INTRODUCTION
Luke is one of the four gospels in the New Testament. It is one of the longest gospels. It makes up twenty-five percent of the New Testament. If we attribute the gospel to Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, also considered its sequel, would have the most verses.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Part A: Authorship, Audience, and Date
The general consensus from the majority of the biblical scholars attributes the gospel to Luke. Irenaeus (c. AD 180) is the first person to have attributed the Gospel to Luke.1 Some information is known about Luke from the direct source. The intertextual evidence, however, shows that he is the only non-Jewish author of the four Gospels. The apostle Paul refers to him as a “dear physician” (Colossians 4:14). He was Paul’s travel companion in his missionary journeys. The gospel is not Luke’s firsthand eyewitness record but a well-organized writing of Jesus’ work and teachings put in polished Koine Greek. He is a second-generation Gentile convert, well versed in Greek grammar, medicine, and sea navigation. He shows his extensive knowledge in these fields in his writings in both Luke and Acts.
His intended audience is gentiles. His opening statement in both Luke (1:1-4) and Acts (1:1) is addressed to a man named Theophilus, the “most excellent.” There are certain theories about him. (a) Luke has addressed Felix (cf. Acts 23:26; 24:3) and Festus (cf. Acts 26:25) with the same title. Based on his former usage of the same title, Theophilus could be a Roman government official who converted to Christianity. (b) The name was common among Jews and gentiles. The degree of respect shown to him could mean he was a wealthy financier who sponsored the writings of the gospel and Acts. (d) The name simply means “lover of God.” In this sense, Luke could be addressing the believers in general.
Since Luke does not mention Paul’s death in Acts or shows a little or no interest in the fall of Jerusalem, it indicates that he wrote the Gospel before the 70s CE. Some scholars date it even as early as the late 50s or early 60s CE, based on the presumption that Luke copied Mark.
Part B: Cultural Situation
Luke makes his purpose known in 1:1. The Lukan report is “an orderly account” of what eyewitnesses delivered and taught to first-century churches. This indicates that the accounts presented are well-grounded facts, thus establishing the reliability of the gospel among his readers. Given the facts that he shares some of the same materials as Matthew and Mark, his writing is well-organized and geared toward preserving and confirming the teaching and deeds of Jesus Christ.
Part C: Original Setting
In the Lukan gospel narrative, a parable (16-20) is the continuum of the pericope. Verse 13 starts as a part of a narrative, but Jesus questions the questioner while warning the crowd of greed. The preceding passage has Jesus warn his disciples of the hypocrisy of scribes and Pharisees. He teaches the crowd about God’s care for them, drawing the illustration of his providence for birds. He emphatically reminds them that the Holy Spirit will provide them the right words to speak when needed. In the narrative, the need for a profession of faith is embedded.
Thesis of the passage: Christians should guard themselves against all covetousness.
LITERARY CONTEXT
Part A: Genre
The gospel of Luke is a narrative. He shares some similar materials with Matthew and Mark but also includes other materials that are found only in Luke. As stated earlier, Luke himself was not an eyewitness, but the work is based on accounts recounted by eyewitnesses. The narratives contain Jewish customs and traditions explained as the gospel is intended for the gentiles.
B. Context of the Text
The previous pericope has Jesus still teaching the large crowd. A man from the crowd approaches him and demands that Jesus become a judge or arbitrator over the matter of the family inheritance between him and his brother. The narrative does not give us any indication of whether this claim against his brother was just or unjust. Jesus, on the other hand, refuses to settle the man’s family dispute. He would rather introduce the Parable of the Rich Fool (16-21) to set the tone for his teaching on material possessions in the larger context of themes in Luke.
Part C: Literary Analysis
13 Εἶπεν δέ τις ἐκ τοῦ ὄχλου αὐτῷ,
Comparing four English Bible translations—NASB95, NIV, ESV, and NLT—only NLT begins the verse with the particle “Then” to connect with the preceding pericope to express simple continuation of his ongoing teaching to the crowd, while the other three omit the particle.
Διδάσκαλε, εἰπὲ τῷ ἀδελφῷ μου μερίσασθαι μετʼ ἐμοῦ τὴν κληρονομίαν.
The man addresses Jesus as “Teacher” of his days, who speaks with authority. His approach to Jesus is in imperative form—a directive rather than a humble request to a teacher. Given the Jewish culture of the time, he might be the younger of the two and has lost his inheritance to the older brother, thus needing an outside intervention to regain his possession. The text contains some interesting observations about the imperative form. The man certainly accepts Jesus as a teacher with authority. What makes it unusual is that he demands directives from Jesus for his own benefit. As Luke presents Jesus receiving the poor and oppressed in the gospel, can we assume that the man is simply operating at that level where his demand will be granted?
14 κριτὴν ἢ μεριστὴν
Jesus’ reply to the man echoes Exodus 2:14; Acts 7:27, 35. The word μεριστὴν occurs only once here in the Greek Bible. Bruce Metzger thinks that the text is almost certain.2 Meantime, its rarity in use has also caused multiple variant readings of the text.
15 πάσης πλεονεξίας
There are some textual variants in the reading. The early manuscripts read “all greediness,” but later read “greediness.”3 The variant readings have some differences. The former addresses every form of greediness, while the latter talks about greediness in general.
18 ⸄πάντα τὸν σῖτον καὶ τὰ ἀγαθά μου⸅
The Wescott-Hort Greek New Testament edition and the Nestle-Aland/United Bible Society edition read “all the grains and my good.” 𝔓75c (𝔓75* has μου after σιτον). (א2)B L 070 f14. These manuscripts were used in the translation work of many well-known Bible translations, such as NIV (TNIV), NASB, ESV, NEB, HCSB, NET, and (N)RSV. Nevertheless, we have two variant readings of verse 18.
Variant 1 reads, “all my produce,” and Variant 2 has, “all my produce and my goods.”5 Some Uncials from 5th CE, Minuscules from 9th CE, and the Masoratic Text ranging from 12th CE to 13th CE support the second variant reading. KJV and NKJV translate as “all my fruits and my good,” relying on the Masoretic Text. We cannot say with certainty which reading is the oldest or original. Whichever reading we stick with, it has no major effect on doctrine of any sort.
21 ⸋οὕτως ὁ θησαυρίζων ⸀ἑαυτῷ καὶ μὴ εἰς θεὸν πλουτῶν.* ⸆⸌
This verse is completely omitted in D ita,b.6 Textual criticism scholarship maintains that the verse must be either an accidental omission or that the editor of D intentionally omitted it for the dramatic ending of the pericope. There does not seem to be any other apparent theological or factual reason for this omission.
SYNTHESIS/CONCLUSION
Jesus, instead of passing judgment, took that moment to teach the crowd gathered around him. The main character and the secondary character, namely Jesus and the man, switch roles as the parable progresses. The crowd around them serves as the background character throughout the pericope. Questioning the questioner reveals the motif and the presumptions behind the question. The chapter is focused mainly on the accumulation of material possessions in one’s life. The man’s relationship with his brother must have broken beyond reparation, so he needed a judge or arbitrator to resolve their issue.
In his parable of the Rich Fool (vv. 16-21), Jesus does not condemn becoming rich or possessing wealth. He is seemingly emphasizing the priorities and the proper use of wealth with a stark warning of all forms of greed. In hindsight, we should not forget that the parable speaks to Jewish audiences from a Jewish perspective. The Rich Fool does reveal his foolishness with the progression of the parable. Firstly, he fails to recognize that God is the provider who blessed him abundantly with all grains. Secondly, he reveals where his heart is. He amasses the produce and decides to keep it for himself. His selfishness and greed blinded him from recognizing that the early possessions are temporal. You cannot find your security on them. He lacks the basic understanding of possible harm or destruction of earthly possessions by means of moths or pests or natural disasters. Thus, his plan to be a productive citizen of society is counterproductive. Thirdly, he clearly and unmistakably ignores the very fact that a person cannot foresee their future and death is inevitable. Finally, our richness is not measured by how much we accumulate in the world but by what we do with the least God has given us.
- Marshall, I. H. “Luke.” Edited by D. R. W. Wood, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, and D. J. Wiseman. New Bible Dictionary. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996. p. 704 ↩︎
- Metzger, Bruce Manning, United Bible Societies. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition: A Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th Rev. Ed.). London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994. P136. ↩︎
- Brannan, Rick, and Israel Loken. The Lexham Textual Notes on the Bible. Lexham Bible Reference Series. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014. ↩︎
- 2א Uncials corrected in 6th–7th CE by a group of correctors correcting and conforming the manuscripts to Byzantine texts, B Uncials (Vaticanus) most of the New Testament from 4th CE, L Uncials (Regius) Gospels from 8th CE, and f and 1 Minuscules (a family of manuscripts including 1, 118, 131, and 209) Gospels; 12th–14th CE. ↩︎
- Ibid.
↩︎ - D Uncials (Bezae) Gospels, Acts; 5th c.; it Old Latin (Vercellenis) Gospels; 4th c.; a Old Latin (Vercellenis) Gospels; 4th c.; b Old Latin (Veronensis) Gospels; 5th c. ↩︎