Although perhaps not quite as popular as the Parable of the Lost Son (15:11–32), Luke’s Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is another favorite. This parable, like so many others, drives its point home with crystal clarity. This parable brings the theme of wealth in Luke 16 to a fitting conclusion: wealth or poverty in this life is no measure of God’s blessing. The parable may be divided into two parts: (1) the reversal of the conditions of this life in the next (vv. 19–26) and (2) the lesson that nothing can persuade the wealthy to take heed (vv. 27–31).

16:19–26 The first half of the parable is the part that is best remembered, for it illustrates the theme of reversal, a theme which appears in the Gospels in a variety of forms (e.g., “the first shall be last, and the last first”; “he wh…