Christians: I am in need of scriptural assistance...?

In one of the Gospels Jesus speaks of a rich man and a poor man and the rich man dies and goes to Hell where he is in torment while the poor man goes to Heaven. But how could the poor man have gone to Heaven when Jesus didn't die yet (I am aware of the assumptions of Elijah and Enoch but that wasn't typical)? Jesus was speaking in past-tense indicating that this already happened but was it just a story foretelling what would happen if we were unfaithful?