Luke 2: Luke 9:51–19:27 (Hermeneia | HERM)

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“The first element is Martha’s hyper-busyness. Περισπάομαι is a very rare verb meaning ‘be pulled (in all directions at once),’ ‘be absorbed,’ ‘be quite busy,’ ‘be distracted.’²⁸ It thus has the complementary meanings of withdrawing oneself from one reality and being absorbed by one or more other realities.” (Page 71)

“When Christians are motivated by the kingdom of God and not by the fear of being without something, they acquire a proper relationship to money. They know that a vital minimum is indispensable for them, if for no other reason than to witness to the gospel, but they freely dispose of the rest. Nor do they forget—and the two examples in this pericope are there to remind them of the fact—that what is more than enough has the disastrous tendency to appear indispensable in their eyes when they succumb to temptation.” (Page 199)

“The reader will not fail to notice the reversal in the use of the word ‘neighbor.’ In the opening dialogue, the expert in the Law was trying to find a neighbor whom he could love. In Jesus’ question, which summarizes the parable, it is no longer a question of a neighbor who stood a chance of becoming an object, but rather one of someone who was becoming (γεγονέναι) the wounded man’s neighbor, as the active subject of a relationship.” (Page 59)

“But we should note that each time a disciple addressed Jesus using this title, it was when the disciple demonstrated that his faith was weak or his understanding limited. In the development of the story, these ten men suffering from ‘leprosy’ were, with one exception, to reveal the limits of their appropriate initial confidence.” (Page 503)