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

Testament rather than on Sir 35:14-25. 6
With the reference to the coming of the Son of Man in 17:22 and 18:8b, which function
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rhetorically as an inclusion, the parable is closely tied to Jesus’ eschatological discourse in
17:22-37 where although his disciples will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man,
they will not, and people going about their lives as in the days of Noah and Lot, will be
caught unprepared. In the light of this view, it is most likely that Jesus’ eschatological
discourse began with the question of the Pharisees in 17:20 and ends with 18:8. If so, it is
reasonable to interpret the parable in the context of the whole eschatological discourse, that is
to say, that the disciples never give up while they are waiting for their vindication, in contrast
to the people who did not prepare for the day, namely, the day of judgment, or the coming of
Son of Man, because of their preoccupation with their lives. 8
There is no consensus regarding the authenticity of the parable (18:1-8), even though the
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authenticity of the core parable (18:2-5) is largely accepted. It seems clear that v. 1 is a
Lukan introduction to the parable serving to help the reader understand the parable. 10
In
6. Schottroff, The Parables of Jesus, 190-92; idem, Lydia’s Impatient Sisters: A Feminist Social History of Early
Christianity (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), 101; Herzog, Parables as Subversive Speech,
220-25; Forbes, The God of Old: The Role of the Lukan Parables in the Purpose of Luke’s Gospel, 200.
7. V. 8 also forms an inclusion with v. 1. See Green, Luke, 637; Walter L. Liefeld, “Parables on Prayer (Luke
11:5-13; 18:1-14),” 252-54, in ed., R.N. Longenecker, The Challenge of Jesus’ Parables (Grand Rapides:
Eerdmans, 2000).
8. Talbert, Reading Luke: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Third Gospel, 169; Forbes, The God
of Old: The Role of the Lukan Parables in the Purpose of Luke’s Gospel, 198; Liefeld, “Parables on Prayer
(Luke 11:5-13; 18:1-14),” 252-54; Schottroff, The Parables of Jesus, 192-93; Snodgrass, Stories with Intent,
457; Kilgallen, The Twenty Parables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, 142-43. On the other hand, Stephen
Curkpatrick contends that the parable (vv. 2-5) and the parable-frame (vv. 1-8) each provide quite a different
eschatology, thereby indicating the reality of the reign of God being present among the believing community, in
the case of the former, and faithful perseverance until the coming of the Son of Man in case of the latter. In
doing this, the widow’s concern for justice in vv. 2-5 fades into future eschatology and the perseverance of the
elect by Luke’s framing of the parable. Stephen Curkpatrick, “Dissonance in Luke 18:1-8,” JBL 121 (2002),
107-21, here 117-20.
9. Although Fitzmyer and Donahue view v. 6 raising attention to what the judge said as part of the parable in the
sense that the parable centers on the conduct of the judge, not the importunate widow, most of interpreters
consider vv. 2-5 as the core parable. See Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke, 1176-77; Donahue, The
Gospel in Parable, 181.
10. Jeremias, Parables, 156; D.R. Catchpole, “The Son of Man’s Search for Faith (Lk 18:8b),” NovT 19 (1977),
81-104, here 90; Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke, 1176; Marshall, Luke, 671; Edwin D. Freed, “The
Parable of the Judge and the Widow (Luke 18:1-8),” NTS 33 (1987), 38-60, 39-40; Scott, Hear Then the Parable,
176; Hedrick, Parables as Poetic Fictions: The Creative Voice of Jesus, 187; Herzog, Parables as Subversive
Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed, 218; Francois Bovon, “Apocalyptic Traditions in the Lukan
Special Material: Reading Luke 18:1-8,” HTR 90 (1997), 383-91, 385; Forbes, The God of Old: The Role of the
Lukan Parables in the Purpose of Luke’s Gospel, 198; Hultgren, Parables, 253; Stein, Luke, 444; Barbara, E.
Reid, “Beyond Petty Pursuits and Wearisome Widows: Three Lukan Parables,” Int 56 (2002), 284-94, 290;
Stephen Curkpatrick, “Dissonance in Luke 18:1-8,” 107-21; idem, “A Parable Frame-up and Its Audacious
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