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

imply that he remained unburied, 41 and his ascension into heaven after death by angels is
reminiscent of the taking up of Enoch to heaven by God (Gen 5:24), and the taking of Elijah
to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). 42 In Judaism, a lack of a decent burial or not being
buried at all was scandalous and regarded as a sign of God’s curse, 43
in Abraham’s bosom overthrows such a thought.
yet Lazarus’ reception
44
The phrase is unknown in pre-Christian Jewish literature. It, as
Nolland suggests, 45 is likely to be a development of the Old Testament idea of sleeping with
one’s ancestors. The bosom, apart from being a euphemism for death, may represent either an
honorary place for guests at a banquet, 46 or a close relational bond between Lazarus and
Israel’s chief patriarch. 47 Of the two, however, the former fits the story better. It is very likely
that Luke designs his readers to have the eschatological banquet as well as honour and
intimacy in view. The meaning of his name (Lazarus) as “one whom God helps,” has, in the
end, been fulfilled, along with a complete reversal of fate. “In Abraham’s bosom” contrasts
starkly with “in Hades”, which represents generally the place of death. It is not clear, however,
whether it presents an intermediate state or a final, eternal state of all. 48
Although there are
41. Plummer, Gospel according to St. Luke, 393; Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke, 1132; Scott, Hear
Then the Parable, 152; Herzog, Parables as Subversive Speech, 120.
42. For the ascension after his death, see Nolland, Luke, 829; Hultgren, Parables, 113.
43. Green, Luke, 607; Ferdinand O. Regalado, “The Jewish Background of the Parable of the Rich Man and
Lazarus,” Asia Journal of Theology 6 (2002), 341-48, 342.
44. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke, 1132.
45. Nolland, Luke, 829.
46. John 13:23. “One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of Jesus.” See also
Jeremias, Rediscovering the Parables, 146; Lehtipuu, “Characterization and Persuasion: The Rich Man and The
Poor Man in Luke 16:19-31,” 92; Hendrickx, The Parables of Jesus, 202; Herzog, Parables as Subversive
Speech, 121; Forbes, The God of Old: The Role of the Lukan Parables in the Purpose of Luke’s Gospel, 188-89;
Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 425; Bailey, “The New Testament Job, The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man
An Exercise in Middle Eastern New Testament Studies,” 24. Besides, having surveyed parallels in sepulchral
epigrams of the Greek Anthology, Hock claims that the phrase indicates protection and care, not honour. Hock,
“Lazarus and Micyllus: Greco-Roman Background to Luke 16:19-31,” 456.
47. John 1:18. “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him
known.” See Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, 252. On the other hand, Regalado views the phrase as a common
Jewish one which refers to paradise on the grounds of Matt 8:11. Regalado, “The Jewish Background of the
Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus,” 343.
48. For this discussion, see Richard, Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian
Apocalypses (NovTSup 93, Leiden: Brill, 1998), 81-96, 86-90; Karel Hanhart, The Intermediate State in the
New Testament (Groningen: V.R.B., 1966), 198-99; A.J. Mattill, Luke and the Last Things (Dillsboro: Western
North Carolina, 1979), 27; Blomberg, Interpreting The Parables, 206; Hultgren, Parables, 113; Regalado, “The
Jewish Background of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus,” 344-45; Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 430-32;
Kilgallen, The Twenty Parables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, 126-128. For the relationship between Hades and
Gehenna, see also W.J.P. Boyd, “Gehenna-According to J. Jeremias,” in ed., E.A. Livingstone, Studia Biblical
1978: II. Papers on the Gospels (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1980), 9-12; J. Osei-Bonsu, “The Intermediate State in
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