3. "Crossovers" and "Sandwiches" in Luke
Throughout his gospel, Luke skillfully utilized a number of literary techniques that enabled him to develop and emphasize important parts of his message. There are too many of these techniques to cover in a single chapter, but we will examine two of the most important – and helpful to us.
The first teaching technique we will look at is what we will call "crossovers." The technical term for this literary technique is "chiasmus," but "crossovers" nicely summarizes the idea of stories told in two mirror-image parts – in which the first half is given and then the second half completes the story in the reverse order.
"Crossovers"
Example 1: Zacchaeus The Tax Collector (Luke 19:1–10).
The nine-part summary of this event given below shows how the second part of the story reverses each part of the first half in exact mirror-image:
1. Jesus – arrives.
2. Zacchaeus — took money from others.
3. The crowd – follows Jesus.
4. Zacchaeus – climbs up the sycamore tree.
5. Jesus extends acceptance to Zacchaeus.
6. Zacchaeus – climbs down the sycamore tree.
7. The crowd – rejects Jesus.
8. Zacchaeus — gives money to others.
9. Jesus – leaves.
Notice how this structure highlights the key fact of the event, and compare this with the following example.
Example 2: A Sabbath Sermon (Luke 4:14–20).
1. "He went to Nazareth and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue.
2. He stood up to read,
3. and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.
4. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
5. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
6. Then he rolled up the scroll
7. handed it back to the attendant
8. and sat down.
9. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him."
Here again we see how Luke is able to highlight the main point of the story by placing it in the middle of the two-part construction. But there was doubtless also another reason for organizing the material in this way – to help disciples memorize the details of the story correctly and to stress the central teaching point – which is always at the center of the story.
"Sandwiches"
A second major technique Luke utilized is what we will call "sandwiches." The literary term for this technique is "intercalatians," but once again we will use the more user–friendly term. Literary sandwiches differ from crossovers in that they have a completely different event inserted at the center of the story – making a "sandwich" from two slices of one story with a "filling" taken from another story in the middle!
Example: A Faith Sandwich (Luke 8:40–56).
1. "Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.
2. As Jesus was on his way a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped... Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."
3.While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus "Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don't bother the teacher anymore." … Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. "Stop wailing," Jesus said. "She is not dead but asleep." They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead."
The purpose of verbal sandwiches such as this one is to contrast some aspect of the first story with the same aspect in the second story that is inserted in the middle. In this case it is the faith of the woman with ongoing bleeding contrasted with the lack of faith of those associated with the synagogue leader. Whenever we read a story in the gospels with this kind of structure, we should always look to see what the intended contrast is.
Crossovers and sandwiches are only two of the literary techniques that Luke skillfully utilized in his account of the ministry of Jesus, but recognizing them can often help us better see and understand the point the third gospel is trying to get across to us.
PART TWO: THE CHARACTERS