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

Jewish story on the grounds of Deut. 30:11-14 13 , and Jewish thought that identifies a sinner
with a rich man, and a pious man with a poor man. Having pointed out the similarities
between Luke’s story and the last chapters of 1 Enoch, he contradicts Gressmann’s theory
that the first part (vv. 19-26), as discussed above, is derived from the Egyptian account of
Setme, and that the latter part (vv. 27-31) is Jesus’ secondary addition. 14 Jeremias considers
vv. 19-26 as the original story and vv. 27-31 as Jesus’ later addition to a traditional Jewish
story. 15 Yet he supports the unity of the parable on the basis of the two historic presents in v.
23 and v. 29 with evidence of pre-Lukan tradition. 16 In the same vein, while D.L. Mealand
sees the latter part as the early church’s addition to a Jewish traditional story, 17 L. Schottroff
and Q. Stegemann regard the latter part as Luke’s addition to the parable of Jesus. 18 Another
reason for the alleged disunity is the assumption that the latter seems to reflect a post-Easter
situation. Crossan argues that vv. 27-31 cannot be taken as part of the original parable of
Jesus, since “there are too many links between the discussion of the resurrection of the rich
man in the parable and that concerning Jesus’ own resurrection in Luke 24 to be
coincidence,” 19 such as the theme of disbelief, the double mention of Moses and prophets,
the mention of the resurrected one, and the use of “they will repent.” He concludes that vv.
27-31 is most likely pre-Lukan and is a post-resurrectional application of the parable. 20
Scott,
following Crossan, also claims that Luke not only appended vv. 27-31 to the parable to
connect the parable with Jewish disbelief in Jesus’ messiahship, but also rewrote the parable
13. “For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not
in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do
it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we
may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”
(Deut. 30:11-14).
14. R. Bultmann, History of the Synoptic Tradition, 178, 196-97, 203. See also David Mealand, Poverty and
Expectation the Gospels (London: SPCK, 1980), 39-49; John. Drury, The Parables in the Gospels, 150-51;
Donahue, The Gospel in Parable, 170.
15. Jeremias, Parables, 186.
16. Ibid., 182-83. The reason for the above argument is that in the Luke’s redactional pattern to his Markan
source, he almost always abandons the historic present. Of Mark’s ninety parallel passages, Luke has retained
only one (Luke 8:49). There are the five historic presents in Lukan parables (13:8; 16:7, 23, 29; 19:22) which
probably indicate pre-Lukan material.
17. Mealand, Poverty and Expectation the Gospels, 48.
18. L. Schottroff and Q. Stegemann, Jesus and the Hope of the Poor (New York: Orbis, 1986), 25. She, though,
in her recent work considers the unity of the parable, emphasizing on reading it in their literary context. See
Schottroff, The Parables of Jesus, 166, 168.
19. Crossan, In Parables, 65.
20. Ibid., 65-66. He feels that vv. 27-32 allegorically hints at the Jewish refusal to accept either Moses or the
prophets as witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus or to accept the risen Jesus himself. For him, the context in v.
31 in particular makes one think of Jesus, not the rich man.
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