After Jesus declares that a person cannot serve God and
wealth (16:13), the Pharisees scoff at Jesus (literally in Greek: "turned
up their noses"). Their murmuring (15:2) has developed into scorn, and, as
Johnson notes, they not only reject Jesus' message, they reject him. This term occurs one other place in Luke: in the passion narrative, where
the rulers actively scoff at Jesus while he is on the cross (23:35).
The narrator then reinforces Jesus' labeling of the
Pharisees by calling the Pharisees "lovers of money" (φιλάργυροι;
16:14). This rare direct definition of the Pharisees builds upon the theme
introduced in Luke 11:39-43 (cf. 14:7-24). Two of the three highest voices of
authority, then, accuse the Pharisees of rapacity or avarice, and the trait
clings to them like barnacles throughout the rest of Luke. Such polemical language also functions literarily
to provide an antithesis to the description of the ideal philosopher or
teacher, and φιλάργυροι is a term commonly used in Hellenistic literature in
polemics against various philosophers (cf. Halvor Moxnes, The Economy of the
Kingdom, 4-9, 147; Robert L. Brawley, Luke-Acts and the Jews: Conflict,
Apology, and Conciliation, 86).
As we shall see, the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
continues this theme. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the rich
man in the parable reflects φιλάργυροι, which, in turn, reflects back on the
Lukan Pharisees, since they serve as paradigms of those who behave as the rich
man behaves.
Jesus participates in this devastating critique of the
Pharisees by accusing them of being "those who justify yourselves before
human beings" (16:15). Luke 11:39-44 had previously depicted the
connection between the Pharisees' rapacity and their greed for public
recognition. Jesus' remark about the Pharisees' greed for public honor, then,
almost serves as an apodosis to the narrator's protasis about their love of
money. The Pharisees' greed and lust for prominence thus become even more
closely intertwined.
Jesus also echoes the Lukan reversal theme: Whatever is
exalted among human beings is an abomination (βδέλυγμα) before God (16:15). The narrative aside in Luke 7:30 had
commented that the Pharisees had "rejected the purpose of God for
themselves." Jesus' words here, though, suggest the converse: God does the
rejecting. God rejects what is exalted among human beings, and the Pharisees,
at this stage of the narrative, are the paradigm of the type of person— like
the rich man in the parable—who improperly and rapaciously grasps after such
honor.
The next three
verses (16:16-18) seem to be present because of the Pharisees' concern for
their interpretation of the law. These verses also help clarify Jesus'
relationship to the law, as does the last section of the parable (16:27-31). In
addition, Luke 16:14-15 is illuminated by the first section of the parable
(16:19-26). Thus the connections between these sayings and the parable itself
are more extensive than the mere fact that they are all directed to the
Pharisees as the primary audience (in the narrative). These connections between
the parable and Luke 16:14-16 are also noted by Talbert in Reading Luke (153-9). The Pharisees, of course,
are not the only ones indicted by this parable, but in literary terms, they are
the narratees at the hypodiegetic level (the ones to whom the parable is directed by the narrative).
The presentation of
the Lukan Pharisees draws attention to their opposition to Jesus' ideological
point of view: The Pharisees improperly grasp after material goods and honor.
This characterization of the dishonorable social behavior of the Pharisees has
direct implications for how we interpret the parable of the Rich Man and
Lazarus.
I will begin my discussion of the parable itself in my next post, one of
many posts about the interpretation of the parable in Luke before I start
talking about its reception history. In reality, however, in those numerous posts we will be examining
in detail one of the earliest extant receptions of a parable from Jesus: that
of the author of Luke-Acts.
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