Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 45:1 (NA 1994)
Article: The ‘A-Triumphal’ Entry (Luke 19:28-48)
Author: Brent Rogers Kinman

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TynBul 45:1 (1994) p. 189

The ‘A-Triumphal’ Entry (Luke 19:28-48)

Historical Backgrounds, Theological Motifs And The Purpose Of Luke1

Brent Rogers Kinman

Lukan scholars have frequently noted the pivotal nature of Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem and Temple cleansing; however, no consensus has been reached as to their precise meaning. Some have viewed the entry as ‘triumphal’, by which they mean that it bore affinity to the celebratory greetings accorded to other important figures in antiquity. Others have regarded it as clearly messianic while still others have viewed it as little more than the normal journey to Jerusalem of a Jewish pilgrim at festival time. Furthermore, while it is generally recognised that the ‘journey to Jerusalem’ motif is an important one in Luke and that for Luke Jesus is portrayed not as arriving in the city as such but in the Temple, the fundamental connection between the two stories has typically not been made. This thesis addresses those issues and is intended to make a contribution to the study of ‘political’ and ‘theological’ perspectives in Luke’s Gospel by an examination of the Triumphal Entry/Temple Cleansing narratives in the light of Graeco-Roman, Jewish and Markan backgrounds.

The thesis concludes that, in ways not previously noticed, in accordance with his stated purpose (Luke 1:1-14) to give Theophilus assurance about the things of which he had been informed (and here the Greek term katecheo has the connotation of partial or imprecise information), Luke heightens the sense in which Jesus’ entry would have been viewed by his first readers as a parousia gone awry (and thus ‘a-triumphal’); it is further argued that the Lukan account

TynBul 45:1 (1994) p. 190

distances Jesus from the actions of Jewish nationalists and clarifies the possible misperception that Jesus’ actions were politically motivated as in opposition to Caesar.

It might be supposed that the Graeco-Roman backgrounds of parousia and ‘triumph’, so important for understanding the Pauline texts of 2 Corinthians 2:14-3:3 (as demonstrated in Hafemann’s recent monograph) and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (shown in Peterson’s early essay) would have routinely been applied to the study of Luke’s account of Jesus’ entry, given that his audience is widely reckoned to have been both urban and located outside Palestine. Surprisingly, this is not the case. The coming or parousia of Roman emperors, Hellenistic kings and other disti...

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