NARRATOR: One day Jesus told his friends a story about a beggar and a rich man.
JESUS 1: Once there was a rich man who dressed in royal purple and fine linen. He ate splendidly every day. At the rich man’s gate lay a beggar, a man named Lazarus, who was covered with sores. Lazarus wished he had even the scraps from the rich man’s table to eat. But he didn’t. Dogs came and licked his sores.
JESUS 2: Eventually Lazarus died, and angels carried him to the arms of Abraham. Then the rich man died, too, and was buried. He wound up in the abode of the dead in torment. When he looked up, he saw Abraham far off with Lazarus resting in his arms.
RICH MAN: Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to put a drop of water on my tongue, for I am tortured in these flames.
ABRAHAM: Remember how well you lived when you were alive and how miserable Lazarus was. Now he has found comfort, but you have found torment. He cannot help you. Between you and us is a great abyss that no one can cross.
RICH MAN: If you can’t help me, at least send Lazarus to my father’s house and warn my five brothers, so they don’t wind up in this place of torment.
ABRAHAM: Your brothers can pay attention to the word of Moses and the prophets.
RICH MAN: They need more. If someone went to them from the dead, they would change their ways.
ABRAHAM: If your brothers do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone would rise from the dead.
Luke 16.19-31
Sunday Readings: Amos 6.1,4-7; 1 Timothy 6.11-16; Luke 16.19-31