What Lazarus and The Rich Man Can Teach Us About Repentance

Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

In my previous post, I wrote on the first step towards holiness: making a clean cut with our past life. In this post I’d like to explore how exactly to do that. 

The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16: 19-31) offers us a practical way to begin and lead a life of righteousness.

There’s debate as to what sent the Rich Man to Sheol, the place of the dead. In the parable, no direct reason is given as to why, only that the Rich Man devoted himself to fine clothing and daily feasting, while Lazarus laid languishing at his doorstep, wishing to feed whatever fell the Rich Man’s table.

Did the Rich Man ever help Lazarus? Did he follow the Law and the Prophets? While this is not explicitly mentioned in the text, it is nevertheless implied that the Rich Man did not. 

It appears to me that what sent the Rich Man to the place of the dead was not his wealth, but his lack of repentance. His unrepentant sin was not wealth, but the enjoyment of it while ignoring the plight of his direct neighbor. 

In doing this he was in direct violation to The Law and the Prophets. There are many examples in the Scriptures of our obligation towards the poor and the outcast. To put them here would take more space than we have.

The Rich Man needed a clean cut with his past life. That he did not do this in life is clear in the parable.

The way to make a clean cut with our past life is done through the process of repentance. Let us explore now how this parable informs this process. 

Be Honest to God and Take Full Responsibility for All of Your Sins

Our culture of self-promotion makes it difficult to take full responsibilities for our actions. It encourages us to “save face” and come up with excuses to why we did what we did. We are constantly selling ourselves to the world, and the rise of “influencers” on Social Media has only exacerbated this human impulse. 

The Rich Man did not take full responsibility for his sins. By asking Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers, and by claiming that only a miracle like a resurrection would warrant repentance from his brothers, he is also implying that he did not repent because he was not likewise warned. 

Abraham said that his brothers, and by implication the Rich Man himself, had all they needed with “Moses and the Prophets” and that “if they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31 ESV). 

The Rich Man did not take full responsibility for his sin of ignoring the poor, and seems to demand that the only way to lead people like him (his brothers) to repentance, is for God to perform a miracle that would shock them out of their complacency.

The first step to repentance, then, is to be completely honest to God about what we did, and take full responsibility for it. 

We may be able to fool people around us with our excuses and explanations, but people’s belief in our innocence, or their understanding of our actions, will account little to the eyes of God.

God knows fully what we did. We cannot hide anything from God. The minimum we can do is to acknowledge our part in this mess. 

Make A Serious Commitment to Not Do it Again

We have taught our children to say “sorry” whenever they hit each other. They have gotten so good at it, that at times a simple stare from us would compel them to say it.

Ten minutes later they do it again, however. 

As parents we know when our kids are not truly “sorry”. We know they are not truly repentant if they keep doing what we tell them not to, even if they say sorry every time they do it.

Our Father God also knows when our intention is to simply say “sorry” but then we make little to no commitment to amend our behavior.

We may do it out of tradition. We may do it out of fear. But we all have done it.

Being sorry for what we did is not the same as repentance. Repentance requires a serious commitment to not commit the sin again.

Let me be clear. What is required is the commitment, not the certainty, that we would never do it again. We all miss the mark from time to time, and sometimes it’s not for a of lack of commitment. But to commit the same sin again because we lack commitment is a whole different matter altogether. It’s the equivalent of our children saying “sorry” only because we have asked them to and to avoid other consequences.

If you are not ready to make a serious commitment to not commit a sin again, you are not ready for repentance.

We can become attached to certain sins and this can deter us from a serious commitment of never doing it again. This is where we need God’s grace to slowly chip away those damaging habits. Repentance may take time, which makes our need to begin that process now an urgent matter. 

The Rich Man clearly did not show repentance. This is evident by his lack of commitment to change. Even after death and experiencing the consequences of his actions, the Rich Man still felt superior enough to boss Lazarus around. 

“Father Abraham,” he said, “have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue…”. And later on the Rich Man says, “…Then I beg you, father, to send him [Lazarus] to my father’s house.” (Luke 16: 24, 27, ESV, emphasis and bracket added).

The Rich Man still did not see Lazarus as his equal, but someone to run errands for him. How often is this not the attitude of the rich and wealthy towards the common man?

The Rich Man’s sin was his refusal to see Lazarus as his neighbor. The Rich Man only paid attention to Lazarus when he became useful to him, but ignored him in his time of need.

Repentance requires a process. This process necessitates that we are completely honest with God and take full responsibility for our sins. We may have solid explanations as to why we committed certain sins, but we are still responsible (able to respond) for them. There are certain conditions in life that may merit diminished culpability for one’s sins, but we are still able to respond to them with an act of repentance. 

And the process of repentance, in order to be complete, also requires a strong commitment to never perform the sin again. Without this serious commitment we rob it of its transformative power in our lives.