Abstract
The travel narrative in Luke’s Gospel has long caught the attention of interpreters for its length and distinctively slow progress toward Jerusalem. Various attempts to map its geographical progression or to discern its structural pattern have yielded inconclusive results, leaving it a bit of a narrative enigma. In this article, I consider the travel narrative’s pace, examining the relationship of its geographical progress to its content and form, with an eye to its thematic significance. The travel narrative’s length, lack of clear progress markers, emphasis on discourse (vs. activity), grammatical features, and parallelism with Paul’s journey to Rome in Acts contribute to characterizing Jesus’s journey as prolonged in pace. In addition, the travel narrative’s use of journey language, emphasis on an intentional timeline, and focus on faithfulness in prolonged time all suggest a portrayal of discipleship as an intentional journey of learning. As a result, the travel narrative portrays discipleship as requiring significant time, transpiring in the shadow of the cross, and casting following Jesus as a way of life. In these ways Luke’s travel narrative underscores the importance of the journey of discipleship as a focus and way of life.
