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Hope Channel

InVerse 3rd Quarter 2024: Stories that Transform

Sikhu Daco

Justin Kim

Israel Ramos

Joe Reeves

01 Rooted in Faith

02 Lost but Found

03 Discovering the Treasure

04 Caught in the Crossfire

05 Persistent in Prayer

06 Loving our Neighbor

07 The Wedding Garment

08 Bearing Fruit

09 Giving to God

10 Called to Serve

11 Living for Eternity

12 Filled with the Spirit

13 Building on the Rock

Coming to you from Silver Spring, Maryland, welcome to Inverse, a Bible-based conversation on life principles, contemporary issues, and thought-provoking perspectives.

Now here's your host, Justin Kim, with Inverse.

Lord, if you'll only show me a miracle, show me a sign, then I will believe.

How many of you seen a sign that says that?

And then the sign says, this is the sign.

This is what we're gonna be talking about in this episode of Inverse.

Hey, my name's Justin, and in the studio, we have Israel here, we got Siku there, and we got Joe there, and we got all of you out there and we're gonna study the Bible together So if you have a Bible get it out get it on your phones get it out in your on your desk Wherever you're listening to this and and and read along with us.

Luke 16, we've been spending a lot of time in the 4 Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And we're looking at the parables of Jesus entitled Stories That Transform.

So you want to go to inversebible.org and download and get those Bible studies and access it and study along with us and we're looking at just the powerful, powerful stories of Jesus.

Not just there to show you, you know, how the turtle is slower than the rabbit.

Anyway, it's not those kind of stories, but these are stories that really are profound and at least in the last couple of episodes, they have recalibrated my picture of God in everyday things.

This is a fruitful exercise is what I'm trying to get at.

All right, we're gonna have a word of prayer.

I think we have Israel, if you can pray for us, and then Joe, you can read the Bible for us, and then Siku, you can just speak the rest of the 25 minutes.

Our Father in heaven, we know that in order for us to understand spiritual things, we need to be able to think spiritually.

This is not a gift that we have, so Father, we ask that you would give us this gift, and that as we study your word, we would draw insights more about who you are and who we are, to have a desire to be more like you.

All right, we're gonna go to Luke 16, verse 19 through 31.

Probably 1 of the most interesting parables of Jesus and probably the most misunderstood parables of Jesus.

Some of them have been easy but maybe more familiar to cover, but this 1 tends to be like on the edge, right?

Probably not the top 5 favorite stories of Jesus.

We are in Luke 16 and starting in verse 19, the rich man and Lazarus.

There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.

But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.

Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.

So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.

The rich man also died and was buried and being in torments in Hades he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom." Okay we'll stop there and see who...

I think it was the last episode, Joe, you're like, I think you categorized Jesus's parables into 2, agriculture and other, into interpersonal, interesting interests.

And the story is like with the agricultural parables, you know, you kind of have, you know, that agricultural reference.

But the story is kind of, I would say like a made up story, you know, that about a rich man and Lazarus so it does it is interpersonal like it's between 2 people and their relationship and the way that this rich man treats the poor man who is at his gate begging, you know, he's there full of sores.

I feel like all the other parables, all, I feel like, yeah, all the other parables in my mind can be movie eyes, the video eyes, like It can be reproduced in some way.

Like there are some elements that are like, how do you transfer, anyway, like it's not a clear narrative, realistic story.

This takes a little bit of, a little bit on the edge.

And it takes a turn in verse 22 right when the beggar dies cuz up until then you're like, okay, you know poor guy And then yeah, and when it starts talking about he was carried by angels Into Abraham's bosom.

Yeah, and then it becomes kind of fantastical.

Yeah, you know, and then the rich man died also was buried.

Yeah But he wasn't carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.

Yeah, rather he is why was he in the Abraham's?

Why there's just a lot of questions here.

Yeah, and The rich man being I mean the poor man being in Abraham's bosom like how many people are in there?

Yeah, or do you know people die and they go to a different patriarch's bosom, like somebody goes to Jacob's bosom.

You know, anyway, so it gets, you're like.

Joe, what is the, how has this parable been misunderstood?

Well, if you take this parable as a literal commentary on life after death, that's a very common misunderstanding.

But right from the beginning, as Siku has aptly pointed out, it's very difficult right from the beginning to take this as a literal narrative that every person that's dying that goes to heaven is laid on Abraham's bosom.

So it's speaking to something else, a metaphorical maybe.

This is a story very commonly understood in Jesus' day and Jesus is retelling this story but with a certain U-turn and a kink in it.

To my knowledge, and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know of any other passage that talks about Abraham's bosom anywhere else in scripture, right?

This is probably the only 1, at least that I can think of.

So this is kind of taking a riff on that common, you know, Snow White story or whatever was going during that day, but Jesus is trying to teach a point in here.

The point, and so many times people, as you've brought it out and others, they misunderstand this to be a parable that deals with life after death, but actually it has absolutely nothing to do with that, And I think the pivot takes place later on in the passage.

But something that, 1 of the main reasons, the most obvious reasons why we know this is not a parable dealing with life after death is because Jesus himself gives us the context prior to getting into the parable.

Yeah, it says, it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than 1 tittle of the law to fail.

So Jesus is saying, The point that Jesus is making here is he's speaking about the law of God, the significance and the importance of the law of God.

And it is within this context, so it's kind of like Jesus saying, look, the law of God is critical, it's important, you can't change it, it's unchangeable, not even a tiny portion of the law can be changed.

And then all of a sudden he goes into this weird parable.

But if you understand the parable in the context of this, then actually- It's supporting verse 17?

Well, yeah, the parable's supporting verse 17.

What I'm saying is that the first, like the 19 to whatever, all the way down to the bosom of Abraham, right?

It's actually not, it's not even, it's just setting up the story, right?

It's not even, we haven't even hit the meat of the parable yet.

Series

InVerse 3rd Quarter 2024: Stories that Transform

11 Living for Eternity

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

InVerse, 1st Quarter 2021: Romans

04 Abraham and Faith

27m

InVerse 3rd Quarter 2024: Stories that Transform

13 Building on the Rock

29m

InVerse 4th Quarter 2024: The Gospel of John

06 Healing Blind Eyes

29m

InVerse, 3rd Quarter 2019: "The Least of These" : Ministering to Those in Need

11-Living the Advent Hope

27m

InVerse, 2nd Quarter 2022: James

13 Faith That Works

26m

InVerse 3rd Quarter 2024: Stories that Transform

02 Lost but Found

29m

InVerse, 1st Quarter 2021: Romans

05 Adam’s Fall and Jesus’ Triumph

27m

InVerse, 2nd Quarter 2020: How to Know God’s Will for Your Life

02-Sources of God’s Will Part 1

27m

InVerse, 1st Quarter 2023: God First

07 Ahaz: The Wicked Giver

28m

InVerse, 2nd Quarter 2020: How to Know God’s Will for Your Life

13-Seek Ye First

27m

InVerse, 1st Quarter 2020: Daniel: Practical Principles for End-Time Living

11-Total Transparency

27m

InVerse 3rd Quarter 2024: Stories that Transform

10 Called to Serve

29m

Sound Doctrine