Luke 16:27-29 (NIVUK)
27 ‘He answered, “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.”
29 ‘Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.”
Finally the rich man shows some compassion, calling for a warning to be sent to him brothers so that they don’t end up facing what he is. Abraham’s response is negative, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ This is shorthand for the Jewish scriptures, Moses representing the Pentateuch, the first five books, or the Law. Sometimes people claim a division between the loving Jesus of the New Testament and a wrathful God in the Old. This, however, is a false division. The central message of the Old Testament is love, the calling to love God with everything you’ve got and to love your neighbour as yourself. Everything else circles around this and needs to be interpreted in light of this.
We praise you Father for your compassion, your creating, redeeming and recreating love. Help us to love you and to love others in response.
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