How the Sinner Becomes Righteous: the Narrative Function of the Righteous in the Gospel of Luke

The early Church faced a dilemma: their founder was crucified as a criminal. The Lukan narrative gives an answer to this “scandal of the cross” by juxtaposing the categories of righteous and sinner and then creating ambiguity over which characters belong in which category. This blurring of categories serves as the backdrop for the crucifixion where Jesus the “sinner” is declared to be “righteous”. Since he has placed himself in solidarity with the “sinners” in the narrative and they with him, this declaration reveals that they too belong to the category of the righteous alongside Jesus.