Come Follow Me LDS- Luke 12-17, John 11 Part 2

'Rich Man, Poor Man. Lazarus x 2'
- When the rubber hits the road, who do you serve?
- The fascinating parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus
- Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead
- Caiaphas knows how and when he will kill Jesus

 

 

Come Follow Me New Testament

LDS Mormon Luke John Bible

 

in this episode we're going to talk

about rich man poor man and Lazarus

times 2 here we go all right in this

part 2 episode for this week's come

follow me we're gonna focus on Luke 16

and 17 and John 11 now remember that

Jesus is speaking with primarily the

Pharisees and the scribes and he's kind

of going against them as he gives these

teachings through these parables that

really include the Pharisees and the

scribes he's describing them usually as

the rich people and the fortunes that

await them are very different than what

they might be thinking and again all the

way through these Lucan parables from

chapters 12 all the way up actually

through 19 we get this spiritual economy

we get this idea of rich and poor and

money and he continues that on here with

the parable of the unjust servant in

Luke 16 we're gonna pass over that for

the sake of time now I want to go down

and make this one point here before we

move on with the parables down in verse

13 he says to the Pharisees no servant

can serve two masters for either he will

hate the one and love the other or else

he will hold the one and despise the

other you cannot serve God and Mammon

this becomes very important in the rest

of these parables remember who he's

talking to he's talking to the Pharisees

and he's saying that you are acting as

if you serve God right you're supposed

to be serving God you are in a position

of power here and yet you are not

serving God you are serving Mammon or

the devil you're saying you can't do

both and it's such a true point

you have to make a decision and

sometimes maybe we think we're serving

God but we're hanging on to something

else that might hold us back and that's

the point of mortality or one of them

right as I see it is that we have to be

able to have these decisions that are

forced upon us in the environment that

we live in and inevitably these things

come up what are we going to decide how

are we going to arrange our values

hierarchy through not only our belief

system but even more importantly through

the way that we live who are we going to

serve and in every case there's always

something where we have to lift one

principle above the other we have to

make a decision that lifts one decision

over another or one consequence over

another one outcome over the other and

we can't serve both you always are in a

position where you think you might be

able to sometimes do both things but

inevitably the situation puts us in a

place where we have to make a decision

and the Lord is saying here Jesus is

saying here you can't serve both

eventually you have to pick in every

circumstance eventually you have to pick

who you're going to follow and so he's

speaking here with the Pharisees and he

goes back to another parable about the

rich and the poor and this parable is

fascinating this is the parable about

the rich man and Lazarus a lot of

parallelism in here but before we get

there I want to go to the Joseph Smith

translation because this becomes very

important in the Joseph Smith

translation again as we've talked about

in the previous episode and at other

times Joseph Smith inserts quite a bit

here and what is he inserting again it

is all about them focusing on the law

and the prophets as a dead law

and not bringing in what it really has

looked forward to which is him which is

the Son of God which is the Redeemer of

the world and I'm going to read a few of

these verses here because it gives us

another idea of the change that is

happening what Jesus is really trying to

restore here the doctrine that has been

lost he says here in verse 16 and they

said unto him we have the law these are

the Pharisees and the prophets but as

for this man we will not receive him to

be our ruler for he maketh himself to be

a judge over us so again they believe

they've got this law the law of Moses

it's all that they need it doesn't look

forward to anything else at all it's all

about merit it's all about their actions

this is really interesting too at the

very end of this where they say we will

not but as for this man we will not

receive him to be our ruler for he

maketh himself to be a judge over us who

does that remind you of how about laman

and lemuel over Nephi or Nephi they're

saying that Nephi wants to be a ruler

and a king over them this is the same

distinction this is the same thing

that's happening this is a direct

parallel to the beliefs of laman and

lemuel they are like the Pharisees they

do not believe in what is coming

remember that they are righteous in

their minds they believe that the people

in Jerusalem at this the time of Lehi

are righteous this is the what exactly

what the Pharisees are saying they don't

believe in the higher law they don't

believe in the coming of Jehovah as the

Son of God it's that's my belief and

that's what had happened to Jerusalem at

the time of Lehi the exact same thing

here with the Pharisees strong parallel

parallelism there that I can see and

then in verse 17 in the Joseph Smith

translation it says then Jesus say then

said Jesus unto them the law and the

prophets testify of me yay and all the

prophets who have written even until

John have foretold of these days so why

does he need to repeat this to them why

don't they believe this well we have to

think of

about the circumstances that they're in

they have a Bible it's called the

Septuagint it is it is held up as a

great translation it's the Greek

translation of most of the major books

of the Old Testament that the Jews have

at this time but it's not specific

enough and in fact after the rivalry

between Judaism and Christianity starts

to peak several centuries later a couple

centuries later the Jews actually say

the Septuagint is a horrible book

because there were even yet too many

references to the Messiah and the Son of

God they didn't like the language of it

and so they got rid of it and they went

later on to what we have today which is

the Masoretic text of the Old Testament

but even in the Septuagint that they

would have had at that time a lot had

been removed centuries before a lot had

been removed about the coming of the Son

of God

who was the Messiah look at the Old

Testament now the Messiah is barely even

mentioned I think there's one or two

direct references to a Messiah in all of

I think ones in Daniel that maybe you

won't and I say I'm not even sure but

it's almost non-existent now they

believe in a messiah they just don't

believe in Jehovah in God coming down to

earth and being the one who suffers so

here he's saying they have all

prophesied of me whether you believe

that or not and then down in verse 20

this is the entire verse is inserted

here it says and why teach me the law

and deny that which is written and

condemn him whom the father hath sent to

fulfill the law that ye might all be

redeemed right so again they don't

understand the scriptures they don't

understand what they have there are

allusions to these things that we can

still see in the Old Testament but much

had been removed and they did not

understand what the Scriptures foretold

about Jesus

2100 fools you have had four you have

said in your hearts there is no God

so we can see here that secularism as it

always does

is has reared its ugly head here with

the Pharisees at least in part during

the time of Jesus and you pervert the

right way in the Kingdom of Heaven

suffereth violence of you and you

persecute the meek and in your violence

you seek to destroy the kingdom and you

take the children of the kingdom by

force woe unto you ye adulterers so in

the next chapter there's a reference to

the Pharisees offending the little ones

the children and so well exactly what

that's referring to but it doesn't sound

good and so he's coming after him

full-bore here and their way of teaching

we should go through the Joseph Smith

translation in the nude in in the New

Testament it's interesting he's even

more forthcoming against the way of life

and the teachings and the doctrines and

the ideology and the power of the

Pharisees Sadducees high priests scribes

etc and then he follows this up and this

leads us into the parable he says here

at the end of verse 23 verily I say unto

you I will liken you unto the rich man

and then that leads us into the parable

of the rich man and Lazarus and in the

regular Book of Luke outside of the

Joseph Smith translation we pick up this

parable here in verse 19 of chapter 16

says here there was a certain rich man

which was clothed in purple and fine

linen and fared sumptuously every day

I'm gonna go through the whole parable

and then we'll come back to it and there

was a certain beggar named Lazarus which

was laid at his gate full of sores and

desiring to be fed with the crumbs which

fell from the rich man's table moreover

the dogs came and licked his sores and

it came to pass that the beggar died and

was carried by the Angels into Abraham's

bosom the rich man also died and was

buried and in hell he lift up his eyes

being in torments and seeth Abraham afar

and Lazarus in his bosom and he cried

and said father Abraham have mercy on me

and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip

of his finger in water and cool my

tongue for I am tormented in this flame

but Abraham said son remember that thou

in thy lifetime receivest thy good

things and likewise Lazarus evil things

but now he is comforted and now arts

tormented and beside all this between us

and you there is a great gulf fixed so

that they which would pass from hands to

you cannot neither can they pass to us

that would come from thence then he said

I pray thee therefore father that thou

would have sent him to my father's house

for I have five brothers that he may

testify into them lest they also come

into this place of torment

Abraham saith unto Him they have Moses

and the prophets let them hear them and

he said nay father Abraham but if one

went unto them from the dead they will

repent and he said unto him if they hear

not Moses and the prophets neither will

they be persuaded though one rose from

the dead interesting end point so let's

go back up here and analyze this a

little bit this is really very

interesting again there was a certain

rich man no name given to the rich man

which was clothed in purple and fine

linen so this would be almost royalty or

maybe priestly and fared sumptuously

every day and there was a certain beggar

named Lazarus this is the only character

in any of Jesus's parables that is

actually given a name and here it is

Lazarus and a couple of important things

to understand here where we can look at

some parallels number one Lazarus is the

Greek form of the Hebrew name le sea air

which are eliasair which is the

name of the servant of Abraham now

remember in the story of Abraham before

he is able to

have a son have an heir all that he has

is going to be given to his servant

whose name in Greek is Lazarus but then

he finally has Ishmael through Hagar and

then later he ends up having Isaac

through Sarah through a miracle

and so Lazarus is we'll call him the

servant of Abraham he is a Gentile

that's important to understand here and

does not actually receive the

inheritance here he was designed to

receive it but he doesn't receive it

Isaac has it ultimately right and so

here we have in this parable again the

two names the two people of Abraham and

Lazarus there's a there's a parallel

here I'm gonna keep going and so there

was a certain beggar named Lazarus which

was laid at his gate full of sores and

desiring to be fed with the crumbs which

fell from the rich man's table moreover

the dogs came and licked his sores now

this is really interesting there is no

other author of the Gospels that writes

about this parable but in mark and

Matthew they do give the example the

apparel but the example of the event of

Jesus traveling to Phoenicia which is

basically Lebanon to tyre and Sidon and

there a woman in one she is listed and

Mark she is a he's a mark she's a she's

a Greek she's a Cyro Greek

and the other she's listed as a

Canaanite or a woman of Canaan anyway

and so she's listed as someone who would

be a non Jew a non Israelite and if you

remember the story it's very quick Jesus

is out there she asks him to come and

heal her daughter she's he he says you

wait until the children are

fed they're there they're eating and you

have the crumbs which fall from the

table and the dogs eat of the crumbs and

here you have another example of this

where Luke does not write about this

story but he does write about this

parable again she was a non Israelite

and here you have Lazarus who if we tie

him to the Lazarus of Abraham also is a

Gentile and Luke was likely a physician

a Gentile physician who wrote mostly for

the Gentiles and so he's using a

different example here than what Mark

and Matthew used interestingly in mark

and Matthew at least in one of the two

of those as they write about the example

of the Canaanite or Greek woman that's

where it's specified that Jesus his

mission is to the Jews at least first

but here Luke is going to be doing the

opposite where he is talking about what

would be then a mission to the Gentiles

so we can look at this in a way we're

likely we have the rich man who is a Jew

who calls Abraham his father and the

Abraham calls the rich man his son and

then the Lazarus is more than likely it

would be a Gentile here and it came to

pass that the beggar died and was

carried by the Angels into Abraham's

bosom the rich man also died and was

buried okay so in other words the rich

man does not go to Abraham but the poor

man does the poor man who would be

possibly a Gentile goes to Abraham's

bosom now this is pretty interesting

this is there is a parallel to this

parable in Egypt where there is the

story of cetme and his son who is osire

and it's very similar it has a lot of

similarities anyway but the interesting

thing is to me is that as they talked

about in that example in that story in

Egypt they talked about not going to

Abraham's bosom but they do talk about

going to the place near Osiris or a

place right next to Osiris this is

important because there are numerous

ties that we have found between Abraham

being used and as an example in Egypt of

Osiris the god Osiris and if you look at

the facsimile 's you see Osiris laying

on the lion couch about to be sacrificed

by the priests of Pharaoh but Joseph

Smith says that it is Abraham of course

in one of the Laden purposes that also

has a lion couch seen there is Osiris

laying on there to be sacrificed or

someone to be sacrificed toward Osiris

and there is the name of Abraham written

right on that page in a lion couch scene

a sacrificial lion couch scene then in

twenty three and in hell he lift up his

eyes being in torments and seeth Abraham

afar off and Lazarus in his bosom and he

cried and said father Abraham have mercy

on me in Santa Lazarus that he may dip

the tip of his finger in water and cool

my tongue for I am tormented in this

flame

then in 26 and beside all this between

us and you this is Abraham speaking to

the rich man there is a great gulf fixed

of course this is doctrine that we know

of in our church that there is a gulf

there is a spirit prison and a spirit

paradise and here they talk about this

gulf now this is written about this gulf

in the afterlife is written about in the

Book of Enoch the Book of Enoch is not

in the canonized scripture it wasn't

found until centuries later sank

later in fact I think in the 19th

century the first version I think in

Ethiopia was found and they found

another one too in one of the Eastern

Bloc European countries I believe but

this was a doctrine from the Book of

Enoch where there was a gulf that would

divide the just and the unjust in the

afterlife in kind of a waiting period

right they call it Haiti's here we say

Hell here but it's the Greek is Hades

where they're kind of waiting in this

area where there's a chasm between the

two of them and they're referring to

this book of Enoch which is referred to

several times the language of the Book

of Enoch is used several times in the

New Testament and actually has a direct

quote in the book of Jude and then in

verse 28 the Richman says to Abraham I

have five brethren that he may testify

to them being Lazarus lest they also

come into this place of torment and

Abraham saith unto Him the rich man they

have Moses and the prophets let them

hear them very interesting remember that

Joseph Smith in the translation here

just above has just been talking about

how the Pharisees have the law in the

prophets they have Moses the Pharisees

are saying that we have all of this and

here this is being referenced in the

parable what are Abraham's saying hey

they've got Moses and the law and the

prophets let them listen to them and

here now the rich man is saying no

basically I think what he's really

saying is that's not enough they don't

understand it they don't understand

enough about mercy and the higher law

and the Melchizedek Priesthood and that

Jehovah is the son of God who is the

actual Messiah so again as with a Ben

and I that's all they have is the law it

is dead to them and Abraham Falls up

again and says look if they have Moses

and all the prophets and they're not

going to listen to them they're not

going to understand what's actually

being said there they're out of luck so

again Luke using the idea of the poor

and the rich and kind of inverting this

reversal of

fortunes in the afterlife where the Jews

if they're following the way that

they're following things are not going

to be on the right side of that chasm

and are not going to go to Abraham's

bosom but the Gentile the poor Gentile

who has lived a righteous life will go

to Abraham's bosom another thing that's

interesting here is that when we talk

about the law and the prophets here that

the Pharisees say that they have and

that Abraham talks about notice that the

rich man talks about Lazarus going to

preach to his five brothers number of

scholars have said that you know perhaps

what they're looking at here are the

five books of Moses and that that's

what's not enough it's the law of Moses

here being taught through the five books

of Moses are not enough another thing to

look at is that the rich man clothed in

in purple and regal our priestly perhaps

it's Caiaphas who is the high priest he

is the son-in-law of anise or an anise

also called an anise whose sons five

sons were also high priests and so you

would have Caiaphas and his five

brothers or brothers-in-law there were

all high priests and all needed to be

taught more about what Moses and the law

of Moses really were trying to teach

which is about Jesus Christ regardless

it comes down to the law of Moses and

the books of Moses being interpreted in

a way that leaves a dead law without

looking forward to a higher law and to

the Son of God taking on the sins of the

world and then over in chapter 17 just

quickly we had the story of the ten

lepers and remember Jesus heals them one

comes back after he's healed and Luke of

course mentions here that he is a

Samaritan and so the one who was

grateful was a Samaritan and the other

nine never came

back so Luke is careful to point that

out and of course that's what the New

Testament eventually becomes about right

the gospel the kingdom of God is built

by Jews to start off with Jesus and the

Apostles and many others that are

converted in the land of Jerusalem for

in Galilee and others and then of

course very quickly with Paul spreads

out among primarily the Gentiles and so

the first shall be last in the last

shall be first so then we jump over to

John chapter 11 and here we get the

story of Lazarus again now this is a

different Lazarus or is it

kind of an interesting scenario here

where actually in come follow me they've

coupled these two stories together from

different Gospels but here we get the

story of Lazarus of Bethany he is the

brother of Mary and Martha Martha is the

one with the home where Jesus comes to

at the time of Easter at the time of

Passover his last week alive where Mary

anoints him and here this hasn't

happened yet but in in here Mary and

Martha send messengers to Jesus who's up

north teaching what we've been going

over here to tell them that Lazarus has

died and Jesus tells his disciples once

he receives the message that that he is

only asleep but the Apostles understand

that as oh well he's gonna be okay then

he's not really dead and Jesus has to

clarify no no he is dead but it's okay

and he actually waits a couple of days

before he heads down and it's four days

before Jesus arrives in Bethany and

Martha runs out to him to see him and

meets him and tells him what is going on

and if you had only been here then he

would have been okay because probably he

could have been blessed by him when he

was really sick before he passed away

but Lazarus

is buried in a tomb with a stone put

over it just like Jesus is in the tomb

of Joseph of Arimathea and so they were

he comes in and he asks them to remove

the stone they stop him and say well

wait a minute it's been four days he's

gonna stink and Jesus says go ahead and

remove the stone and interestingly

similar to the way Jesus is buried

he is completely wound up in clothing

and has what they call a napkin over his

head or over his face similar to Jesus

where this is the Shroud that was

covering his face and Martha has said to

Jesus he says I know that if you say

that he will rise from the dead that he

will rise from the dead here's what she

says I know that even now four days

later

whatsoever thou wilt ask of God God will

give it thee we get always these

examples of faith and so it's not just

that he wants to put out these miracles

for everybody to be converted he's

acting on the faith of others typically

and of course he's gonna act on that

faith and it always has brought out

in the Gospels that there are people of

faith that are asking for these miracles

to happen and Jesus responds to her

saying thy brother shall rise again and

Martha that says to him well I know he's

gonna rise again in the resurrection at

the last day by the way a clear

reference to a physical resurrection and

Jesus says to her I am the resurrection

and the life he that believeth in me

though he were dead yet shall he lives

we've heard that many times that verse

that is in reference here to Lazarus

being lifted up and he asks Mary in

verse 26 and whosoever liveth and

believeth in me shall never die

believest thou this so he is confirming

her faith and she saith unto Him yay

Lord I believe that thou art the Christ

here's the qualifier remember the Christ

is the Messiah in he

I believe that thou art the Christ the

Son of God which should come into the

world

Luke is very specific as is mark and

especially John in talking about who

this is not just some warrior not just

some king but the son of God who would

come into the world or be born into the

world and so the way that Jesus raises

Lazarus from the dead is once they go in

there he says with a loud voice Lazarus

come forth and he that was dead came

forth bound hand and foot with grave

clothes and his face was bound about

with a napkin and so many are converted

from this I mean it's a pretty big deal

right many are converted from this and

so many of the messengers go from

Bethany which is just less than a couple

miles from Jerusalem and go back to the

Pharisees and the Sadducees the high

priests Caiaphas and tell them what has

happened and they're like this is it

we've got to tighten down the screws

here we've got to take him out we've got

to take Jesus out and this is an

interesting point here we're gonna end

with this Caiaphas says this to everyone

once they've received this news he says

consider that it is expedient for us

that one man should die for the people

and that the whole nation perish not so

they already know that they're going to

sacrifice him right they know that

that's what they're going to do this is

not a surprise to anyone and this is why

Jesus is supposed to stay away from

Jerusalem especially at the Passover

when they have the crucifixions and so

they know this is gonna happen this

isn't something this was the plan this

isn't something when Jews Jesus gets

taken that night and then crucified the

next day that was a whim and this is a

way what we're gonna do to him they knew

what they were going to do

Caiaphas knew he had to take out Jesus

it was getting out of hand

too many people working

hurting and they were gonna lose their

power and so then in verse 51 and this

spake he not of himself being Caiaphas

but being high priest that year he

prophesied that Jesus should die for

that nation so he knew that was going to

happen it also brings up kind of a

principle strangely enough that we can

look back to with Nephi and Laban

remember what the Lord says the

Nephi it is better that one man should

perish I'm paraphrasing then a whole

nation dwindle in unbelief so something

similar here Caiaphas is saying you know

we're gonna have we're gonna take this

man out for the good of the nation here

so a perverted example of sacrifice that

Caiaphas is giving here they're planning

on crucifying the Son of God imagine and

then Luke adds on to this and not for

that nation only because he wants to

talk about the Gentiles but that also he

should gather together in one the

children of God that were scattered

abroad so everybody the Gentiles the

Jews everyone then from that day forth

they took counsel together for to put

him to death they knew what they were

gonna do the plans were laid in dark and

in secret and then in verse 55 this

could have been a while later it could

have been even months later but it leads

us into what follows next week and the

Jews Passover was nigh at hand and many

went out of the country up to Jerusalem

before the Passover to purify themselves

so with the raising of Lazarus now the

stage is completely set for Caiaphas the

high priest of the temple the man in

charge to take out the Son of God

and they know how they're gonna do I'll

talk to you next time