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

more negative images regarding the Pharisees because of Luke’s negative portrayals thus far. 9
The usages of the word in the first century at least include relational fidelity, forensic
justification, and restoration of right relationship. 10 Here it should be taken in the sense of a
lifestyle acceptable before God. 11
V. 9 has normally been seen as Jesus’ attack on the type of character in Pharisaism that
12
stands for exclusivism and self-centredness. The challenge to the above tradition of
interpretation rises strongly with Schottroff who argues that such an interpretation is
profoundly rooted in so-called ecclesiological Christian notions of Pharisaism and Judaism. 13
Yet it seems safe to say that the “some” in v. 9 is applicable not only to Pharisees, but also the
audience of Jesus, including his disciples and the readers of Luke. 14
The reader is left with no information as to whether the setting is of public worship or of
private prayer. In relation to the setting of prayer, many scholars put forward that of public
15 16 17
worship, the setting which is linked to either the morning or evening sacrifice in that
Luke mentions the daily sacrifice in several other contexts, 18 and in that in v.
13 has sacrificial implications. If this is the case, it, as will be discussed later, would indeed
serve to stress the tax-collector’s plea for atonement. 19
According to recent research on the Pharisees in the light of three ancient sources, that is,
9. For negative descriptions of Pharisees in Luke’s Gospel so far, see 5:30; 6:2, 7; 7:30, 39; 11:37-46, 53-54;
15:1-2; 16:14-15. See also Forbers, The God of Old: The Role of the Lukan Parables in the Purpose of Luke’s
Gospel, 212.
10. A. Katherine Grieb, The Story of Romans: A Narrative Defense of God’s Righteousness (Louisville:
Westminster John Knox, 2002), 21-25.
11. Marshall, Luke, 679.
12. Ibid., 677-78.
13. Schottroff, The Parables of Jesus, 8-11.
14. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke, 1185-86; Nolland, Luke, 875; Green, Luke, 644; Hultgren,
Parables, 120; Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 470; Friedrichsen, “The Temple, A Pharisee, A Tax Collector, and
The Kingdom of God: Rereading a Jesus Parable,” 103-104.
15. Jeremias, Parables, 140; Scott, Hear Then a Parable, 94; Herozog, Parables as Subversive Speech, 178;
Farris, “Tale of Two Taxations,” 31; Friedrichsen, “The Temple, A Pharisee, A Tax Collector, and The Kingdom
of God: Rereading a Jesus Parable,” 105; Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 473. On the other hand, Hedrick
presumes that the two prayers went up to temple to pray between the sacrifices. Hedrick, Parables as Poetic
Fictions: The Creative Voice of Jesus, 214.
16. Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes, 146.
17. Hultgren, Parables, 178; Dennis Hamm, “The Tamid Service in Luke-Acts: The Cultic Background behind
Luke’s Theology of Worship (Luke 1:5-25; 18:9-14; 24:50-53; Acts 3:1; 10:3, 30),” CBQ 65 (2003), 215-31.
18. Luke 1:5-23; Luke 24:50-53; Acts 3:1. See also Hamm, “The Tamid Service in Luke-Acts: The Cultic
Background behind Luke’s Theology of Worship,” 215-31.
19. Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 473; Forbes, The God of Old: The Role of the Lukan Parables in the Purpose
of Luke’s Gospel, 213.
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