Dead Man Walking

Luke 16:30-31
30 “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ 31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’”

So the rich man wants Father Abraham to send Lazarus to his equally self-absorbed brothers in order to save them from joining him. Abraham gives him a most quizzical reply that seeing Lazarus would not change their attitudes and actions. Most people would say that seeing a ghost or spiritual apparition would impact their life and they would probably change. It worked for Ebenezer Scrooge didn’t it? However, Abraham pointed out that seeing Lazarus would not change the brothers’ perspective since they’re ignoring the readily available truth they have daily access to.

People are funny, always looking for a sign or trying to make the gospel harder. We (the church) want miracles and God explosions so people will change. Yet God knows that if the everyday things we have access to like His Word doesn’t cause a change a miracle wouldn’t either.

We have daily proof of this phenomenon. Every time there is a natural disaster or a gnarly accident and the bystanders/survivors are thanking God for a miracle you can tell who is a believer and who is unredeemed. Other believers can easily see the hand of God in the situation. The non believers not so much. They easily explain the circumstances away as nature reacting or they downplay the exuberance of miraculous talk by attributing the responses to people unbalanced by an adrenaline rush or just choosing to believe like the cosmos are in charge since it makes them feel better.

Even funnier than God knowing that unbelievers wouldn’t listen to the dead is the fact that He calls believers to do just that. Be dead. Romans 6:7-11 tells us:

7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

So as believers’ we’re dead. We are to emulate Jesus in our everyday lives. Yet, sadly unbelievers probably won’t be changed though it’s our job to be dead men walking. We live dead for God’s pleasure and He is the one that brings change to the lives of the unredeemed.

Linda D. Sothern