What to do with the Rich Man and Lazarus?

This season on death and resurrection would certainly be incomplete without a discussion of the parable Jesus tells about a rich man and a pauper named Lazarus. The story has seemingly preposterous geographical details about the afterlife. This takes us to a broader conversation about how we might work out what to interpret literally? What does a literal interpretation actually mean? Along the way we notice some satisfying similarities between this parable and the story of Job.