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

the Lord Jesus. Jesus’ prayer in Luke and Acts has in this way, Christological significance.
Finally, Luke shows that prayer is not only one of the means through which God reveals
his will to his people, but also a way by which God guides the course of the history of
salvation. Since O.G. Harris’ contention that is based thoroughly on Conzelmann’s view of
redemptive history and Luke’s historicizing in the face of a delayed parousia, 15
it has been
widely recognized that prayer is a means by which God guides the history of salvation. It
should go without saying that as I have pointed out above, there is no place that teaches this
so plainly as the canticles: Mary’s Magnificat (1:46-55), Zechariah’s Benedictus (1: 68-79)
and Nunc Dimittis (2:29-32). Furthermore, the following cases cogently bolster the fact that
prayer is intimately concerned with decisive and important moments in the progress of the
salvation history: the baptism of Jesus (3:21-22), the selection of the Apostles (6:12-16),
Peter’s confession and the first Jesus’ suffering prediction (9:18-22), the event of
transfiguration of Jesus (9:28-36), the return of the seventy missionaries (10:21-22), the
prayer at the Mount of Olives (22:39-46), the early Christian community’ prayer (1:14),
Pentecost (2:1-4), at the selection, appointment and commission for leadership (1:24-25; 6:6;
13:3; 14:23), and at the guidance for the missionary work (9:10-12; 10:3-4, 9-16; 30-31; 11:5;
22:17-21). Jesus’ disciples and followers, thus, seek to know the purpose and plan of God and
to commit themselves to its service in and through prayer.
It is necessary here to refer to the recent controversies surrounding prayer in Luke and
16
Acts. Steven F. Plymale is typical among scholars arguing the fact that prayer is a means
by which God guides the history of salvation on the grounds of Conzelmann’s view of
redemptive history. He contends that “prayer is God’s way of guiding and implementing the
accomplishment of his will,” adding the age of completion as a fourth dimension of
enumerates more instances as follows: praying for the disciples in the midst of the transfiguration (9:18-17;
9:28-36), praying for the repentance and conversion of the thief (23:40-42) and the centurion (23:47-48),
praying in Jesus’ breaking of the bread in Emmaus (24:30-31), and praying for Stephen in Acts (7:55-56).
However, it is not convincing because of being based only on his conjecture. See D.M. Crump, Jesus the
Intercessor: Prayer and Christology in Luke-Acts (WUNT 2/49. Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1992), 21-34, 42-48,
89-96, 98-108, 178-203.
15. O.G. Harris, ‘Prayer in Luke-Acts: A Study in the Theology of Luke,’ (PhD dissertation, Vanderbilt
University, 1966), 209, 222, 239. In contrast, Crump partly agrees with Harris’ view, but his opinion on a
salvation historical purpose in Luke’s presentation of prayer is rather different. He claims that “prayer is one of
the channels for the realization of God’s will among his people, but he is not limited to it,” in other words,
prayer is a way that God’s people are aligning themselves with his plan of salvation, not a means of
accomplishing salvation. See Crump, Jesus the Intercessor: Prayer and Christology in Luke-Acts, 126.
16. See Harris, ‘Prayer in Luke-Acts: A Study in the Theology of Luke’; P.T. O’Brien, “Prayer in Luke-Acts,”
TynBul 24 (1973), 111-127; Stephen S. Smalley, “Spirit, Kingdom and Prayer in Luke-Acts,” Novum Testament
15 (1973), 59-71; Turner, “Prayer in the Gospels and Acts,” 58-83.
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