Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"
An interesting parable. The morality of the individuals are not discussed here or used as criterion for reward. Just the external life style is used as a yard stick for granting rewards.
· "There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
But this is not the aim of the parable. The parable is about sending someone from above to teach lessons about the future of life.
Granting reward is the work of the Father and does is as he plans it. We cannot know the future and the future will not be revealed to us. Future is to be lived and experienced. And the future is to be with the Father.
Future is in no way a lesson (no lesson will be given from a person of the future) for the present life. But the present life will lead us to the future. In stead the lessons for the present life are with us and within us. Moses and prophets are in the world.
Jesus is asking us to look into today’s world for lessons.
