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

Chapter 9
Conclusion
The Lukan parables which occur only in the Gospel of Luke have primarily been examined as
individual parables, focusing on its form and structure. But I tried to go further by examining
the role of the Lukan parables within the purpose of Luke’s Gospel, in the hope that the
Lukan parables would give us clues as to Luke’s overall purpose. For this, my first task was
to lay a methodological basis for a study of the parables, after examining the history of
research into the Lukan parables. I argued that on the basis of current research it is reasonable
to say that the parables must be interpreted within their gospel contexts, that the parables
contain allegory and point to referents beyond the story, and that the parables may make more
than one point.
With these criteria established for a study of the parables, I embarked upon a detailed
analysis of the Lukan parables, examining particularly the literary context of the parables and
eliciting the major motifs from each parable. Here, my major goal was to examine each
parable on its own merits, and not forcing it into a preconceived framework, while taking into
consideration the modern interpretative trends of each parable. In addition, the main thrusts
drawn from each parable will serve to establish the theological themes of the Lukan parables.
After synthesizing the findings from the parables, the theological themes of the Lukan
parables were subsumed under four broad categories: the marginalized, wealth and
possessions, prayer, and conversion. Furthermore, it is self-evident that the theological
themes of the Lukan parables are in congruence with, and bolster the themes that are
prominent in Luke-Acts. In order to search for a unifying theme of the Lukan parables, it was
also indispensable to examine the travel narrative in the Gospel of Luke, since all the parables
which we have analyzed in Luke are located in the travel narrative. For this, I examined and
evaluated the current scholarly views about the Lukan travel narrative in four categories:
historical approach, redaction critical approach, chiastic structure, and Old Testament models.
Insights derived from the current scholarly views of understanding the travel narrative
converge on the Christological and Ecclesiological purposes.
That is to say, with respect to the Christological purpose, the travel narrative is the way,
not only to suffering with an awareness of the necessity of his passion and death, but also to
glorification, which is expressed by the motif in 9:51. The imagery of the exodus
from Egypt is also used to describe a new exodus to the Promised Land in Jesus’ journey to
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