Luke 16 - Introduction

6. The Two Parables on the use of Earthly Goods: chap. 16

Those two remarkable passages are peculiar to Luke, though taken, according to Holtzmann, from the common source Λ from which Matthew also borrows. For what reason, on this hypothesis, has the latter omitted them? The second espeally (Luke 16:31: They have Moses and the prophets) was perfectly in keeping with the spirit of this Gospel. According to Weizsäcker, the two parables have undergone very grave modifications in the course of successive editions. In his view, the original thought of the parable of the unjust steward was this: Beneficence, the means of justification for injustices committed by him who shows it. In our Gospel, it is intended to promise to the Gentiles an entrance into the kingdom of God, as a recompense for their benefits toward the lawful heirs of the kingdom. The second parable would also belong in origin to the tendency of Ebionite Judeo-Christianity; it would transform into a description the idea of the four beatitudes and four maledictions, which in Luke open the Sermon on the Mount. Later, it became the representation of the rejection of the unbelieving Jews (the wicked rich man and his brethren), and of the salvation of the Gentiles represented by Lazarus (probably a Gentile, according to Luke 16:21). We shall see if the interpretation justifies suppositions so violent.