the role of the lukan parables in terms of the purpose of luke's gospel

Chapter 1
Introduction
1. Research Problem
The most loved and best known of Jesus’ parables occur only in the Gospel of Luke. For
example, the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Dishonest Manager, The Rich Man and
Lazarus and the like. Luke has at least fourteen parables unique to his Gospel, eleven of
which appear only in the travel narrative of the Gospel. 1
The impetus for this study arises out
of the question as to why Luke chose these particular parables that the other synoptic writers
did not, and incorporated them within his Gospel in the way that he did. That is to say, the
question explores the motif and purpose of Luke’s use of these particular parables. I hope that
the answer to this question will contribute to research into the purpose of Luke’s Gospel.
Unfortunately, thus far, the Lukan parables have primarily been researched and analysed
as individual parables, focusing on form and structural elements, without attempting to
connect the results to the purpose of Luke’s Gospel as a whole. Even though there are
attempts to find the characteristics and theological themes of the Lukan parables in several
ways, there is little attempt to link those results to the purpose of the Gospel of Luke. If
anything, it is only in passing that such connections are made, except for in the work of Greg
2
W. Forbes.
However, the study of the role that the Lukan parables play in the purpose of the Gospel
of Luke, could enhance our understanding of the purpose of Luke’s Gospel, as well as of the
Lukan parables themselves. Therefore, I, in this thesis, attempt to do just that: To go further,
1. At least fourteen parables are unique to Luke: the Two Debtors (7:41-42), the Good Samaritan (10:25-37), the
Friend at Midnight (11:5-8), the Rich Fool (12:13-21), the Barren Fig Tree (13:6-9), the Great Feast (14:15-24),
the Tower Builder and Warring King (14:28-33), the Lost Coin (15:8-10), the Prodigal Son (15:11-32), the
Dishonest Manager (16:1-13), the Rich Man and Lazarus (16:19-31), the Unworthy Servants (17:7-10), the
Judge and the Widow (18:1-8) and the Pharisee and the Tax-Collector (18:9-14). Of those, except for the Tower
Builder and Warring King and the Unworthy Servants, at least eleven narrative parables are unique to Luke in
the travel narrative of the Gospel, although the Great Feast is debatable as to whether it is independent of
Matthew’s versions (Matt. 22:1-14). Of course, the number of parables is counted differently depending on how
one defines the parable. Some scholars add the Place of Honor (14:7-11) to the Lukan parables with a certain
reason. See Douglas M. Parrott, “The Dishonest Steward (Luke 16:1-8a) and Luke’s Special Parable Collection,”
NTS 37 (1991), 499-515, here 505-506; Mikeal C. Parsons, “Landmarks Along the Way: The Function of The “L”
Parables in the Lukan Travel Narrative,” SJT 40 (1997), 33-47, especially 38-39; Garwood P. Anderson,
“Seeking and Saving What Might Have Been Lost: Luke’s Restoration of an Enigmatic Parable Tradition,” CBQ
70 (2008), 729-49, here 729 n. 1.
2. Greg W. Forbes, The God of Old: The Role of the Lukan Parables in the Purpose of Luke’s Gospel (JSNTSup
198, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000).
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