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

poor. In fact, the theme is more prominent in the Gospel of Luke than in Matthew and Mark. 4
Even though it appears that his concern for the poor is reduced in Acts, the theme is virtually
continued throughout Acts. 5 The theme begins with the Magnificat, “he has put down the
mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree (); he has filled the
hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.” In Mary’s canticle, God’s
mercy to his people is represented in the light of the exalting of the lowly and the hungry, and
humbling rulers and the rich. The term not only parallels , but also carries
the meaning of lowliness, insignificance, weakness, reduction, and poorness. 6
The term occurs fundamentally in three main texts in the Gospel of Luke: 4:18,
6:20 and 7:22.
She, in this
canticle is also singing that God’s covenant with Israel has been kept through Jesus, the one
to be born. The theme is also connected with the humble birth of Jesus in a stable (2:7), the
visitation of shepherds (2:8-20) and the offering of the poor in the time of purification of
Mary, Jesus’ mother (2:24). As the ministry of Jesus unfolds, it will become progressively
more obvious that the poor is one of Luke’s main concerns.
7
Firstly, in Jesus’ inaugural sermon at Nazareth (4:18-19), he announces the
fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in his ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to
260-74; Samantha R. Brewer, “Wealth and Poverty in Luke’s Gospel and Acts: A Challenge to the Christian
Church,” Encounter: Journal for Pentecostal Ministry 6 (2009), 1-27.
4. Against the argument that, unlike the Synoptic, the Gospel of John shows no interest in the poor, Motyer
contends that John has great concern for the marginalized, particularly in the story of Nathanael (1:47),
Nicodemus (3:1, 10), the Samaritan woman (4:6-7) and the Herodian official (4:46), as well as in 13:29 and 12:8.
He also tries to confirm that this traditional focus on Christology as a doctrine is not suitable to appreciate the
real dynamic of John’s Gospel, through the John’s deep concern about social reconciliation. Motyer, “Jesus and
the Marginalised in the Fourth Gospel,” 70-89. Notwithstanding, it is generally recognized that the Gospel of
John has little interest in the poor in comparison with Luke’s great concern for the poor. For more on this theme,
see Frederick Herzog, Liberation Theology: Liberation in the Light of the Fourth Gospel (New Yor: Seabury,
1972); José Miranda, Being and the Messiah: The Message of St. John (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1977); Samuel Rayan,
“Jesus and the Poor in the Fourth Gospel,” Biblebhashyam 4 (1978), 213-28; David Rensberger, Overcoming the
World: Politics and Community in the Gospel of John (London: SPCK, 1989); Robert J. Karris, Jesus and the
Marginalized in John’s Gospel (Collegeville: Michael Glazier, 1990).
5. On the contrary, Schottroff and Stegemann argue, that in Acts, the absence of destitution is due to Luke’s
idealized portrayal of the early Christian community. In this regard, they assert that in the Lukan community
there are no poor, noting the substitution of the word (needy) in Acts for the word (the poor). L.
Schottroff and W. Stegemann, Jesus and the Hope of the Poor, 111.
6. E. Bammel, “,” TDNT, VI, 902, 905-7, even claims that without regard for the poor in Luke as a
whole, “Luke neither thinks from the standpoint of the poor nor really seeks to address them.”
7. Apart from the above occasions, the term also appears in 14:13, 21, 16:20, 22, 18:22, 19:18, 21:3.
See Joel B. Green, “Good News to Whom? Jesus and the “Poor” in the Gospel of Luke,” in ed., J. B. Green and
M. Turner, Jesus of Nazareth: Lord and Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1994), 59-
74, here 61.
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