‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house—
Luke 16:27
In the Gospel of John chapter 8 and verse 44 Jesus tells the Jewish people ‘You are of your father the devil’. And yet, here He tells a story of a man in hell still calling Abraham his father (and Abraham had called him ‘son’). How do we reconcile this?
This shows that on many occasions Jesus is targeting the spiritual state of His hearers. In John 8, he is speaking of their spiritual heritage. And this is consistent with the rich man in this story here in Luke. Though physically a son of Abraham, this man was obviously spiritually ‘of the devil’. We are all born in this state and may only escape it by the grace of God.
So, when interpreting the words of Christ one must be looking for clues that He is working on the spiritual state. For example, ‘if your right hand offends you, cut it off’ or ‘unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part with me’. These outlandish statements are sensical when we see that Jesus is targeting the spiritual condition.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your comfort. We can know You and Your will and way, in spite of all that this life throws at us. We want a perfect life. But on this plane, we can only find our hope in You. In Your blessings we find our joy. Thank You for all that You both do and are in our lives. We have not a perfect body, perfect mind, perfect wisdom, or perfect sight. But we can rely upon You for all we need in those areas and more, so much more! Thank You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray, and praise You, Amen.