He is in Hell - and he still thinks he's better than the beggar! He's in hell - he's on fire. This man is on fire - and he's still saying: Abraham, that beggar beside you, can you send him to hell to serve me. That's his place.
I don't care that the decisions I'm making, are going to cause that man to come to hell. It doesn't matter - send him to hell to serve me. This man is on fire, and he still thinks he's better than the beggar. He still doesn't get it!
Finally, for the first time in the beggar's life, somebody stands up for him. Abraham says: no, it doesn't work that way. We're not doing that.
So what was the rich man's second request? Send him back to earth - to serve my family. Now how's that going to work out for Lazarus?
Lazarus lived in Hell-on-Earth, for far too long - couldn't keep dogs from licking his wounds; and now the rich man is on fire, and he's suggesting that Lazarus be sent back to earth - to serve him. Once again, I don't care how the decisions, that I'm making, affect him.
This man is on fire, and he still doesn't get it; so Abraham stands up for him again - and finally he argues with Abraham. He says: no Father Abraham, that's not how it works. Let me tell you how it works...
How are you going to argue with Father Abraham? The man has his own song - kids all over the world today are singing it!
Plus, in this story, who appears to be in charge? Abraham appears to be in charge - and he's arguing with the guy in charge!
On earth, this guy thought he was better than everybody. He didn't have to engage the cry of the hopeless, because he was better than that - and in hell, his heart still hasn't changed.
His heart is still full of Pride, and Greed - those two things. Pride - where he puts himself first; and Greed - where he isn't generous. He still wants Lazarus to come to hell to serve him.
On the surface, this story on earth, it appears that the poor man needs the rich man's help. They lay him at his gate - and it appears that the poor man needs the rich man's help; but in reality, the rich man needs the poor man's help. The poor man needed the rich man to feed his stomach; but the rich man needed the poor man to humble his heart - and the rich man responds very poorly, which cost him an eternity.
This is a story all about our tendency to be selfish and greedy. This is a story all about, what the Hebrew people called, the Yetzer Hara - our evil inclination, our inclination to put ourself first.
In Jesus' whole ministry, the only person that Jesus talked about going to Hades was this guy - and Jesus' ministry was full of sinners!
I'm talking about: people caught in the act of adultery; thieves on a cross - and the people who murdered Him by nailing Him to a cross; a woman who was divorced five times, and shacked up with the sixth one; all kinds of evil, nasty stuff was going on, but this is the only guy that Jesus thought was worthy of Hades.
The only person in Jesus' whole ministry, who did something so unspeakably heinous, that God killed him - was the guy who built bigger barns. He had more than enough food, and instead of sharing it with the hungry, he built bigger barns for himself.
Jesus said: that's it – God is going to kill you tonight. Like this is serious, serious stuff.
Greed was people who say: there are no big sins and small sins - that's true in terms of consequences and ramifications; and that's true in terms of heaven and being saved. It only takes a small bit of uncleanness to send you away from the presence of God.
In terms of ‘the sin that leads to every other sin’, it was greed. Jesus said: the love of money is the root of all evil. The #1 sin to Jesus was greed; and this is a story about putting yourself first, and being greedy, and the ramifications of that in eternity.
This is all a story, and a challenge from Jesus, for us to examine our heart and say: Who are we in this story?
Whenever Jesus starts a story with “there was a certain rich man”, it never ends well, which is kind of disconcerting. Jesus once said: it is impossible for a rich man to go to heaven - which is disconcerting isn't it, because we're rich?