“If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead." In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, this is Abraham’s response to the rich man when he wants Lazarus to be sent to his brothers to warn them. Moses and the prophets (Moses being a stand-in for the Law of Moses) are supposedly not sufficient to convince his brothers. It would take something significant, something (literally) out of this world, to convince the rich man’s brothers to live well. Yet Lazarus returning from the dead would not, says Abraham, be enough.
We find in this a foreshadowing of Jesus in His Passion and Resurrection. The leaders who sought to have him killed were not converted even after the tomb was found empty, reports of seeing Jesus alive began circulating, and His followers began doing miraculous works before large crowds. Indeed, even if one were to return from the dead, it would not be enough. What is it that makes this so, that makes people so resistant to the call to conversion that they would discount even the wonderous and miraculous? Spiritual blindness. And this is no mere spiritual blindness, but it is willful spiritual blindness. It is proverbially tearing one’s own eyes out so as not to see, because to see would necessitate change, it would necessitate conversion, it would necessitate an act of humility. And this is too much.
We’ve all seen this before. Two parties are arguing back and forth with each other and one side eventually gives up, not in the sense of relenting but in the sense of entrenching. “I’ve made up my mind, and nothing you say or do is going to change it!” We find it disheartening when others do it, but how about ourselves? Do we react to being called out or shown our faults by becoming defensive? Do we insist “I’m doing just fine, thank you,” and kill at the root any momentum for growth and improvement
Just as the rich man’s brothers had Moses and the prophets, we have Scripture and the Church to hold us to the right standard. Yet, can we not identify somewhat with the brothers? Maybe, just maybe, if Lazarus went to them they would actually convert. And yet, that is not how things work out. God giving the Israelites the Law and the prophets was already an extravagant, unnecessary mercy. “But Lord, if we just had this one additional thing, everybody would shape up!” It isn’t so. The angels of God were tested with a much greater knowledge of God than us; many still chose against Him. Let us ask Christ to free us from making that same mistake. May we have the eyes to see our own need for conversion and the necessity of striving to follow the teachings of Scripture and the Church, without demanding yet more. May we be freed from whatever blindness we possess and come to live in the light. For then we can share with Lazarus, Abraham, and all the Saints the blessed vision of God.