Against the conventional reading of Luke 18:18–23 as a micro-narrative that revolves around
discipleship and the dangers of wealth with regard to inheriting the Kingdom of God, this
article reads the text using patronage (and clientism) as a model. It argues that this micronarrative
also mirrors patronal relations in the 1st-century Roman Palestine through which
a few elites exploited the majority poor. The description of the chief protagonist in the
narrative as a ruler, who was also rich, by Luke casts him in a negative light as a patron who
exploited the poor around him who were his clients. From this standpoint, it is therefore
argued in the article that the strategy of the narrative is to encourage patrons to move from
negative and balanced reciprocity to ‘general reciprocity’ in which giving to the poor without
the desire to receive back dominates. This interpretation is still within the framework of the
theology of wealth in the Gospel of Luke, which encourages ‘giving without the expectation
to receive back’.
CONTRIBUTION : This article argues that the micro-narrative of Luke 18:18–23 mirrors patronal
relations of 1st-century Palestine. From Luke’s description of rich ruler, the first hearers of
Luke probably thought of him as a patron who exploited his clients, the poor. The call by Jesus
to self-divesture therefore is a call for patrons to move beyond negative and balanced
reciprocity to practice general reciprocity in which giving to the poor, without the want to
receive back, dominates; this is social-scientific criticism of Luke 18:18–23 mostly neglected in
Lukan scholarship.Special Collection: Africa Platform for NT Scholars, sub-edited by Ernest van Eck (University of Pretoria).The authors are participating
in the research project ‘Africa
Platform for NT Scholars’
directed by Prof. Dr Ernest
van Eck, Department of New
Testament and Related
Literature, Faculty of
Theology and Religion,
University of Pretoria.http://www.hts.org.zaam2022New Testament Studie
