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

the Journey also requires total abandonment: money, accomplishments, self-importance and
so forth. Furthermore, the Journey to Jerusalem contours some of the dangers to spiritual
formation: self-promotion, self-directed quest for honour, self-serving, hypocrisy and the like.
They, in effect, hinder travel to the new Promised Land. On the other hand, S.C. Barton
enumerates four instructions as the main teaching of Jesus in the travel narrative: the
necessity of wholehearted commitment, single-minded love of God and love of neighbour, an
ethic of open, boundary-crossing hospitality, and readiness for the parousia. 2
In conclusion,
ecclesiological purpose here can be epitomized as the Christian life in this world.
The only thing remaining is to tie the theological themes found in the parables to the
purpose of the travel narrative, as has been argued above. It can be done in the following way:
The Lukan parables serve mostly an ecclesiological purpose which indicates how the
Christians should live in this world now and then, although there are christological
implications either explicitly or implicitly in the Lukan parables. By means of features which
only the parable bears, the Lukan parables frankly portray a range of ambiguous and
contradictory values found in the very familiar details of ordinary life, and reverse and
subvert the audience’s world, as well as present a challenge to a new life in Jesus’ sayings and
deeds. In so doing, the Lukan parables effectively help to archive the ecclesiological purpose
which is one of two overarching pillars in the travel narrative, that is to say, the Christian life.
2. Barton, The Spirituality of the Gospels, 99-104.
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