Nature abhors a vacuum
The internet is full of sermons and references to Lazarus and “Dives”. Naming the rich man in the parable in Luke 16 makes the parable about as scandalous as kissing your new wife at the end of the wedding ceremony. The tension that is created by not naming the rich man but naming Lazarus is critical to the impact of the parable. Please fellow proclaimers of the Word … resist the temptation to name the rich man! Look here or here for more.
Pondering Pastor
(Discovering this travesty by looking at how people found the posts on this blog.)
1 response so far ↓
Christopher Esget // May 24, 2008 at 9:06 am
“Dives” is simply Latin for “Rich [man].” So I don’t think there’s a problem with using that term. Like you, I think there’s a purpose in not naming him. I wrote a sermon about it once, if you’re interested: http://esgetology.com/2007/06/11/sermon-for-the-first-sunday-after-trinity-luke-1619-31/
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