Parable of the Rich Man and Poor Lazarus

The Poor Lazarus at the Rich Man's Door, James Tissot (1836-1902), Brooklyn Museum

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus stands out from other parables of Jesus by its dramatic realism. Unlike others, it features a character named Lazarus rather than an anonymous figure. It strikingly describes the afterlife, evoking the fate of the righteous and the wicked after death. Finally, it is not limited to a general moral exhortation: it directly highlights the tension between selfish wealth and the demands of the Law and the prophets, while already announcing the refusal to Believe "even if someone rises from the dead." Some authors believe it is not an allegory, but a description of a reality, notably of the afterlife.

This opinion is also found in Maria Valtorta where Jesus concludes:

"That is the parable and its meaning is so clear that no clarification is required."

It does not follow the usual three-part structure (announcement of the theme, illustration, teachings), but just one: the parable. However, it is fully justified by the motivating context: the miserable death of one of His Disciples, Jonas, mistreated by a particularly cruel master, Doras.

Paradoxes raised by exegesis

The uniqueness of this parable has led exegesis to question several points:

1. The genre of the text

The description of the afterlife and the dialogue with Abraham is so precise that exegesis has questioned whether this parable is allegorical or not. The realism of the scene is reinforced by concrete details about wealth, begging, post-mortem sufferings. The personalization (Lazarus), mentioned five times, adds to this feeling and raises questions about this choice of name. Is it a realistic detail or a deliberate theological choice?

2. The "bosom of Abraham"

What does this expression, absent from the Old Testament, represent? Some rabbinic texts (Midrash on the Song of Songs) mention a resting place for the righteous near Abraham, but without describing such a precise geography of the afterlife. In Luke's account, the bosom of Abraham is contrasted with Hades (the abode of the dead), the first being a place of happiness, the other of suffering. An impassable chasm separates them. What reality does this correspond to? The Gospel of John speaks of the "bosom of the Father": what is the relationship?

3. The nature of the judgment

The rich man suffers immediately after death (verse 23: "In Hades he was in torment"). There is no mention of a final tribunal. Does the parable describe an intermediate state (before the resurrection of the dead) or the final judgment? Unlike Daniel 12:2 or John 5:28-29, no bodily renewal is mentioned. Some see it as the counterpart to the immediate beatitude of the good thief: "Today you will be with me in paradise", others see a contradiction with Paul.

4. Wealth

The text does not mention any sin of the rich man other than his insensitivity: "he feasted sumptuously every day" while Lazarus longed "to be satisfied with the crumbs". Abraham was "exceedingly rich" and Job is rewarded with wealth. For what reason then is the rich man condemned?

5. The dialogue with Abraham (vv. 24-31)

The rich man asks that Lazarus relieve his torment (verse 24). Is this a sign of repentance? He also asks that Lazarus warn his brothers (verse 28). Is he concerned about their salvation? He calls Abraham "father" and Abraham calls him "child" while noting the impossibility of helping him and the uselessness of a miracle. Does Abraham's answer deny any conversion after death?

Comparative approach of Luke and Maria Valtorta

Neither in Luke nor in Maria Valtorta's parallel vision is the parable developed in its three parts. It is limited to its illustration, sufficiently explicit to speak for itself. This characteristic, as well as the particularly concrete narration, find their explanation in the context.

The context of the parable

The episode takes place during the second Passover journey, in the Esdraelon Plain. Jesus brings moral and material comfort to peasants belonging to two Sanhedrins, relatives and neighbors. Harsh masters refuse their servants to participate in the Passover feasts. Doras, a large landowner, exploited Jonas, a former shepherd of the Nativity, to death after cunningly reducing him to slavery. He is the "Lazarus" of the parable. Doras, his master, even deceived Jesus, who wanted to redeem his disciple, motivated by gain. The cruel master subsequently died. His son, Doras son of Doras, as well as his neighbor the scribe Johanan ben Zaccai, continue to treat their servants harshly.

This situation forms the backdrop of the parable, which speaks for itself to the exploited listening. Through them, it gives its full dimension on the terrible destiny of those who hoard wealth and human life for their own profit.

Luke places this parable last of three parables about wealth, but in Maria Valtorta it is placed at the very beginning. Known to the Disciples, anchored in a lived and violent reality, it will be a reference point for future teachings on wealth and its dangers.

The sins of the rich man

Maria Valtorta emphasizes the systemic dimension of the rich man's sin, which is not limited to indifference but embodies an active perversion of the gifts received. The rich man establishes a system where wealth serves to deny the humanity of others (Lazarus is treated worse than his dogs).

His love of money (Mammon) has become idolatry of wealth. He is overcome by Pride: In "his purple and byssus clothes he used to strut", courtiers "gratified his pride", he was "the most powerful man in the country". The rich man comes to despise God and others.

His wealth has become Greed: he refuses to share even leftovers and chases Lazarus away so as "not to spoil" the image of his feasts. "The sight of so much misery and goodness was a continuous reproach to him."

His famed banquets of abundance, his "pompous banquets which took place in the magnificent halls," are wasteful while Lazarus dies of hunger. "He would have him driven away" probably with Violence.

His wealth has led him, through spiritual laziness, to the reason for his damnation: he "never understood what love is, not even among relatives".

The holiness of poor Lazarus

In his socially miserable life, Lazarus develops the strength of his holiness.

"But under the crust of the human misery of Lazarus, the beggar, there was a treasure, which was even greater than Lazarus’ misery and Dives’ wealth. And it was Lazarus’ true holiness. He had never infringed the Law, not even when urged by need, and above all he had complied with the precept of love for God and for his neighbour." 

He illustrates this paradoxical power that Paul will later manifest in his hymn to love: Lazarus "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

"He, as is wont with poor people, used to go near the doors of rich people to ask for alms, so that he would not starve to death. And every evening he would go to Dives’ house, hoping to receive at least the crumbs of the pompous banquets which took place in the magnificent halls. He would lie in the street, near the door, and wait patiently."

He draws his human joy only in the company of the dogs who bring him affection and food that the rich man refuses him.

Blessedness and damnation

The two protagonists of the parable die successively: first Lazarus, then the rich man. Luke 16:22 highlights the blessed death of Lazarus: "The poor man died, and the Angels carried him to Abraham. The rich man also died, and was buried." This indeed corresponds, in Maria Valtorta's work, to the death of Jonas in the arms of Jesus. But in this vision, the contrast is accentuated between human funerals and the eternal destiny. The blessedness in the bosom of Abraham for Lazarus, after a life of misery and an anonymous death:

"No one on earth noticed it, no one mourned him."

Hell for the rich man after a life of feasting and grandiose funerals:

"Oh! What a grand funeral! The whole town, already aware of his agony, crowded in the square where his abode was, some to be noticed as friends of the great man [...]"

But the judgment falls:

"Can the word of man change God’s judgement? Can human apology cancel what is written in the book of Life? No, it cannot. What has been judged is judged and what has been written is written. And notwithstanding the grand funeral, the soul of Dives was buried in hell."

Immediate retribution

In Luke 16:24 the rich man "suffers terribly in that furnace." It becomes a "place of torture" in Luke 16:28. Maria Valtorta goes further in detail: this place is eternal Hell with the sufferings endured there. The rich man is plunged "in that horrible jail, eating and drinking fire and darkness, finding hatred and torture everywhere and in every moment of eternity [...]" He suffers horribly in this flame that penetrates him relentlessly and burns him.

Immersed in Hatred, he understands what love is. Not as a desire for conversion, now impossible, but as consciousness of the loss of the "heaven which he saw in the brightness of lightning, in the fraction of a second, and the indescribable beauty of heaven remained present in his mind and tormented him in the midst of atrocious tortures."

He does not see Paradise but the Limbo of the Righteous, because at the time of the parable "the hells" had not been opened by the Resurrection. It is the "bosom of Abraham" that will become the "bosom of the Father" by Redemption.

Jesus specifies that it is the soul of Lazarus who joined the "bosom of Abraham." It is also the soul of the wicked rich man who is tortured. Maria Valtorta thus introduces a distinction between the Particular Judgment and the Last Judgment. At death, each receives their retribution for eternity in their immortal soul. It will be reunited with the body at their resurrection: glorious for the righteous, deformed for the damned.

Love and hatred

In Maria Valtorta's vision, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus retains all its evangelical scope while rooting it in a concrete and dramatic context that warns about the consequences of social injustice and spiritual hardening. Material Goods serve love: "he who does not love God and his Neighbor goes to hell," understood the wicked rich man plunged into his hell. Also, when these Material Goods become instruments of Pride, Greed or indifference, they close the Heart to Grace and lead to perdition.

This parable, like that of the dishonest steward, illustrates Jesus's injunction: "You cannot serve God and money". But it adds a warning very present in Maria Valtorta's vision: the time of mercy is now, there is no "second chance" after death - hence the urgency to act here and now.

The narrative suffices as it addresses victims who know what oppression is - and, through them, all those who live in (or cause) those situations. But while the teaching usually following parables goes without saying, the spiritual directive, implicit in Luke, becomes explicit in Maria Valtorta.

"I would like to be able to help you all, also materially, but I cannot, and I am sorry for that. I can but point Heaven to you. I can only teach you the great wisdom of resignation and promise the future Kingdom to you. Do not hate, never, for any reason whatsoever. Hatred is strong in the world. But it always has a limit. Love has no limit of power or time. Love therefore, to possess love, as a defense and comfort on the earth, and as a reward in Heaven. It is better to be Lazarus than Dives, believe Me. Believe it and you will be blessed."

And commenting on the curse he had pronounced against the fields of Doras, guilty of deceiving Jesus which led to the death by exhaustion of Jonas the servant, He comments:

"In the desolation of these fields you cannot hear one word of hatred, even if facts could have justified it. Do not misunderstand the miracle. I am Love and I would not have struck. But seeing that Love could not bend cruel Doras, I abandoned him to Justice which avenged the martyr Jonah and his brothers. This is what the miracle teaches you. That Justice is always vigilant, even when it seems to be absent and that since God is the Master of creation, in pursuance of Justice, He can also make use of the lesser beings, such as caterpillars and ants, to punish the hearts of cruel and greedy people letting them die choked by a regurgitation of their own poison."

This is indeed how Doras died, foreshadowing his eternal death.

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