A Reflection. Part of Culpepper’s (Luke, New Interpreter’s Bible, 232) final “Reflections:”

In its own way, the conjunction of the stories about the good Samaritan and the female disciple voice Jesus’ protest against the rules and boundaries set by the culture in which he lived. As they develop seeing and hearing as metaphors for the activity of the kingdom, the twin stories also expose the injustice of social barriers that categorize, restrict, and oppress various groups in any society (Samaritans, victims, women). To love God with all one’s heart and one’s neighbor as oneself meant then and now that one must often reject society’s rules in favor of the codes of the kingdom — a society without distinctions and boundaries between its members. The rules of that society are just two — to love God and one’s neighbor — but these rules are so radically different form those of the society in which we live that living by them invariably calls us to disregard all else, break the rules, and follow Jesus’ example. Continue reading →