(Click here to read Luke 17)
Luke
17:20-21 (ESV)
20 Being
asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he
answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be
observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or
‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
The
book of Luke is the story of Jesus life, ministry, execution, and
resurrection. This story of his life is the inauguration,
demonstration, and proclamation of the Gospel (Good News) of the
Kingdom of God. The word “gospel” actually had a political
meaning. At the time of Jesus, the Roman empire was expanding and
developing rapidly over their part of the world. As the Roman army
conquered each territory, they would send ambassadors into that
region to colonize and culturalize the area. These “citizens” of
Rome would come bearing the gospel
message that Caesar
was now Lord. They
would remain in the region to demonstrate the culture and values of
the empire of Rome. By their influence, the area would become more
like Rome. What began as a legal reality would become reality in
practice over time.
When
Jesus' followers began spreading the Gospel
of the Kingdom
of Heaven
over Judea, Samaria, and the Roman world, proclaiming that Jesus
was Lord, they
were making themselves a threat to the Roman empire. Most of the
first disciples of Jesus followed him to execution by the empire.
Many of them were crucified, an execution reserved for non-citizen
insurrectionists and enemies of the empire.
The
people of Israel had been waiting for their King and the New Kingdom
for many years. Every era of their history had a promise of a coming Saviour who would rescue his people and establish justice forever.
The prophesies grew in specificity over the years. By Jesus' time,
the people were waiting for a king from David's line to take the
throne and make things right. The violent occupying Roman empire led
them to interpret these prophesies as the coming of a revolutionary
military king who would conquer Rome in the name of their God.
It
was of this Kingdom that Jesus taught. It was in the context of these
understandings and misunderstandings that he preached and lived
nonviolence, love for enemies, and a rejection of anxiety and
striving for things in exchange for a generous life submitted to
justice and love. Jesus was king, but his kingdom would not be like
the empire of Rome. The Kingdom of God was planted in the hearts of
individuals who became changed from the inside out, living the
forgiveness and mercy they'd experienced in the world around them.
Jesus
was inviting people to become citizens of his Kingdom, and then
leaving them to share the good news, and turn the legal reality of
his new Kingdom and Lordship into a demonstrated reality by the power
of the Holy Spirit working through their lives.
It
is this present reality that Jesus is speaking of when he answers the
Pharisees in Luke 17:21. The Kingdom is here. It is among us. Jesus
is crowned king upon his death and resurrection at the hands of the
corrupt powers of this world. In defeating death, he makes a show of
them as powerless, and sets people free to live outside their
control. Starting with his life on earth, people are set free to live
free and just and righteous lives of love and forgiveness through
faith in him.
Luke
17:22-24 (ESV)
22 And he said to the
disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of
the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And
they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not
go out or follow them. 24 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
the reality is that the Kingdom as Jesus lived and preached it has
not fully come to be. We live its reality now, but it is at his
return that it will be fully consummated. By his great patience he
waits for the world to come to him, by faith living according to love
and truth. But there will be a day when the True King does return, in
power, and every person, and every king and ruler, will submit to his
rule. The day will come quickly, and the reality of it will be
unmistakable. We do not live in fearful expectation of coming
destruction, but a hopeful yearning for a real, tangible consummation
of the Kingdom as our Good and Just God intends.
Luke
17:25-32, 34-37 (ESV)
25 But first he must
suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just
as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son
of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being
given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the
flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was
in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and
selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went
out from Sodom, fire and sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed
them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is
revealed. 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop,
with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and
likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32
Remember Lot's wife.
34 I tell you, in that
night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other
left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be
taken and the other left.” 37 And they said to him, “Where,
Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures
will gather.”
His
judgment will be upon those who refused to receive forgiveness from
their sins and resist the hateful empires of this world. Those who
accept the Kingdom and Jesus will live according to the true freedom
for which we were first created, with no fear, sadness, or pain, in
unity and love.
Luke
17:33 (ESV)
33
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life will keep it.
This
coming Kingdom, now and to come, is the Great Reversal Jesus preaches
during his entire ministry. Mountains will be brought low. Rulers
will be removed, The humble will be exalted. The poor will be
blessed.
Our law is love.
Our law is love.
