The parallel between Jesus and Elijah in the account of the Samaritan village (Lk. 9.51-56; cf. 2 Kgs 1.1-16), though recognized for centuries, has almost always been seen as a negative one. Whether for reasons of typology, eschatology or as a polemic against violent judgment, scholars tend to argue that this passage distances Jesus from the OT prophet. This article examines the passage in light of the Elijah motif running throughout Luke–Acts, which is consistent in creating a positive link between Jesus and Elijah, especially in regard to compassion towards outsiders. In this light, the Lukan narrative presents Jesus’ refusal to summon heavenly fire on the Samaritans as a truly Elijianic act. By contrast, the disciples, though attempting to emulate the Tishbite’s actions, are ironically found to be in every way unlike Elijah.
The story of the widow in the temple with her two small copper coins (Mark 12:41-44) is a familiar one, but recent scholarship has yielded a surprisingly divergent array of interpretative options. In particular, in noting the catchword χήρα (vv. 40,42,43) that links this episode to Jesus’s diatribe against the scribes in the preceding pericope (vv. 38-40), recent scholarship has argued, against the traditionally positive interpretation of this narrative, that this context requires a negative or tragic interpretation. The present study argues that catchwords and other contextual clues link the widow narrative not just with the preceding pericope, but with the whole series of five disputations in the temple (vv. 13-40). With the episode functioning in this way as an epilogue to the whole section, the widow may be seen as both a model of discipleship as well as a tragic figure whose poverty illustrates the failure of the religious leadership. Because catchwords are frequently noted but rarely defined, criteria must first be proposed for their identification and verification. These are then applied to the passage in question to demonstrate the lexical and semantic links between it and the preceding passages. Seen in this context, the widow narrative emerges in both greater clarity and greater complexity, illustrating piety and true discipleship on the one hand, and the tragic failure of the temple cult and its leaders on the other.
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