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

nor feeding pigs was a favourable thing for a Jew. Tax-collecters working for Gentiles are
treated as sinners, which, of course, include their iniquity to happen when they collect taxes.
In addition, according to b.B.Qam. 82b, 99 the man who feeds swine is cursed, because
according to the law pigs are unclean. 100 He wanted to eat the carob pods eaten by pigs,
which was refused him, since the carob pod may have been considered a valuable food due to
the severe famine. 101
He is spent personally and financially. Therefore the scene focuses on
his low and miserable life, more than on the abandonment of his religious customs.
Does the expression, (“came to himself”) in v. 17 mean that he
repented? Jeremias contends that the expression reflects a Semitic phrase signifying
102
repentance. To be sure, there are similar expressions elsewhere, but none of them are
related to a circumlocution for repentance. Rather than being a euphemism for repentance,
the expression simply expresses his desire to get himself out of his horrible situation. 103 It is
desirable to argue that the expression is nonetheless something of a prelude, leading him to
repentance. What is more, it is even more likely to be a prelude to repentance given the fact
that such real-life boundary situations not only can grow true religion, but also can allow him
to let God in. 104
In his soliloquy, the younger son makes a decision to return to his father, recalling the
abundance of his father’s hired servants. Likewise, he intends to confess his sin to his father:
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your
son, treat me as one of your hired servants.” His soliloquy raises two important questions:
What was the younger son’s sin against heaven and his father?, and is his soliloquy together
with his returning later an expression of repentance? In regard to his sin, there are many
suggestions, such as, his violation of the command to honour his parents in the OT (Exod
99. b.B.Qam. 82b: “Cursed be the man who would breed swine, or teach his son Greek philosophy”; m.B.Qum.
7.7: “None may rear swine anywhere”
100. Lev 11:7; Deut 14:8; Isa 65:4; 66:17; 1 Macc. 1:47; 2 Macc. 6:18; 7:1.
101. Nolland maintains that he was too closely monitored to even steal the pods. Nolland, Luke, 773.
102. Jeremias, Parables, 130; E. Linnemann, Parables of Jesus, 76; J. Creed, Luke, 197; Marshall, Luke, 607; R.
Aus, “Luke 15:11-32,” 457; Hendrickx, The Parables of Jesus, 53; Wenham, The Parables of Jesus: Pictures of
Revolution, 110; Stein, Parables, 120.
103. G. Jones, Art and Truth of the Parables, 182; C.F. Evans, Saint Luke, 590-91; F. Borsch, Many Things in
Parables, 41; Donahue, The Gospel in Parable, 153; Bailey, Poet and Peasant, 173-75; idem, Finding the Lost,
131; Scott, Hear Then the Parable, 115-16; Hultgren, Parables, 76; Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 138; G.W.
Ramsey, “Plots, Gaps, Repetitions, and Ambiguity in Luke 15,” PRSt 17 (1990), 38-41; Philip Sellew, “Interior
Monologue as a Narrative Device in the Parables of Luke,” JBL 111 (1992), 246; Fernando, Méndez-Moratalla,
The Paradigm of Conversion in Luke (JSNTSup 252, London: T & T Clark Interntional, 2004), 138-43.
104. Jeremy Duff and Joanna Collicutt McGrath, Meeting Jesus, 64; Pargament, K, The Psychology and
Religion of Coping: Theory, practice and research (New York, Guilford, 1997), 154.4.
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