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Even if we regard the hypothesis that the yelammendenu
rabbenu method forms the template for composition as being too
fanciful, the point that the frame coheres well with the parable still
stands. The parable is framed by questions on the identity of the
neighbour (vv. 29, 36). The objection that there is a discrepancy
between the lawyer‘s second question (i.e., who is my neighbour?)
and Jesus‘ answer in query form (i.e., who has been a neighbour?)
misses the profound subtlety of the message, which we hope to
demonstrate later.
Fourthly, there is a very high degree of historical plausibility to
the frame. 126 The frame has the command to love the neighbour as its
focus and we do know that the love command is one key aspect of
the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, whether this is to be directed to
one’s enemies or otherwise. 127 Moreover, the question asked by the
lawyer coheres well with the first century Jewish context. It is about
‘inheriting eternal life’ and this means not our modern popular
understanding of going to heaven when one dies but the thoroughly
Jewish concept of the inheritance of the age to come. The life of the
age to come is the vindicated and resurrected life which will be lived
before Yahweh and last forever (cf. Dan 12.1-3; Ps. Sol. 3.11-12; BJ
3.374; Apion 2.218;). 128 Furthermore, the lawyer’s seeking to be
justified () need not be construed as an attempt to
Authority and Transmission in Ancient Israel, Ancient Judaism and the
Matthean Community, Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1994.
126 This is now known as the criterion of historical plausibility and some
prominent scholars who defend some version of it are J. Jeremias, The Theology
of the New Testament I: The Proclamation of Jesus, London: SCM, 1971; G.
Theissen and D. Winter, The Quest for the Plausible Jesus: The Question of
Criteria, Lousiville: Westminster John Knox, 2002; and Wright, Jesus and the
Victory of God, Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996.
127 On the love command, see J. Piper, Love Your Enemies, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1979. Cf. R. Neudecker, ‗―And You Shall Love
Your Neighbour as Yourself — I am the Lord‖ (Lev 19,18) in Jewish
Interpretation‘, Bib 73 (1992), pp. 512-14.
128 Cf. E. Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ
(175 B.C.-A.D. 135), Vol. 2, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1979, p. 495.