1. The description of the rich man makes it very clear that he was living a very luxurious life. He was clothed in purple and fine linen and his robes were expensive costing many times the value of a working man’s daily wage. He was feeding himself on exotic and costly dishes. He broke the law which forbids work on the Sabbath because it also positively tells everyone to work the rest of six days. This rich man does not work for his food.
2. In those days there were no knives, forks or napkins. Food was eaten with the hands and the hands were cleansed by wiping them on hunks of bread which were then thrown away. Lazarus was waiting for it.
3. Lazarus is the only character in any parable given a name by Jesus. The name is the Latinized form of Eleazar and means God is my help. He was a beggar, full of sores and the street dogs were around him.
4. The text give no indication that the rich man was guilty of moral wrong or for that ,matter that Lazarus was morally right. The rich man is condemned for his sin of omission
5. The sin of the rich man was that he did not bother about what was happening around him. He was in his own world comfortable with what he had. He did not reach out to the needy and the poor.
So many things happen around us, like the kiling of Tamils in Sri Lanka, the brutal rape case of young girl in Delhi and other several crimes against women, hanging of Afzal Guru and other political issues, bomb blast in Hyderabad, resignment of our Holy Father and several other incidents. What is my reaction towards all these incidents. If I am least bothered about any of these issues or say to myself ‘what can I do as an individual and remain quiet, or I go on without even having an opinion about these stark realities, we will have to face the same fate of the rich man.
Courtesy
William Barclay the New Daily Study Bible
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary
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