Hi everyone. Welcome back to the logical.
Bible study podcast. And today, we're looking at a
really interesting passage that I think shows us the importance
of doing exegesis, because if we don't do exegesis on passages
like this one, we're going to be really struggling to see what
Jesus is trying to teach us in the gospels.
So, we're looking today to really controversial parable of
Jesus called the rich man and Lazarus. so, we're looking at
Luke 16:19-31, Jesus said to the Pharisees.
There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen,
and feast magnificently every day.
And at his gate there, lay a poor man named Lazarus covered
with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that
fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even came and licked his
sores. Now, the poor man died and was
carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham, The rich
man also died and was buried. In his torment, in Hades, he
looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his
bosom. So he cried out, Father,
Abraham, pity me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his
finger in water and cool. My tongue for I am in agony in
these flames. My son Abraham replied.
Remember the during your life. Good things came your way, just
as bad things came the way of Lazarus.
Now, he's being comforted here while you were in agony.
But that is not all between us and you a great golf has been
fixed to stop anyone. If he wanted to Crossing from
our side to yours and to stop any Crossing from your side, two
hours. The rich man replied.
Father I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father's house
since I have five brothers to give them warning so that they
do not come to this place of Torment too.
They have Moses and the prophets said Abraham, let them listen to
them. Are no Father.
Abraham said the rich man, but if someone comes to them from
the dead, they will repent. Then Abraham said to him, if
they will not listen to Moses or to the prophets, they will not
be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.
So that's our passage for today. And this is one long Parable.
So our exegesis here as whenever we do parables in this podcast,
is we want to focus on the main point that Jesus is trying to
communicate to his audience. This particular paragraph has
generated a lot of discussion throughout church history and
certainly even up till today, particularly in terms of is
Jesus, describing what the afterlife is really like, or is
he just using sort of imagery the to make a general point and
so we'll touch on some of that as we go.
The main thing to say this point is that when Jesus is telling a
parable, not every aspect of it is supposed to be taken.
Literally usually There's some sort of comparison or analogy.
He wants his readers to take away from it.
But the situation in the kingdom of God is not always exactly
analogous in every respect to the picture that Jesus sets up
in the parable. So we don't want to press it
too. Hard to take every detail to
literally. Particularly important with this
Parable because it's one of the most confronting and difficult
passages in the entire New Testament.
They'll be some things I say in this, in this exegesis, you
might not agree with there would probably be some things that I'm
wrong about in this exegesis. There's some things I'm not sure
about in terms of how to understand it.
I think sometimes I might not be taking part of it, literally
enough. Maybe in some ways, it might be
taking it too. Literally, who knows you be the
judge and we'll try and go through it together.
So a couple of things we have to say about the context of this
Parable up front. So where does Jesus say this?
In terms of his his timeline and his teaching.
So Jesus says this particular Parable in the context of a
number of other teachings that is just given about using money
wisely for God's kingdom, rather than selfishly.
So Jesus has been criticizing the Pharisees because they love
money and they use money selfishly, that's in Luke
chapter. 15 and 16. So that's a really important
context. We have to keep that in mind.
The point of this Parable is not primarily about the afterlife.
Although certainly that's part of its actually primarily about
money. So we keep that in mind, that's
that will help. Secondly, we need to think about
what the Jewish view of the world was at this time.
So it appears, we can't be sure, but it appears that before Jesus
died on the cross, the afterlife worked a bit.
Currently people didn't go to heaven and hell as such as
Christians, we believe that when Jesus died on the cross, he
opened the way to heaven. So before then people couldn't
really access heaven in the same way that they could after Jesus
death, that's a Christian teaching.
So when people died, when good people died before Jesus, they
didn't go to heaven, they went somewhere else and the Jews
understood Things to work like this.
Now, the Jews view probably wasn't exactly accurate, but
this is based on a number of Old Testament passages.
This is how they figure that it worked.
They believe that when a person dies, whether a good person or a
bad person, the soul would be carried away either by Angels or
maybe not by angels to a place called sheol or Hades.
So those two words mean the same thing she oh Lord Hades both the
good and the bad went there, everyone went there after they
died. The only exception to that would
be people like Elijah, who's body?
Got taken straight up into the Heavenly Throne Room, everyone
else. Even presumably people like King
David would have gone to she ol. From there, if the person has
found favor with God, they would spend their eternity in what's
called Abraham's bosom and bosom just means side.
So, by the side of Abraham being comforted the, so this is for
the good people. They get comforted in the good
part of she ol in the Abraham's bosom, part of sheol.
And if they've lived a bad life and they've displeased God, they
were go to another part of she'll where there would be
tormented Both of these places are in Hades but so they're both
kind of compartments of the same realm called Hades and between
the two Realms was this great value or Great Golf so that
people couldn't cross from one side to the other.
So that's how the Jews believed that it worked.
Is that exactly how it worked. Maybe, maybe not we're not sure.
But that's the best we have to go with Jay.
God didn't give them all the information about the afterlife
in the Old Testament. He only gave them a little bit,
so we're not sure if this is entirely how it worked or not.
We do know according to the teaching of the church though
that when Jesus died in the three days between his death and
Resurrection, this is where he went.
He did go to Hades so Hades does exist.
But how exactly the compartments work is still a bit of a
mystery? Now, this Parable, we're looking
at, does not refer to the day of General judgment, which hasn't
happened yet. So there will be some sort of
day in the future when God will call everyone to judgment and
that will be, you know, the day of final judgment whenever I'm
receives their rewards. So that's described in the
parable of the sheep and the goats, this is talking about a
different judgment. We're talking here about what's
called the particular judgment which occurs immediately after a
person dies. So, after a person dies, their
soul, Straight away either goes to the good place or the bad
place. And that's what this particular
Parable is talking about. So it's the Judgment of
individual Souls straight after they die.
So verse 9, Jesus said sorry verse 19.
Jesus said to the Pharisees. Now, this is important who's
Jesus audience here. It's the Pharisees that helps us
work out what his main point is. So five verses earlier than this
in verse 14 of Luke chapter, 19. Sorry, Luke chapter 16, where in
verse 14 it specifically says the Pharisees are lovers of
money. That's that's exactly what Luke
says, the Pharisees are lovers of money and the verse before
that verse 13 Jesus says you cannot love God and money.
So we're right in this section here that deals with money.
Jesus is directing the parable at the Pharisees because they're
lovers of money. So here's what he says, there
was a rich man. Now, this is an imaginary rich
man. Probably not supposed to be a
Pharisee. The Pharisees are not supposed
to see them self as the rich man.
And the reason for that is probably because Pharisees
weren't exactly Rich. They didn't have a whole lot of
money. They did like money, but they
weren't Rich, whereas the Sadducees were quite Rich.
So we're just thinking of a generic rich person here and
he's probably warning the Pharisees that they don't want
to end up like Like this rich man and if they keep going down
the path of they're going, they could end up the way of this
rich man. So he hasn't got a name in the
parable. Although, later Christian
tradition would call This Man, dive, he's div es and that just
means Rich. So if you see that word IVs,
that's the name that later tradition has given to this
imaginary Richmond. There was a rich man clothed in
purple and linen and feasted magnificently every day.
So this is a man who has the very best of everything every
single day. He's probably a good example of
if you remember the parable of the sower and there's four
different types of soil, one of the types of soil was the area
that's choked by the riches and pleasures of life that's in
chapter 8 of Luke. So I think he's a good example
of that. Interestingly earlier Jesus had
described Herod Antipas, the king of in the area at the time.
Using similar language. He says the king likes to feasts
magnificently everyday. That's in chapter 7 of Luke.
At his gate, lay a poor man. Do it was someone somewhat
common in that culture to have very poor people that were sort
of laying on the streets if they didn't have anyone to look after
them. The fact that he's laying in
this Parable suggest that he might be lame.
He can't walk. And this case notice his at the
man's gate. Now, we shouldn't think of this.
It's pretty easy to Picture This in terms of 21st century Gates
as in like, you know, the gate to the President's White House
or something, where there's a long driveway and then there's
the gate separating the house. That's not what we're talking
about here. There wouldn't be a long
driveway, the poor man would be able to see the rich man.
He's probably only a couple of meters away through the window
and vice versa so they can see each other.
The poor man is right in the rich man's line of sight.
This is the key thing. Every day, he sees this poor
man, every day he sees that the poor man needs food.
We did doesn't do anything about it.
He has no excuse, he's choosing not to feed this poor man who
obviously needs his help. So who are going to set up a
parallel to this today, we're pretty much talking about a poor
man sitting outside our own front door and we see him there
every single day. That would be a parallel
situation just to get a feel for, you know, the kind of
selfishness that Jesus is talking about.
So the poor man's name is Lazarus.
Now, a lot has been said about this because in Parables, Jesus
doesn't name people. This is the only Parable Jesus
tells where the guy has a name. And for that reason, some people
think Jesus is not telling a parable, he's actually telling a
true story of a real event that did occur in the afterlife with
a real guy called Lazarus. It's possible but I think in the
context it's more reasonable to think this is still a parable.
It's just that Jesus has chosen the name Lazarus because it must
have some significance. What some people have suggested
is that because Lazarus is a derivative of the name alireza,
there could be something in that because in the Old Testament,
Abraham literally had a servant whose name was Eleazar.
The so that's in Genesis chapter 15 and we're soon going to be
introduced to Abraham in this story and it turns out that
Lazarus is basically Abraham's servant.
So that's one speculation about. Why?
The rich man is called Lazarus, potentially could also be a
reference to the fact that Jesus does raised a man from the dead
called Lazarus. Although the connection between
those two is not as clear. So he's covered with sores.
So he might have some sort of skin condition, meaning his, you
know, the lowest of the low. He's a real outcast in society.
Jesus here is setting up a picture of extreme richness and
selfishness being contrasted with the very lowest of the low
in society verse 21. He longed to feel himself with
the scraps that fell from the rich man's table, so he can
probably look through the guys window and can see him feasting
every single day and he just Longs for evenness.
Proper food. Now, this is going to contrast
interestingly with what happens later because the rich man is
going to, sorry. Instead of in this case, we have
Lazarus longing for something. From the rich man, later in the
parable, the rich man is going to long for something from
Lazarus. Dogs even came and licked his
sores. So here's the most humiliated
person in society. Basically, even the dogs are
licking, his saws, verse 23, eventually the poor man died and
was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
So his soul is taken to what's considered to be the place of
comfort for the Jews. Now, he doesn't go to the good
place because he's poor. Let's keep that in mind.
The parrot point in the parable is not.
If you're rich, you go to hell. If you're poor, you go to
heaven, the reason Lazarus. Is to the good place here is
because he is righteous, and he suffers his self is in a
righteous way, not because he's poor.
The rich man also died, and was buried.
So, apparently, no Angels. Help the rich, man.
He just dies and goes to the bad place.
So, now we enter into the part of the parable.
That's been the subject of a lot of debate because it's not clear
to the extent. That Jesus is Jesus affirming
that this is the way the afterlife actually worked in his
time. Is he / trying a picture of what
the good place in the bad place actually look like or is he just
tapped? Into the common Jewish way of
thinking about it to make a point about money.
I think it's more likely to say, he's just making a general point
and he knows that the Jews have a certain way of looking at the
afterlife and he's tapping into that and he's not trying to
affirm any specific detail. However it could be true that
this is how the afterlife worked in his time.
Certainly Certainly there would be a good place in a bad place
that is that part is certainly, right.
So in his torment in Hades. So here we learn that the the
wicked is in the wicked. People are in some sense
tortured, even before the final Judgment Day, they're just here
straight after their death or already being tortured and
that's pretty significant. We shouldn't think that those
who are evil aren't tortured until the final judgement day,
they're already in a sense tortured as soon as their sole,
you know, leaves their body. Now, it's not clear.
What kind of torture it is though, is this because he talks
about Flames, is this a metaphor for Spiritual suffering, or does
the person in the afterlife experience, some sort of bodily,
physical suffering? We don't get an answer to that.
So, in his torment in Hades, he looked and saw Abraham a long
way off with Lazarus in his bosom.
So the rich man is looking across, he can see the other
compartment. He sees Abraham and Lazarus
hanging out there. And he says to Father, Abraham
notice that God isn't in this Parable.
He's actually talking to Abraham father Abraham, all Jews honored
Abraham and considered him to be their father.
So, he yells out and says, Father Abraham.
Now, interestingly, if you read earlier, in Luke John, the
Baptist had already warned the Jews that it's not sufficient to
just call Abraham your father, and assume that you're going to
get into the kingdom. He said, you have to produce.
Fruits are good. Fruits is evidence of repentance
Which obviously this rich man hasn't so calling Abraham father
is not going to mean anything, he says Pity Me.
Now, notice what's going on here?
This, the rich man is essentially praying to Abraham
asking your request of Abraham his asking for the intercession
of a dead person. So there could be a reference.
Well, this could be used to support the Catholic, teaching
on the intercession of those who have passed on.
Although of course it's a parable and we can't take it
too. Literally.
He says, send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and
cool. My tongue for, I am in agony in
these Flames. So the Jews believe that the
torture in Hades could be compared to the torture of being
burned. Now whether the Jews actually
believe there was real flames in Hades, not clear.
But they certainly thought the torture was like being burnt by
Flames, so not pleasant. Notice that the rich man is not
asking. To actually doesn't even ask to
come over to the good place. He seems to know full well that
he's done the wrong thing and he belongs in the bad place, all
he's asking for is just a momentary relief, just bring me
even a small bit of water to put on my tongue so that indicates
just how bad the torment must be.
But Abraham replies, he says, my son's that's kind of a tender
way of responding. My son.
Remember that during your life, good things came your way.
So what Abraham appears to be saying to him here is I'm not
going to allow you to have your tongue called you had.
Plenty of good things already in your life that seems to be what
he's saying. Now here we learned that Abraham
has knowledge of this man's life.
He knows who the rich man is, and he knows that he had a very
good prosperous life. So this might be another
indicator that the Saints in heaven are aware of what is
going on on Earth. Again, it's just a parable and
we don't want to press it too, literally, but it's interesting
that even Jesus is okay with, including this kind of idea, as
part of his teaching that the dead are aware of what happens
in people's lives on Earth. I just, as bad things, came the
way of Lazarus. Now, he's being comforted and
you were in agony. So Abraham wants.
This is the first reason Abraham gives for why he says, no, I'm
not going to send Lazarus to give you some water.
The idea is he wants a rich man to recognize that there's an
element of fairness in their current situation just as the
rich man received good things in his life and Lazarus received
bad things. Now the situation has been
reversed so there's kind of like an element of Justice here.
But Abraham is not saying he's not teaching you're here because
you got good things in your life.
That's not what Abraham saying he is.
Just saying that the current situation is in a way Justified
but now he makes the more fundamental Point verse 26,
Abraham says to the rich man, but that is not all between us
and you a great golf has been fixed.
So the implication here is that God has fixed this great Chasm.
This Great Gulf between the Place in the bad place between
the two compartments between us and you, a great golf has been
fixed to stop. Anyone if you wanted to Crossing
from our side to yours, so the point Abraham's making is look
rich, man. Even if I wanted to help you
even if I agreed to send Lazarus over and dip, he's give you some
water. I wouldn't be able to recant
actually cross this Chasm. It won't work.
God doesn't allow that to happen.
So no one can cross from our side to yours and no one can
cross from your side two hours. So here we have the Fairly
strong teaching. I think that in the afterlife,
your destiny is eternal. You can't cross from one
compartment to the other. Presumably, this is the same
rule applies in heaven and hell as well.
So you can't change it even if you want to.
That's Jesus teaching here. If you get to the afterlife,
when you regret making the decisions that you made, which
probably a lot of people in the bad place, would Jesus teaching
is you can't actually get to the other compartment, even if you
want to, why does Jesus add this detail into the parable?
Because he wants the Pharisees to realize that the way they
live their life has Eternal consequences and if they get to
the afterlife and then they regret their decisions, it's too
late. Verse 27.
So the rich man seems to accept this reasoning.
He realizes that his request isn't possible because of the
great Chasm. So he asks for a different
request of Abraham. He says, Father Abraham, I beg
you then to send Lazarus to my father's house Now, we need to
pause here. This is probably one reason why
we can't take the parable to literally.
Because if this was literally the case we'd have to say that
Jesus believes that it's possible to send someone to come
back from the dead and to preach to those who are alive.
And that doesn't seem to be part of Christian teaching.
So I don't think we want to say that Jesus wants to affirm that
Abraham could, in fact, seven someone back from the dead to
preach to the living because that's not that doesn't seem to
be how the after Works. So if we are going to agree that
Jesus doesn't want to teach that, then we probably have to
say that this really is symbolic.
It's a fictional scenario and it doesn't fully correspond to the
way the afterlife works or rather worked in Jesus time.
So it's just worth adding that in.
He says batter. So back to the rich man father I
beg you then to send Lazarus to my father's house since I have
five brothers to give them warning lest they also come to
this place of Torment. So he's got Brothers, Left Alive
on Earth and he doesn't want his brothers to end up in the bad
place as well. Now because of this verse some
Catholic theologians have suggested that maybe the rich
man is not in. If we use the word, hell, he's
not in Hell or the bad place, he's actually in purgatory.
And the reason they think that is because here, he she he seems
to be showing genuine love and concern for his brothers on
Earth. So, and you might think the
people in hell can't really show that.
And so, he's in purgatory. I don't think that's the right
interpretation. I think that's ruled out,
because of what Jesus said earlier in the parable where he
says, you can't cross from one side to the other.
According to Catholic, teaching you can cross from purgatory to
heaven. In fact, people do it all the
time if we understand Purgatory correctly.
So I don't think it's possible to say that the rich man is
impersonating. Tree.
But I just put that out there to let you know that some quite
respected. Theologians have suggested, this
might be Purgatory. Rather than hell, I think it's
more reasonable to think that this does correspond to what we
think of, as the bad place, or how it's just that, this man is
showing regret for the decisions he made in his life.
Verse 29, notice Abraham's response to his request to send
Lazarus to his brothers. Abraham says they have Moses.
And the prophets. Let them listen to them.
So Moses and the prophets is like a metaphor for the Old
Testament. So Abraham saying they have an
Old Testament, they know their Old Testament, let them listen
to it. Abraham says, if you listen to
the Old Testament, that would be enough to keep them from coming
to this place, that's quite profound, isn't it?
Because well the Old Testament does teach pretty clearly that
you should treat the poor well and you should use your money
while and not use it selfishly. So Abraham says if you know you
Old Testament you will know how to treat people and you'll
believe it and you won't make decisions that will put you in
hell. So here I think we can say Jesus
is teaching that the scriptures even just the Old Testament
itself. Is sufficient is enough
information for a person to know how God expects them to live
their life. So if a person reads the Old
Testament and believes it will, then they won't, you know, the
believes that in the sense of acting on it, then they won't
actually end up in hell. That appears to be Jesus
teaching here. Verse 30.
So the rich man, tries one more run one more time here to get
Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers.
He says, yes, but if someone comes to them from the dead,
they will repent. Now I hear statements like
personally, admire and life, I work as a secondary school
teacher and in the re class, I hear this a lot from students.
This is a very common attitude for people in the 21st century
to have today, particularly young people, they say things
like if I see a miracle, if God heals whatever or appears to me
right now and give me a miraculous Vision, then I will
believe that's actually very common So they won't believe the
Bible if you tell them a Bible story.
They'll say yeah, won't believe that.
But if God Appears to me miraculously, then I'll believe
the Bible and I will change my life.
So they're looking for this miraculous sign.
So that's a reasonable thing to say in a way.
But the problem is and I will often say this to my students is
we know that that's not the case, because there was plenty
of times in Jesus ministry where he did do miraculous things,
people saw him do miraculous things even raising people from
the dead and some people still weren't convinced, some people
didn't turn to God, some people just got even angrier at Jesus.
So, I think this verse speaks a lot to our culture today, if
someone came to them from the dead, they will repent.
Well, that's what people think, but human psychology doesn't
work that way. And in fact, that's exactly what
Jesus goes on to teach here. So, verse 31 Abraham says in the
parable, If they will not listen to Moses or to the prophets,
they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.
I think this is quite a phenomenal statement.
Jesus knows how the human heart Works.
He knows that people who don't listen to God's revelation in
scripture, nothing's going to be enough for them.
They're not going to listen even through Miracles, they're not
going to believe, even if the most amazing Miracle is
presented to them. So again, the clear teaching is
the Revelation that God gives us in the scriptures is enough.
And if you don't believe That you're not going to believe
anything. Obviously, a lot more could be
said about this as well. So that's the end of the parable
and when we, whenever we finish Parables, we always want to ask
ourselves because there's a lot of details.
We can get caught up in, what's the overall point chooses was
trying to communicate to his original audience?
I Think Jesus is trying to teach the people, particularly the
Pharisees, firstly, that the way they use their money and the way
they treat their poor will be what determines the Eternal
Destiny, not their Jewish heritage In the light of part of
the parable, I think he makes a second point, which is this.
Once you're in the afterlife he can't change your destiny even
if you want to. So Jesus is trying to emphasize
to the Pharisees and the crowds as a whole it's important that
you change your ways now and start to use your money for the
purposes of the kingdom and not in a selfish way.
Otherwise you could end up in the bad place just like the man
in the parable was So that's out exegesis of the text.
This is come up quite a lot in Catholic teaching.
And so it's found in a few really interesting and quite
clear paragraphs of the catechism.
So I'd like to read a few of them out for you paragraph. 3,
36 has a discussion about angels.
It says from the beginning of Life until death human life is
surrounded by the watchful care and intercession of angels
beside each believer stands an angel as protector and Shepherd,
leading him Life already here on Earth, the Christian Life,
shares by faith in the Blessed company of angels and Men United
in God. Paragraph 28, 31 starts to link
this to the way we treat people. This is in the discussion about
the, Our Father. It says the presence of those
who hunger because they lack bread opens up another profound.
Meaning of this petition, the drama of hunger in the world
calls Christians, who pray sincerely to exercise
responsibility toward their Brethren, both in their personal
behavior, and in their solidarity, with the Human
family. This petition of the Lord's
Prayer, cannot be isolated. it from The Parables of the Poor
Man Lazarus and of The Last Judgement So here, right in the
midst of a discussion about the, Our Father, we have the clear
Catholic teaching that some people are quite poor and they
really do need physical bread and as Christians, we have a
responsibility to feed them. That's certainly one of the
points of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.
Now we get down to some really concrete teachings.
So paragraph 10 to 1 talks about the particular judgment which is
the Judgment each person experiences immediately after
death. Death puts an end to human life
as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the
divine grace. Manifested in Christ, the New
Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the
final encounter with Christ in his second coming.
But also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded
immediately after death in accordance with his works and
Faith. The parable of the Poor Man,
Lazarus, and the power, and the words of Christ on the cross to
the good thief, as well as others.
Testament, texts speak of a final Destiny of the Soul, a
destiny, which can be different for some and for others.
Paragraph 6, 3 3, we have a discussion about where Jesus
went for the three days after his death.
Here's what it says. Scripture calls the Abode of the
Dead to went to which the dead Christ went down.
Hell, she all in Hebrew or Hades in Greek.
Because those who are, there are deprived of the vision of God,
such is the case for all the dead weather, evil, or righteous
while they are awake. The Redeemer, which does not
mean that their lot is As Jesus shows through the parable of the
Poor Man Lazarus, who was received into Abraham's bosom?
It is precisely those holy souls, who awaited their savior
in Abraham's bosom, who the Christ whom Christ, the Lord
delivered, when he descended into hell Jesus did not descend
into hell to deliver the Damned nor to destroy the hell of
damnation. But to free the just who had
gone before him. So, this is a really important
teaching, in understanding where Jesus went for the three days
because there's a lot of confusion about it.
Did Jesus, go to hell to bring people out of hell to give
people a second chance? No, this paragraph.
Clearly teaches. That before, Jesus, everyone
went to the same place, which is Hades and that had two
compartments. And when Jesus died for the
three days, after his death, he went down to the good
compartment and those Souls who had lived a good virtuous.
In the bosom of Abraham, he brought them with himself into
heaven in his resurrection. So that's a really interesting
teaching, which is not entirely explicit in the Bible, but which
the church fathers were really clear on and the Catholic church
is really clear on as well. Paragraph 1859.
This is our last one has a discussion about what it means
to have a mortal sin and this is a really interesting one, mortal
sin requires, full knowledge and complete consent.
It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act of
its opposition to God's law. It also implies a consent,
sufficient sufficiently deliberate to be a personal
choice, feigned ignorance, and Hardness of Heart.
Do not diminish, but rather increase the voluntary.
Of a sin. So that's really interesting.
So the paragraph tells us that mortal sin requires full
knowledge and complete consent, but then it goes on to talk
about feigned ignorance and Hardness of Heart.
So, as in turning away, when we know something is wrong, or, you
know, closing out use because we don't want to hear that.
Something is wrong, having a Hardness of Heart.
And it actually that phrase, they're actually refers.
It makes a reference to this Parable.
So just as the A rich man had feigned ignorance and Hardness
of Heart. He probably knew what he should
have been doing in his life. The Catholic Church's teaching
is that does not diminish, our responsibility, Hardness of
Heart in that sense of being voluntarily ignorant actually
makes us more culpable not less culpable.
So a whole lot of really interesting teachings from this
particular Gospel reading. Today, I'll include always
paragraphs in the show notes. Thanks for listening to this
podcast. It's a bit of a longer one but I
think it's worth it because it's a really difficult Parable.
If you think others would appreciate hearing this exegesis
of the rich man and Lazarus, I'd love it.
If you could share it with them and please send in any questions
you have to the email address. Logical Bible study at gmail.com
or you could leave a voicemail. Message.
And the link for that is in the show notes to thanks for
listening.