The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. Luke
Hence S. Gregory, and after him the Interlinear, says, “ Between Dives and Lazarus there is a gulf, because after death no man can change his reward, the damned cannot exchange lots with the blessed, nor the blessed with those who are lost.”
“The gulf,” says Titus, “indicates the difference between the just and unjust, for as their desires and wishes were opposed, so now their condition is immutable.” “ It also,” adds S. Augustine (lib. ii. Quasi. Evang.), “ shows to those who are in prison, that by the unchangeableness of the divine sentence, no merciful aid can be rendered to them by the righteous, however much they may wish to give it.”
Allegorically. Lazarus lying at the rich man’s gate represents Christ, who by the lowliness of His Incarnation condescended to the case of the proud Jews, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table, i.e., seeking from them the least works of righteousness, which at their own table, that is, when they had it in their power, they were too proud to perform ; which works, although very slight, they would do, not out of the set purpose of a good life, but occasionally and by chance, like as crumbs are wont to fall from the table.
The sores are the sufferings of our Lord, which from weakness of the flesh, He deigned to undergo for us. The dogs are the Gentiles, accounted by the Jews sinners and unclean, who throughout the world softly and devoutly lick the wounds of Christ in the sacrament of His body and blood. Abraham’s bosom, the hidden presence of God the Father, into which our Lord was received after His passion. Augustine (lib. ii. Quasi. Evang.) And again, symbolically , he goes on to say : “ By the rich man we may understand the proud Jews ; the purple and fine linen are the grandeur of the kingdom ; the sumptuous feasting is the boasting of the Law ; Lazarus, i.e. ‘assisted,’ some Gentile or publican, who is all the more relieved, as he presumes less on the abundance of his resources ; the dogs are those most wicked men, who praise the evil works which another groans over and detests in himself; the five brethren are the Jews, bound by the five books of the Law.”
In like manner S. Gregory (Horn. 40) says, “ Lazarus represents the Gentile people. The bursting forth of his sores is the confession of sin. The crumbs were denied him, for the proud Jews disdained to admit the Gentiles to the knowledge of the Law. The dogs are the preachers, who by their teaching, as it were, touch with their tongue the wounds of the soul. Abraham’s bosom, the secret rest, where the rich man sees Lazarus. For the unbelievers see the faithful abiding in rest above them but afar off, because they cannot attain thither by their merits, and they burn in their tongues because they held in their mouth the words of the Law, but kept them not.” And again, “ Lazarus represents an apostolic man, poor in speech but rich in faith. The crumbs are the doctrines of the faith. The rich man, some heretic who abounds in eloquent discourses — for all such have a talkative tongue, but a foolish and profitless soul.”
Ver. 27. — Then he said , I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him, &c. Probably these words are spoken as the former ones, after the manner of a parable (see verse 24). For it is a very common occurrence in everyday life that those who have met with misfortunes wish to warn their brethren against incurring a similar fate. But of one thing worldly-minded men, who ridicule or else think lightly of the pains of hell, may be assured, no one has ever returned from thence to tell us what their sufferings are.
That thou wouldest send him . Lazarus again in the body, that he, being known to the brethren, and a witness to be seen of all, might move them to faith and penitence. We are taught therefore that the rich man after his death had need of the aid of him whom in his lifetime he had despised.
Touching the appearances of the spirits of the departed, see S. Augustine (De cura pro mortuis) ; Debrius (in Magicis ) ; and Peter Thyrseus (De apparitionibus spirituum).
Ver. 28. — That he may testify unto them how grievously I am tormented for my sinful indulgence, and exhort them to repentance and amendment, lest they also come into this place of torment.
You will say, that the damned are in utter despair, hating both God and man, cursing everything and every creature, and bearing good will to none — how then could Dives have wished that his brethren might escape the torments of hell ? I answer —
1. The damned do not wish to cause anything good, i.e. any act of natural or supernatural virtue, nor have they the power to do so on account of their despair, and intense hatred of God and all good, but they are able to desire some natural good, for example, that it may be well with their parents or brethren. For this reason S. Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Theophylact, think that the rich man, influenced by the ties of kindred and by family affection, really was anxious for the welfare of his brethren, for nature remains the same even in the damned. The action of Dives therefore was one of nature and not of virtue, and had regard, not to actual good, but to natural good only, as the action of animals in nourishing their young.
2. The rich man was anxious for himself more than for his brethren, for he considered their evil his own, inasmuch as their condemnation would increase his torments, because he was the occasion and the cause of their evil lives.
Thus S. Gregory, Lyranus, and others. Cajetan adds, “Dives asked this out of the pride which fills the hearts of the damned, that if not in his own person, at least in the person of his brethren he might be blessed and exalted.”
Hence S. Ambrose says, “ This rich man too late begins to be a master, for he had neither time for learning nor teaching.”
Ver. 29. — Abraham saith unto him , They have Moses and the Prophets , i.e. the writings of Moses and the Prophets, which the Scribes and Pharisees read and expound in their synagogues.
Ver. 30. — And he said , Nay, Father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent He is speaking of his own experience. For as he had been affected, so does he think it will be with his brethren. S. Chrysostom. Titus more clearly writes, “ Why does the rich man say this but because he himself had heard the prophets to little purpose, and had looked upon their teaching as untrue? Therefore he conjectures that his brethren similarly regarded them. He as much as says, ‘They argue as I once argued. Who has ever given any description of hell — who has ever returned thence? But if any one were sent to them from the dead, they would believe him, and give diligent heed to what he had to say.’”
Ver. 31. — And he said unto him , &c They will say that Lazarus is a phantom, sent by the spirits of evil to deceive ; whereas the writings of Moses and the prophets are inspired, are accepted by the Jews as the rule of faith, according to that which is written, “ We have now a more sure word of prophecy ; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.”
The truth of the Patriarch's answer is proved by the conduct of the Jews, who spoke against the raising of the other Lazarus, and the resurrection of Christ Himself, and refused to believe in Him.
So also Peter, who three years after death was recalled to life by S. Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, to testify concerning some land which had been sold by the king, replied to those who asked him concerning the other world, no more than this, “Ye have Moses and the prophets. I have been sent to bear witness, not to preach.”
Dives therefore obtained none of his requests, because it is written, “ Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard,” Prov. xxi. 13.
Morally , we learn from this parable or rather from this history,
1. That God has appointed to each his lot, and has made some rich, some poor. Let each one therefore be content with that station which God has allotted him. Let the poor, by patient endurance of want, and the rich, by the liberal relief of the poor, seek for life and happiness in the world to come. For Christ seems to have spoken this parable to enforce His teaching, “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations.” The rich man was not compassionate, and therefore he was rejected by Abraham and Lazarus.
2. That we must not despise the poor and afflicted, but on the contrary render all the assistance which lies in our power. For S. Gregory (Hom. 40) says, “ The medicine of poverty heals those whom moral infirmity wounds, and often a pearl lies hidden in a dunghill, i.e. holiness and virtue often lie hid in an unclean body, and in abject poverty. And so S. Romula, dying of poverty and paralysis, was carried to heaven by a chorus of angels. He adds,
“ We find a Lazarus every day if we seek him, and even if we seek him not, we see him. Behold how importunately the poor present themselves, and make demands on us, in their turn to intercede on our behalf. We ought certainly to ask of them, yet they ask of us. Consider whether we ought to refuse what is demanded of us when those who ask are our patrons.”
3. That the rich ought not to boast themselves in their riches, for riches endure but for a time, and death deprives men of their all. Wherefore let them not set their hearts upon their riches, but on God ; and let them for the love of God use that wherewith He has prospered them for the benefit of the needy and poor.