One of the most striking teachings of Jesus is about forgiveness. The Sermon on the Mount teaches simply that as we forgive others, God will forgive us. And if we refuse to forgive others, God will refuse to forgive us. This isn’t a karmic design of the universe. Forgiveness is part and parcel of the Gospel, of that we are sure. Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are all about forgiveness as well. In Matthew 18 Jesus gives us a whole parable about forgiveness related to the Kingdom. There are a few notable parts:
“And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.” v27
The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus is perhaps the most difficult section of Scripture for those of us who hold to the belief of conditional immortality (the understanding that immortality is contingent on the resurrection not on the existence of an immortal soul). Before we take a look at the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus itself I think it would be best to review the texts that speak to the state of the dead.
The dead are unconscious.
I was raised in a denomination which took some comfort in the fact that only a tiny number of people held to their doctrinal distinctives and that “the Truth” had been hidden from almost all Christians. After all, didn’t Jesus say “Many are called but few are chosen”?
Indeed, in two places in Matthew’s Gospel we read of Jesus saying these words (Matthew 20:16; 22:14). Yet this saying appears to be contrary to the idea of God’s overflowing generosity which we see repeatedly throughout Jesus’ teachings. It appears that Jesus is saying that only a small number of people are actually chosen by God to enjoy His Kingdom and that even many of those who respond to His invitation will be rejected. This is so radically different from the rest of Jesus’ teachings that we need to look at this saying carefully in its context.
The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation by Brad Young
This is a fantastic book, I would recommend that all Christians read this book! It covers roughly twenty-one of Jesus parables. It looks at them in light of the other parables told regarding the subject in Judaism, and other parables which use the same elements (wheat and chaff, servants and masters, etc.) but about different subjects. It is remarkable the degree in which Jesus is truly a contemporary of his time. Young focuses on removing allegory from Christian interpretation. He suggests that Jesus is much in line with certain principles that the Pharisees already hold (not all, however). The true genius of Jesus is in his execution. For example, there are many parables and principles in Judaism, particularly held by the Pharisees, that you should help your neighbor in need. However, only Jesus took that principle and elevated it, showing just how serious God is about that idea, with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus would often use the “underdog”, or an outcast - like the Samaritan - as the hero in his parables. As an example of the rest of the book, I’ll focus on his treatment of this parable.