thought to be deserved, the society would think.

Despite this, it is the rich man who is buried and condemned to hell and Lazarus who is carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. This would have been surprising to Jesus' first audience. In that day and age, it was generally thought that rich men were rich because they somehow had God's favor more-so than the poor and downtrodden, who had probably found God's wrath.

No, it wasn't that the rich man was a sinner and Lazarus wasn't. The truth of the matter is that they were both sinners. It is only God who is holy and righteous. The difference in the men is their faith and their god. The rich man had created his own god: his wealth, everything he had done for himself, his name, and his reputation. His pride and boasting were in himself, not in any God who had created and redeemed him. Lazarus' God, on the other had, was YHWH—the God of Abraham. By his God-given faith, he was a Child of Abraham; so, he was given the right to be carried to Abraham's bosom. Unlike the rich man, Lazarus boasted in YHWH, his savior, confessing, "Though I am a sinner and deserve nothing from God, I trust Him and entrust myself to Him, whether for good or ill, because He is merciful to me a sinner through Jesus Christ my Lord."

Now, Hell is most simply defined as "separation from God." This is exactly what the rich man worked toward and wanted. He put himself and his own works in place of God, a clear violation of the First Commandment: unbelief and idolatry. There was absolutely no love for YHWH from the rich man. No sinner can escape the requirement of the First Commandment or the condemnation of hell by his own merit, works, or accomplishments; in doing so, he makes an idol out of his own works!

This is where we get into the teaching of Jesus in this parable. You see, the rich man refused to listen to the only thing that could have rescued Him: Moses and the Prophets. No miracle can rescue a sinner, not even if One were raised from the dead. No miracle can convert a sinner to faith apart from the Word which tells what the One's death and resurrection means. If an idolater sees only miracles apart from the Word of God, he is only an idolater being entertained.

It is as St. Paul put so eloquently for the Romans: "Faith comes from hearing, the hearing of the Word of Christ." The miracle of Jesus' death and resurrection would be meaningless to us if we would not hear (and listen to) the Word of Christ which tells us what this means: that Christ died to redeem mankind to God and rose again that they might have victory over death and eternal life with Him. Faith comes from hearing the Word of God which teaches repentance for the forgiveness of sins. It is only by the Word proclaimed that our unbelief is exposed and we are brought to faith in Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen One, who takes away the sin of the world, and restores us to the Father. It is only by the Word proclaimed that we are brought to our knees in repentance for sin, and only by the Word proclaimed that we are forgiven of that sin: the proclamation of "Christ crucified for you." "Establish Your word to Your servant," the Psalmist declares, "as that which produces reverence for You."

This is as true now as it was in that day and age. While Jesus' disciples and the people then did not have what we do in the New Testament, they had Moses and the Prophets, which proclaimed God's Law and Gospel, also exposing unbelief, and telling of the One who was to come and die for their sin. They had Jesus walking among them in the flesh to preach to them, telling them of God's Law and Gospel, to expose their unbelief, and telling of His own death and resurrection for the forgiveness of their sin. Yet there were some whose hearts were hardened, who would not listen to the proclamation of Moses and the Prophets or the Son of God; these witnessed the miracle of Jesus' death and resurrection—mocking and ridiculing Him as if He were Lazarus from His parable—yet still not believing, only being entertained, even as He was raised from the dead.

You see, people have a tendency and desire to be like the rich man. While we may not "dress in purple and fine linen," there is a desire to serve and help ourselves as the rich man displayed. Even in the depths of Hell, the rich man sought only his relief and comfort, as he had done his whole life, showing no remorse for his lack of faith—for his refusal to listen to the Word of God. Like him, we become overly self-confident, placing faith in our own merits and deeds, placing them in place of God. We are idolaters in need of forgiveness, life, and salvation. We are in desperate need of the faith that only the Word of God can create in us, and recreate in us daily. So, we must always hear the Word of God proclaimed that we may have our sin exposed, but also that we may receive the proclamation of our sin forgiven, that we may always be removed from our unbelief and moved into faith in God.

And there is the reason we are brought to the Divine Service. We come to receive the miracle of Jesus' body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine. Yet we come also to hear the Word of God read and proclaimed. For if we had not the Word of God to hear, the Lord's Supper would simply be a ritual we do with no benefit to us, but condemnation. But thanks be to God that we are brought to faith by this Word, our hearts daily being turned from our idolatry to faith, in order that they may be set to keep His Word. It is only by the Word proclaimed—"given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sin"—that we have knowledge of and receive in the Lord's Supper the forgiveness for our sin that Christ won for us by His passion, death, and resurrection.

"Faith comes from hearing, the hearing of the Word of Christ," St. Paul said. It is the Word of God alone which produces a change in the sinner and brings him to faith. Now, this faith is not only the daily forgiveness of our sin, but also the conversion from enemy of God to son of God. For it is in Baptism that you became a son of God, and the saying is true that St. Peter declared: "Baptism now saves you." It is true because Baptism "is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God's command and combined with God's word." For without the Word of God proclaimed at Baptism—"I Baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"—Baptism would merely be a washing away of dirt and have no conversion or salvation at all.

I will conclude by returning to the parable. By God's grace through the faith he had been given, Lazarus was carried to Abraham's bosom, or Heaven. Heaven is the eternal communion with the blessed Trinity who, in selfless love, gives Himself to sinners. It is at Abraham's bosom where all believers in Christ are found. Abraham is called the father of all believers, because it was he who received the promise of salvation in the Son of God—that he would be made into a great nation through all of his believing descendants. Those who believe in Christ are the children of Abraham; his bosom is the comforting and eternal presence of YHWH and His Christ where the children of Abraham will no longer hunger or thirst, where they have life eternal. And this is life eternal: to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, as His Word declares. Again this morning, His Word declares to you that you are a child of Abraham, redeemed and restored to Him, forgiven of all your sins.