Travel narratives

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The gospel reading for October 31 comes toward the end of what most Lucan scholars call Luke's travel narrative. It begins ten chapters earlier at 9:51, where Luke tells us, "When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem."

One would expect to follow Jesus' progress on a map—but the coordinates make no geographical sense. Luke's sense of direction has much in common with that of my wife's grandfather. The family prepared to make a trip from Florida to New Jersey for a family wedding. Grandpa Nelson asked his daughter and son-in-law if they couldn't "swing by Minnesota" on their way home. Follow that route and the GPS is going to be repeating often, "Recomputing."