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

tells stories and composes prayers out of traditional materials, like Josephus, 20 and tries to
show how they are consonant with God’s plan. He insists that the canticles, which are
traditional hymns adapted by Luke, convey Luke’s theology that God’s promises to his
people are fulfilled in Jesus, the Messiah and Son of God. In the same vein, Karris seeks to
demonstrate how Luke composes the prayer in Acts 4:24-30 from traditional materials, and
accords it with his theology of the history of salvation in parallel with Josephus’s work,
Jewish Antiquities 4:40-51. He claims that the contentions of Harris and Crump have validity,
when the content-less prayer passages of Jesus (3:12; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18; 9:28-29: 11:1) are
associated with Lukan theological themes. In other words, Jesus and his followers come to
know God’s will and plan through prayer. The community of disciples in Acts follows Jesus
teaching on prayer (10:21-24; 11:1-13; 18:1-14), and it is demonstrated, as I have mentioned
above, in the nine parallels which Feldkämper has detected. 21 He comes to the conclusion
that Luke as a narrative theologian of prayer does not force teaching about prayer on us, nor
does he recounts prayer in some abstract way, but rather he leads naturally to act according to
the examples that have already been shown through the case of Mary, Jesus, the early church,
and Paul in prayer. 22
He concentrates on how Luke adapts traditional hymns and prayers in
his Gospel and Acts so as to assist his theology rather than on what Luke strives to say about
prayer of Jesus and the early community.
Joel B. Green claims that Jesus at prayer experiences and solidifies his relationship with
God, calling God Father (10:21-22; 22:41-45; 23:34, 46), and at the same time Jesus not only
recognizes and accepts the will of God (22:39-46; 6:12-20; 3:21), but also Jesus is
strengthened for his ministry in prayer (3:21; 22:43). In addition, Jesus at prayer reveals his
identity and God’s purpose within Jesus to others (9:28-29; 23:34, 46; 9:18-20; 24:30-31).
Jesus’ instruction on prayer, he feels, centers on the faithfulness of God (18:1-8; 11:5-8. cf.,
12:30; 12:2-4, 14-21, 32-34) in relationship between Father and his children (11:2, 13; 6:36;
12:30, 32). As a result, for him, Jesus’ prayer practice occurs out of “one’s innermost
beliefs.” 24
On the other hand, having demonstrated the continuity of prayer in Acts with
20. Josephus in Jewish Antiquities 4:40-51 holds that Moses has done all things in accordance with God’s will
and divine providence, which is a reworking of Numbers 16. The prayer section in Jewish Antiquities 4:40-51
was composed from traditional materials and was reworked on behalf of his theological and political agenda as
well.
21. Karris, Prayer and the New Testament, 76.
22. Ibid., 40-81.
23. Green, The Theology of the Gospel of Luke, 58-60.
24. Green, “Persevering Together in Prayer: The Significance of Prayer in the Acts of the Apostles,” 197.
180
23