As a professor of literature, I have had to work harder in exploring biblical narratives than any other of the world's great literary texts. One reason for the difficulty may be that the biblical story presents itself to me and most of my students not only as a literary text but as a sacred text as well. We may want Luke's view of Jesus, for example, to agree with our own preconceived ideas about Jesus. And it can seem irreligious in the first place to explore this sacred text with the reading skills and attentiveness used for secular texts. But I am convinced that unless we read this gospel in the way it comes to us, as a connected and coherent story, we will miss meaning and misconstrue the character of Jesus and God.
Meaning is married to the intricate flesh and blood of story.
To plunge in here or there in order to extract some timely truth often leads to a distortion of truth and a death of meaning. The fictional tale of the Samaritan is told by Jesus to a religious leader who wants to know about who his neighbor is, so that he can be sure to love this neighbor if he comes across one. In the tale, Jesus pictures a man robbed and beaten and lying in a ditch. Two religious leaders pass by. The bustling hostess, Martha, complains about Mary's failure to do anything useful.