Luke 16:14-31: Too Late to Turn Back

September 9, 2026 

The Ten Signposts of the Bible

CAMDE—400—CALY

Creation. Abraham. Moses. David. Elijah. 400. Christ. Apostles. Letters. Yet-to-Come. 

One day, it will be too late to trust in Jesus. Right now, the door of salvation stands wide open. But a day will come when that door is forever shut. In today’s passage, Jesus tells a somber story to remind us not to delay trusting in him as our Savior, because the opportunity will eventually end. 

Last time, Jesus wrapped up a message pertaining to wealth with these words: “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 16:13). The Pharisees were not pleased with this teaching. Luke noted that the Pharisees “who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed [Jesus]” (Luke 16:14). 

Here’s how Jesus responded to their mocking:

Luke 16:15–17

And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.”  

The Jewish leaders heckled Jesus because they saw him as a penniless, itinerant teacher surrounded by poor and needy people, yet he had the audacity to advise the upper class about money. They considered themselves wealthy, so their view of Jesus as a financial adviser would be like ours when we question the business savvy of a financial planner who drives an old, beat-up car that could fall apart any day. (I hope I didn’t offend any wealth advisors!) They had no interest in listening to Jesus’ teaching because he exposed their phony status and empty religious practices. 

Jesus reminds us in this passage that God is not impressed by outward appearances; he knows the heart.^[1] The Pharisees wrongly thought they were blessed because of their “righteousness” (which was really self-righteousness). But now the kingdom of God had come. The Pharisees believed that tax collectors, sinners, and Gentiles were “forcing their way in.” In truth, the entrance was a wide-open door of grace, allowing their inclusion.

The religious leaders based their relationship with God on obeying the written law. But their own teachers disagreed on many important legal questions, and Jesus exposed this by using marriage as an example. Among the Pharisees, there were two schools of Jewish thought. One school, led by a prominent teacher named Hillel, took a very lenient view of divorce. A man could divorce his wife for any reason. This leniency was especially convenient if he saw another woman he wanted to be with. Adultery was forbidden, but the Pharisaical law to apply was simple: divorce your wife, then you were free to marry the other woman. 

Jesus made it clear that this was not what God intended for the marriage covenant. He used this example to show that the self-righteous were, in fact, lawbreakers, saying, “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery” (Luke 16:18). This biblical truth directly opposed what a large group of the Jewish leadership commonly allowed. 

Then Jesus returned to the topic of wealth. He told the story of a rich man who had everything and a poor man named Lazarus, who lay at the rich man’s gate. Lazarus was covered with sores and too weak to move when wild dogs came to lick his wounds. He had been reduced to begging and depended on the kindness of others. It was customary for the wealthy to clean their hands by rubbing them on bread. Lazarus would have been content with the crumbs left behind as this man “washed” his hands, but he was not given even the smallest morsels.

One day, both the rich man and Lazarus died. The poor man went to heaven, here described as “Abraham’s side” (Luke 16:22). The rich man went to hell, described as Hades. The rich man, “being in torment . . . lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame’” (Luke 16:23-24). 

But Abraham reminded the rich man that, during his lifetime, he had lived in comfort, while the poor man had lived in agony. Now the situation was reversed. “‘And besides all this,’ Abraham said, ‘between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us’” (Luke 16:26). 

The rich man then pleaded with Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers so they would be warned, “lest they also come into this place of torment” (Luke 16:28). He argued that if someone “goes to them from the dead, they will repent” (Luke 16:30). Abraham’s response was clear and definite: “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31). 

In the parable, Jesus foretold what would soon happen. The One whom Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Joel, and many other prophets had spoken of was standing before the religious leaders in the flesh. But they refused to listen. They kept rejecting Jesus and his message and put him on the cross, thinking that would be the end of him. And when he rose from the dead, they still denied that he was the Messiah. We’ll see in our study of Acts that the same religious leaders who persecuted Jesus were also intent on persecuting the church. 

Read and reflect on Luke 16:14–31: Where might you be tempted to measure your spiritual life by outward appearances, accomplishments, possessions, or reputation rather than by the condition of your heart before God?

Talking to God: Ask God to show you your blind spots. 

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