The rich man is lonely and isolated
Some theologians, such as W. Boros or K. Rahner, speak of the concept of the final decision. According to this theory, at the time of death, every person can make the final decision of life, that is, choose God or reject Him. But on the other hand, they emphasize that this decision is the complement to all decisions in life.
A man who lives with God every day will not reject Him at the moment of death. This certainty is diminished by people who live far away from God. Jesus' parable seems to confirm this intuition. Life after death is the final affirmation of the way of life on earth. It is an extension of what is or is not on the earth.
The rich man is lonely, isolated. Wealth locks him up in selfishness, separates him from other people. He is concentrated on his full plate and does not see the poor man standing at his door. Dogs can see better than he can. Hell is such a state of separation, isolation. The rich man is separated from God and friends because on earth he lived apart from others, detached from true values, attached only to things, closed in selfish pleasures. So, he is a prisoner of his private world.
Often, we talk about hell on earth. And we equate this hell with poverty, suffering, misery. Meanwhile, the hell on earth is experienced by the nameless rich man. Isolation, closing in on oneself, seeing nothing but the tip of one's nose, empty life or full of useless activities, jamming the needs of the spirit, superficial joy - these are the torments of hell. When the masks fall off, painful wounds, emptiness, nonsense are revealed, and despair, that is, hell, appears. Hell on earth.
The Gospel only gives the name of this beggar, the rich man appears nameless in it. Usually is the opposite: the names of the greats of this world are known to everyone, anonymity is the fate of the poor. However, God knows the whole truth about each of us, which is why His judgments about us differ, sometimes radically, from human judgments.
What do these words of the Lord Jesus mean that those who do not listen to the word of God will not believe even if someone from the dead comes to rebuke them? Because believing is more than accepting that this and that is true. Believing means opening our heart to love and entrusting ourselves to God, it is thanks to this entrustment that we fulfill the commandments, the most important of which is the commandment of love. Well, love cannot be done with fear. Whoever despises love “will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.”
Until Tomorrow
fr. george