Luke 16:19-31
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday, September 28, 2025
“The Great Chasm Between Heaven and Hell”
How did we get here? Sometimes it’s good to ask and answer that question, especially when we notice an issue. For example, it seems some people have been asking the question now in the realm of politics. How did we as a society get to the point where we are so divided? Why do people have such fundamentally different opinions about the idea that all murders are wrong, and even argue that some might not be so terrible? How did we get here? Maybe you’ve come to a particularly challenging point in your life or a certain relationship. How did things get so bad? Why did they seem to fall apart? And we don’t only ask that question about bad things. Sometimes we step back and marvel about how so many individual circumstances and opportunities and choices brought us to a place better than what we planned or expected. Maybe we even realize that we couldn’t have planned it all out. So how did we get here?
Sometimes the way we answer that question helps us figure out what to do next. If we feel that intense and unkind political rhetoric is forcing people to extremes, maybe we need to step up and be a calming voice working to bring the temperature down instead of throwing fuel on the fire. Maybe a crisis point in our relationships is a chance to change our own behavior to build up instead of tear down. Maybe if we have gotten to a place where we don’t want to be, we can aim for a new place, a different place.
I wonder whether the rich man in the story Jesus told asked himself, “How did I get here?” If he did, it was too late to be asking the question. It was too late to be taking a different direction. Here is hell. The Greek word (which shows up in some translations) is Hades, but don’t think about it like mythology. This is not some imaginary world of the dead. It is not a made-up idea as many suggest today. It is a place of torment. The rich man is there, in torment. He begs for a drop of water to cool his tongue as if that would really provide any sort of relief. That is how desperate he is. But no relief is coming. That’s what Abraham tells the rich man from far away. Lazarus, by Abraham’s side would not be making the trip from heaven to hell. As Abraham explains, there is a great chasm in between. No one crosses from one to the other. The rich man, whose name we do not know, was on the wrong side of the chasm because of what he did in life.
When Jesus tells this story, he doesn’t really dwell on that. In fact, Jesus leaves a lot of interesting questions unanswered. He allows us, like so many who listened to him, to fill in details that we know from other teachings of Jesus. We know that all people are sinners. We know that Jesus died to save people from their sins. We know that the forgiveness and salvation Jesus won comes to us as a free gift through faith. There is a great chasm between the hell that we deserve and the heaven that Jesus earned for us, won for us, and gives to us.
We know Jesus gives to us a lifetime, a time of grace in which we might come to faith. It is the opportunity he gives to trust that he bridges the great chasm. After that time, as the rich man learned, it’s too late. Those in torment in hell do not pass over to the place at the side of Abraham and all the saints.
How many opportunities did the rich man pass by when he might have had that chasm bridged by Jesus? We don’t know the answer. What we know is that he spent a lifetime living in luxury. He spent a lifetime enjoying amazing food and wearing fine clothes. He spent a lifetime pursuing and enjoying those things that brought an immediate response and reaction. These things brought joy or happiness in the moment. They may have felt fulfilling at the time. They probably had him convinced that he was living life in the best way possible. And perhaps if those days were the only perspective we have on it, he may have been correct.
But the whole point of Jesus’ story is that there is more to it. The rich man died, but that was not the end. He was buried, but he continued to exist. What had helped him in life, his great wealth and luxurious possessions, did nothing for him in death. They did nothing to help bridge the chasm between what he deserved as a sinner and what ought to have been his heavenly goal.
The story also draws a contrast between the rich man’s life and its result and the life of a man who lived close to him. This man’s name we know. It was Lazarus. He was a beggar. He was covered in sores and
malnourished. To have eaten the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table would have been an improvement to his starvation. The dogs of the neighborhood licked his sores. There was no way to miss his absolute poverty and misery. The contrast couldn’t be more sharp. As Abraham said to the rich man: “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus received bad things.”
But just like the rich man’s riches, Lazarus’ struggles, hardships, poverty, his absolute misery were only temporary. When he died, Lazarus was released from all the pain and all the evil. The rich man just died and was buried. When the beggar died, the angels carried [Lazarus] to Abraham’s side.
We’re forced to read into this the fact that Lazarus was a believer. In spite of his hardships, in spite of his poverty, he saw what was truly important. He knew the promise of forgiveness. He trusted God’s faithfulness. He did not fixate on what he lacked. He trusted that God would give him everything that he needed. He had a Savior who bridged the great chasm between what he deserved as a sinner and the heaven that became his eternal home.
What happened to these two men when they died was not some cosmic setting things right. It wasn’t as though Lazarus earned heaven through his sufferings or the rich man needed to be taken down because of his riches. Both were sinners. Both were tempted to focus on things that did not make a difference in the end. And Jesus died for both. Lazarus trusted God. The rich man trusted something else.
And he learned his lesson too late. He learned his lesson too late to help others, too. If Lazarus couldn’t come cool the tip of his tongue, the rich man wanted Lazarus to appear to his brothers as a warning. That wasn’t going to happen, either. In fact, even if it would have happened, it would not have made a difference. Those brothers, just like the rich man, had been given their lifetimes as a time of grace, a gift of God. That was the same for Lazarus. It is the same for you and for me.
Our readings remind us that earthly wealth is a threat to faith. It can draw our attention away from things that are truly important. It can become our focus. It can become our idol. We hear the strong warning not to be like the rich man. And it is easy to think, well, I am not like him. Most of us are not that much like Lazarus, though, either. While we may not be known for living in the lap of luxury, we also didn’t have the dogs come licking at our sores this morning.
We still need to hear the warning. When we have a chance to choose between becoming more like the rich man or becoming more like poor Lazarus, would any of us sign up to be more like the beggar? There is only one reason we ever would: that God has given us the perspective of eternity. We understand that what helps in life fails in death and what at times seems worthless in life, confidence in God and his promises, repentance, faith—makes all the difference in death. And we can bring that perspective to all aspects of our lives. We can handle politics differently than the loudest voices in our society. We can sacrifice to serve others in our relationships. We can leave behind whatever idols have crept into our hearts. That’s why Jesus speaks strong words like these to direct our lives and our hearts to the things that really matter. He directs us to his Word, Moses and the Prophets. He directs us to the means he uses to keep our focus on Jesus as Savior. He urges us to repent of anything that we would allow to come between us and him. He would have us take a bite of bread and a sip of wine in the confidence that he is giving us his body and blood, the forgiveness of sins, strengthening of faith, and eternal life. And he bridges the great chasm that stands between the hell that we deserve and the heaven that is our home.
When Martin Luther left this world and the angels took him to Abraham’s side, he left in his pocket a note that read, “We are beggars. This is true.” This wasn’t hopeless despair or bitter complaining. This was a final expression of confidence. What we could earn or deserve is bound to fail in death. What God has given to us in Jesus lasts for eternity. We are beggars who have received every good thing from a gracious God. That’s how we have crossed the chasm from hell to heaven. That’s how we got here. And that is how God will see us safely home.
The Text: Luke 16:19–31 (EHV)
19“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. 20A beggar named Lazarus had been laid at his gate. Lazarus was covered with sores and 21longed to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Besides this, the dogs also came and licked his sores.
22Eventually the beggar died, and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell, where he was in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus at his side. 24He called out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in misery in this flame.’
25“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in misery. 26Besides all this, a great chasm has been set in place between us and you, so that those who want to cross from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27“He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s home, 28because I have five brothers—to warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29“Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.’
30“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31“Abraham replied to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”