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

majority, there are still those who try to defend the complete unity of the parable, including v.
8b. 15 Indeed, v. 8b, as Catchpole’s argument, 16 seems to belong originally to the parable,
since v. 8b is fit well not only for the parable, but for the preceding eschatological discourse
(17:22-37). If the word means ‘faithfulness’, then v. 8b is all the more appropriate to
the parable and its eschatological context. 17
Although it is in fact widely accepted that Luke
added v. 8b as an independent saying of Jesus, it is reasonable to view v. 8 as its original part
of in the unity of the parable.
9-2. The Analysis of the Parable
At the outset, the disciples are given a statement of the purpose of the parable in the
introduction (v. 1) that it is necessary to always pray and not lose heart. Praying continuously
and not giving up stands in stark contrast to the rabbinic injunction to limit prayer in order
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not to weary God. Such an attitude of praying appears also at Lk. 21:36, Rom. 12:12 and 1
Thess. 5:17.
V. 2, in the first place, introduces a judge who neither fears God nor respects human
beings. Not only does this description contrast with the injunction of King Jehoshaphat when
he appointed judges in the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city (2 Chron. 19:4-
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6), but also such a portrait of him corresponds closely to that of King Jehoiakim by
Josephus, “he was unjust and wicked by nature, and was neither reverent toward God nor
kind to man.” 20
According to the teaching of the Old Testament tradition, the audience
probably expected a judge who fears God and respects human beings. In this respect, the
appearance of a judge of dubious character would have surprised the hearers and caught their
attention from the outset of the story, with curiosity for the narrative to proceed.
15. Jeremias, Parables, 153-57; G. Delling, “Das Gleichnis vom gottlosen Richter,” ZNW 53 (1962), 1-25;
Marshall, Luke, 670-71; Blomberg, Parables, 273; Catchpole, “The Son of Man’s Search for Faith,” 81-104.
16. Catchpole concludes that vv. 2-5 and 7-8 have a unity from the beginning and came from the historical Jesus.
Catchpole, “The Son of Man’s Search for Faith,” 104.
17. Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 457.
18. According to the Babylonian Talmud, it is generally encouraged to pray three times per day on the basis of
the model of Daniel. In addition, in the case of the midrashim, an injunction to limit prayer is given to one in
order not to weary God. See b. Ber. 31a; Tanh. B 10. 11; J.T. Townsend, Midrash Tanhuma: Translated into
English with Introduction, Indices, and Brief Notes (S. Buber Recension). I. Genesis (Hoboken, NJ: Ktav, 1989).
19. King Jehoshaphat said to the judges, “Be careful about what you do, for you judge not for man but for the
Lord, and he is with you in giving judgment.” (2 Chron. 19:6).
20. Josephus, Ant. 10.83, ; quoted from Josephus,
trans. Henry St. John Thackeray et al., LCL, 10 vols. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961-81), 6:202-3.
See also Dionysius of Halicarnassus Rom. Ant. 10.10.7; Freed, “The Parable of the Judge and the Widow,” 42.
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