Because the journey narrative is punctuated with these reminders of what awaits Jesus in Jerusalem, the journey itself is cast in the dark hues of the passion. It becomes difficult, then, to read the demands of discipleship or of the hostility Jesus encounters without reference to the significance attached to them by their location on the journey toward death. The journey thus . . . has a pedagogical side, for it urges Jesus’ followers to come to terms with the nexus of rejection and divine mission.
