There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. (Luke 16:19-23, KJV)
This week, we take up the last illustrative narrative of Jesus in our series on Art of the Parables in the Sacred Art Collection, the story Christ tells in the Gospel of Luke about the rich man and the beggar Lazarus where a message of social justice comes through loud and clear. Like many of Christ's parables, the tale pivots on a great reversal, where Lazarus, an impoverished social outcast with only dogs as his loving companions dies and is taken to a blissful afterlife "in the bosom of Abraham," while the Rich Man, at whose door the beggar had long lain, hoping to live off scraps from his sumptously-laid table, dies and finds himself enduring the torments of hell. in stark black and white, Filipino-American Artist Wayne Forte depicts the contrasting fates of the sore-covered Lazarus in this life and the loving welcome he receives in the next with the Rich Man who goes from stuffing his face at the banquet table to a flame-licked grill! All it takes is a spin of the wheel of divine destiny. (John Kohan)