EASTER - A Tale of Two Passages [4-5-26]
- Tecumseh Cove
- Apr 9
- 7 min read
April 5, 2026
Luke 16:22-31; Luke 23:39-43
“A Tale of Two Passages”
We’ll be looking at two beautiful passages from Luke as we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. Before we do, here’s a clip from Alistair Begg to set things up:
Now that’s a good introduction.
The confluence of our two passages carries profound truth this Easter morning.
Let’s start with a negative. You can never say, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” And then follow it up with, “I have done it.” No…no…no. It has been done for me. And I can never settle that account. I can never do anything that will even come close to making it look like I made any kind of significant contribution. There’s not even the slightest attempt at paying anything back.
Our first passage finishes up Luke 16:
“The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he 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.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, 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.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house - for I have five brothers - so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
We’ve already covered the rich man and why he ended up in hell when he died. He lived a sad, pitiful, pathetic life. Selfish…self-centered…greedy… self-absorbed…materialistic…merciless…and arrogant. He had time for no one but himself. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, he held the key to the door to hell. Specifically, Lewis calls this the Great Reversal. The rich man in death experiences the hellish existence that Lazarus endured on earth. Only exponentially worse.
Lazarus doesn’t go to heaven because he is poor. There’s nothing virtuous about being poor. Poverty doesn’t give one a get out of hell free card. We don’t want to take this as a story extolling the virtue of being poor. People can get carried away with such thoughts.
Poverty virtue and prosperity preaching are both bastardizations of the One, True Gospel. I know there’s an “Amen,” to that.
What we know for certain is Lazarus goes to heaven through the grace and mercy of God. That’s what Jesus gives us. We can’t read any more or less into the parable. The rich man goes to hell because, in spite of all that has been revealed to him about God, he is an unkind man. It should not have been hard for a man who has been given so much to be a decent human being. That’s what we know about him.
Let’s briefly go back to Luke 15 and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The younger son was a horrible human being. After hitting rock bottom, he came to his senses. He prepared a hugely repentant speech for his dad. But before he could barely get a word out, his father welcomed him home with open arms and kisses. Connecting this with the Rich Man and Lazarus, we see heaven is a gift to those who have been kissed with the grace and mercy of God.
And lest we think we have to be perfect before we’re welcomed by God’s
embrace, consider this:
“I’m not where I want to be in my walk with Christ. The Good News is that I have today to start walking in the right direction. God’s not done with me, and he’s not done with you either.”
Miles Commodore
With that in mind, let’s make the connection between Luke 16 and Luke 23:39-43:
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
People mocked Jesus because they didn’t think he could save himself from
suffering and death. But here’s the Good News of Easter:
IN NOT SAVING HIMSELF, JESUS WAS ABLE TO SAVE OTHERS.
And that’s the way it goes. Jesus saves us. Jesus saves us from hell.
Listen to what Jesus says in John 12:44-46:
“Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”
How do you escape hell? By believing the saving message of Jesus Christ. By believing God gave you the faith to believe. By believing there is no name under heaven by which we are saved. And this is God’s doing. We cannot boast of coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior on our own…by our own cleverness…by our own insight… by our own ability to grasp the truth. No, this knowledge is a gift from God. We love because he first loved us…You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may
give it to you. That’s the gospel. It is the father welcoming his lost son home with kisses of grace and mercy…it is Lazarus raised up to heaven to live in the richness of God’s grace and mercy…it is Jesus telling the criminal crucified next to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Easter faith is not of our own doing. It is a gift from God that we grab hold of and hold on to for dear life.
Listen to how Paul puts it in a letter to Timothy:
“I was a blasphemer, but God showed me mercy.”
Think about the men crucified on either side of Jesus. One is a blasphemer who continues his blasphemy as he hangs on a cross. The other, once of blasphemer, gives evidence of a changed heart. Salvation is a miracle from God. It is seen in his request to Jesus…remember me when you come into your kingdom.” That is the gospel. Jesus seeks and saves the lost.
Make no mistake. The gospel is not telling sinners that Jesus will make them happy. The gospel is not telling people that they can have their best life ever. The gospel is not telling people that wealth and prosperity are theirs for the picking. The gospel is not promising that Jesus will take away the pains of life. The gospel is not saying life will be easy. The message of the gospel is, as violators of God’s holiness, we would be headed for eternal punishment under the wrath of God. But Jesus set his face for Jerusalem and the cross, choosing to die for our salvation. Jesus chose to do that for us. And God has given us the faith to believe in and embrace his sacrificial love. That is the gospel.
So here’s Lazarus. Poor beggar. Dead. Brought into heaven in the presence of God. Here’s the thief. Promised paradise in the presence of Jesus Christ. So what of you?
I love how Luke 23:42 captures the essence of it:
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
He calls Jesus by his name. Jesus…in the Hebrew, Yeshua. It means “Jehovah saves.” It recognizes the embrace of grace and mercy. It harkens back to Matthew 1:21, “You shall call him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.” In one word the thief says, “Jesus, will you save me?” Can
anyone, as bad as he is, be saved from hell? Can anyone, as bad as we are, be saved?
Think about it. Did the thief have a right to be with Jesus? Did Lazarus have a right to be with Jesus? No way. They had done nothing to earn it. By no stretch of any imagination did they deserve it. It is sheer grace. It is the father welcoming his lost son home with a kiss. It is unexpected. And overwhelming. Today, Jesus tells the thief, you will be with me in paradise. “Paradise.” It’s based on an old Persian word for garden. Heaven in like an indescribable garden. Can you understand what a beautiful gift that is? The gospel is rescue from eternal damnation. It is the undeserved and unearned gift of salvation.
Final thought for a glorious Easter celebration. Heaven is not a place where you can go and see Jesus. Let me say that again…heaven isn’t a place where you can go and see Jesus. Here’s the most important thing you might want to write down:
HEAVEN IS WHERE YOU WILL BE WITH JESUS.
Remember what he told the thief. “Today you will be with me in paradise.” What a blessed promise. When life is over, we will be in the presence of Jesus Christ forever and ever. It is all because of his grace and mercy. He
chose us to believe in him. So today, lay down your sin at the foot of the cross. Receive this gift.
We’ll end with these beautiful words from Charles Spurgeon:
EASTER is GOOD NEWS for today. The resurrection of Jesus isn’t just something that happened a long time ago, it’s our only hope.It’s because Christ has risen from the dead that we have forgiveness, peace with God, and life eternal.Because Jesus rose, we rise.Because Jesus lives forever, we live forever.Because Jesus has conquered death, it has no power over us.Christ isn’t dead anymore and that means WE aren’t dead anymore either.Not because we have believed fervently enough.But because he has saved us.Not because we did more good than bad.But because he died in our place.Not because we’ve figured everything out.But because when we were dead in sin, he raised us up.Happy Easter! Christ is risen! And, if you are one with him, YOU are raised up too.
Comments