Is Verbal Aspect a Prominence Indicator? 25 of rhetorical questions90 highlighting what did not happen (discourse irrealis)91 makes it all the more likely that we have reached the climactic pronouncement. These questions, however, contain only aorist tense forms, whereas the initial orientation contains a cluster of present and imperfect tenses (vv. 11-12a). It could be argued that the final sentence “your faith has saved (perfect) you”, is the most important detail. Indeed, the fact that Luke repeatedly employs this phrase (e.g. 7,50; 8,48; 18,42) clearly indicates its promi- nence. It must be asked, however, if this is due to the use of the perfect tense; would it not be equally prominent, by virtue of the repetition, if Luke had used the aorist? Furthermore, it may be significant that Luke typically conjugates σῴζω in the perfect when it is preceded by ἡ πίστις σου. The perfect σέσωκεν, therefore, may owe more to a pattern of usage than to an alleged desire to indicate prominence, which is adequately communicated by the repetition. The salvation of Zacchaeus (19,1-10) Bultmann identified the saying of v. 9 as the climactic point of the story92, which may have been the case in the oral tradition, but does not adequately account for the Lukan redaction. Not only is v. 9 reported indirectly, which tends to “background the speech with respect to what follows”93, but the statement in v. 10 is “a fitting climax to a paradigmatic account of Jesus’ mission and ministry of salvation”94. It is both the cli- mactic pronouncement of the pericope and a climactic pronouncement of Luke’s entire gospel. Although the sentence includes the perfect ἀπολωλός this can hardly be separated from the main verb (ἦλθεν) and its complements (ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι), which are aorist. It is intriguing that the final word of the discourse is a perfect tense form, but it is the sentence as a whole that is contextually climactic and this includes three aorists and one perfect. Jesus warns the daughters of Jerusalem (23,27-31) Bultmann et al. have identified this episode as a pronouncement, the main point being Jesus’ declaration in vv. 28b-3195. Interestingly, Jesus’ speech is introduced with aorist tense forms (στραφείς ... εἶπεν) but reported with present tense forms (κλαίετε, ἔρχονται), which is accom- Longacre, Grammar, 42. 90 Dooley and Levinsohn, Discourse, 82. 91 Bultmann, History, 34. 92 See Levinsohn, Discourse, 262. 93 Bock, Luke, 2:1523. 94 Bultmann, History, 37; Fitzmyer, Luke, 2:1494-95; Bock, Luke, 2:1839. 95