This week's Gospel text marks the beginning of Luke's "journeying" section. In a major departure from Mark's outline, Luke inserts a huge section of material (9:51-18:23) that introduces new stories gathered around Jesus' journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.

The unit opens with a distinctly Lukan phrase and vocabulary. By announcing that Jesus "set his face toward Jerusalem," Luke implies this was the embarkation point for an imminent and unstoppable series of events. Jesus sets out to travel the road appointed him by God, not a road of his own choosing. The allusion to the ascension is obvious. But Luke immediately makes it clear that if this is the divinely inspired journey of a divinely inspired messenger, it is no triumphal march on a royal road. Although Jesus sends messengers ahead (v.…