Luke 17:20-37
Luke 17:20-37
Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them —it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.” Then they asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
Questions about the future – most of us have them. Sometimes it’s our personal future we’re most concerned about: what kind of job we may find, or college will accept us; what person we may meet and marry, or whether our health will hold up. And sometimes it is about a larger, more communal future: what will the economy be like? Will we go to war or find a way to peace?
The Pharisees ask this more communal question: when will the kingdom of God come? Except it’s not just communal, it’s also cosmic. When will the world as we know it be renewed? When will the kingdoms of this world pass and the reign of God inaugurated?
We don’t know what prompted their question – whether they saw in Jesus’ ministry and miracles a sign of the in-breaking kingdom or whether it was a common topic of conversation they asked many rabbis. And we don’t know what answer they hoped for – a specific timetable or generalized promise about the future. Nor do we know how they reacted to Jesus’ answer – whether it met with their expectations or left them disappointed.
What we do know is that Jesus seems to say that the coming of the kingdom of God will be both sudden and surprising – like the coming of the flood in Noah’s day – and, at the same time, that it is already present, hidden amid the mundane and ordinary elements of life, waiting to be glimpsed and grasped.
The question then becomes how we react to Jesus’ words. Do we live in fear of that distant day, or do we look for and rejoice in the moments of the kingdom we catch glimpses of even here, even now? Do we live, in other words, in dread or hope? And, perhaps most importantly, do we live focused on an unknown future or seize the present as a gift of God?
Actually, we know one more thing: the coming kingdom of God is inextricably tied up with the Son of Man, Jesus, the one we confess was and is God’s messiah. Whatever the future holds, it is intimately connected with Jesus – his ministry and teaching, his death and resurrection, his promises and presence. Knowing that – trusting that – we can, I believe, live in the present with hope, trusting that the one who died for us will also hold onto us through all things and bring us into the reign of God. In due time, yes, but even and also today.
Prayer: Dear God, grant us eyes to see your kingdom all around us, hearts to trust your promises, and the courage to reach out to others with the good news of the grace and mercy we have experienced in Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: Edward Hicks, “Noah’s Ark,” 1846.
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