This blog is on You Tube if you’d rather listen than read: https://youtu.be/aajJTEvaeNA
Luke 17:20-37 Give this a read because we have a lot to talk about! https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2017%3A20-37&version=NLT
This is one of those passages that, in the past, I probably wouldn’t spend a lot of time on. For one thing there’s some stuff in it that’s a bit controversial, which is to say that some really smart Jesus-loving people disagree on what’s going on. But that’s toward the end of this passage. We’ll get there.
For another thing, the passage lacks some of those warm, fuzzy shepherd rescuing sheep vibes in which I love to linger. If I’m being real it’s a bit scary in spots. So why would Jesus tell us this stuff?
Context is always helpful, so let’s start there. Jesus has been talking about the kingdom of heaven for quite some time now. I feel like you and I, at least, have picked up on that. It seems like the Pharisees hadn’t, maybe deliberately. Jesus’ parables and teachings have illustrated that it is already present, like a dim reflection, in those who follow Jesus. He has taught that it is a kingdom worth any sacrifice. He has warned that we need to live in such a way that God will find us living faithful lives no matter when he comes. He has explicitly and repeatedly stated that we don’t know, and we won’t know, when the kingdom will be fully realized on earth. That’s why we need to live every day ready for it. And in this context of almost relentless teaching, some of the most respected members of society say, “Okay ya, but when is it going to happen?”
I can almost hear Jesus inhale slowly while counting to ten. He answers briefly to reiterate that no amount of careful calculations are going to result in a circled date on a calendar. People won’t be pointing like some new nation-state has sprouted up in Eastern Europe. The kingdom of God is within his people. It’s already here. The thing you think you are waiting for, isn’t the thing that’s coming. Jesus is aware that the Pharisees are just being argumentative. He doesn’t waste a lot of words on them. But he also knows that his disciples have real questions and are still confused, so he turns to them and says a little more.
It’s pretty clear from Jesus’ teachings that there are two different concepts that people of Jesus’ day (and ours) are mixing together and mixing up. Jesus has spent a lot of time talking about the kingdom of heaven. Like we have said, in one sense it is a state of affairs. It is a perfect state of affairs in which God’s character is reflected in everything. For now, here on earth, it is reflected in those who follow him. We reflect it poorly, but it is already within us.
In another sense the kingdom of God is a very real place which, from our perspective, is coming in the future. In that kingdom there will be no more cruelty, pain, heartache or disease. God will rule the whole world. Everything in it, including those who are part of his kingdom, will be exactly what we were designed to be. Our brokenness will finally be healed and we will experience life as God always imagined it for us. Jesus knew that it was in this sense that both the Pharisees and his followers were asking, when is it coming? The problem with the Pharisees’ question was that they were asking about the wrong kind of kingdom.
Jesus gives his followers a different frame-work in which to think about that second sense of the coming kingdom of God. Throughout the gospels Jesus calls it various things like the Day of the Lord, the Day the Son of Man is revealed, the Day of the Son of Man. He’s always talking about a specific day. He has clearly warned his followers that it will arrive very suddenly and unexpectedly. That’s why we are supposed to live every day like it could be today. Most of the Jewish scholars expected that day to be a day of political victory but, as Jesus’ parables are showing us, it is far more. It’s a day in which the whole world is redeemed and restored. It isn’t Rome that is conquered, it’s sin and death that are obliterated.
Jesus reminds his disciples that it will be unexpected. Just as past biblical events like the flood of Noah’s day and the destruction of Sodom happened suddenly when no one expected them, no one will expect the Day of the Son of Man. Jesus also assures them they aren’t going to miss it. It will be like lighting on a moonless night. Everyone will know it happened. You won’t need to wait for the rumour mill to hear about it.
He has told them before that he is going to suffer and die. They also know he sometimes refers to himself as the Son of Man. So he wants them to know, his death has to happen before this triumphant day can occur. His suffering and rejection are pivotal elements of the plan that make it possible for the Day to come and for the kingdom to finally be established fully.
The end of this passage is the subject of some debate, so let’s pause first and make sure we are solid on what is clearly being taught.
- The kingdom of God had already arrived in the sense that those who follow Jesus were empowered to live the way citizens of the kingdom will one day live in the fully realized kingdom of God. They are still living as exiles and their depiction of the kingdom was imperfect, but it was in them.
- No one knows when it is coming. No one. Not then, not now. If someone says they have it figured out, walk away. Jesus said they don’t. His word on the matter is authoritative. (Ok, his word on every matter is authoritative but you get what I’m saying.)
- People need to be ready for the Day. Other lesser days of judgement had come in the past. The people who were not ready did not fare well. The only way to be ready is to live in such a way that if it came today and God just walked up behind us, we wouldn’t be ashamed of what we are doing.
So those things are clear. Verses 30-35 however, are a little blurry. They can be interpreted a couple different ways. And they have been by some really smart, godly people. I’m not going to pretend I have it decisively figured out. I am only going to glean the stuff about which there is consensus.
Jesus gives multiple pictures. Fun fact: Most people reading this passage will not have a verse 36. Weird right? Here’s the thing. Three of the four gospel writers recorded Jesus talking about this event where two people are doing something and one is taken away. In Matthew’s account there were three examples. The earliest copies of the book of Luke only have two of the three examples, but some later manuscripts include the third example. People who literally study these manuscripts for a living have generally agreed that the person who was making multiple copies of these documents for distribution (scanning and copying weren’t a thing back then) probably accidentally added the third example because he was so familiar with it from Matthew’s account. When modern textural critics looked at it more closely they went, “Actually I don’t think Luke mentioned that example,” and took it out in order to be faithful to the text. It’s pretty irrelevant whether Luke recorded Jesus giving two examples or three. The point was that Jesus described two people doing the same thing in the same place at the same time, and then one of them was just gone. And that is supposed to be a picture of how it will be when the Son of Man comes. A lot of people think this means that Jesus will take members of his kingdom off the earth and leave the others behind for one last opportunity to choose him. There is a lot of discussion of what the world is going to look like and how things will happen in the book of Revelation. One day maybe I will try to write my way through that book. Don’t hold your breath for that one. I’m gonna have to do a lot more homework before I will feel like I can help anybody with that.
There is a weird little exchange at the end of our passage. When Jesus talks about one person being left and one being taken, the disciples ask, where? Jesus responds by saying that where there is a dead body, there will be vultures. I think this is Jesus saying, Don’t worry about it. You’ll know when it happens.
I’m not sure if you’ve had the pleasure of seeing a vulture up close. I went to high school in Kenya so I have seen my fair share. They’re kind of cool in a very ugly way. Regardless, I can affirm this little proverb that Jesus shared. If you see a few vultures together off in the distance, you can bet there’s something dead over there. You don’t have to investigate. Where there are vultures there’s a dead body. If you see it from a distance, you will know what’s going on. I’m pretty sure that’s what Jesus was saying. You’ll know. This isn’t today’s problem. When the day comes, it’ll be clear.
Is it just me or does it feel like Jesus doesn’t want us dwelling on the when and where? He tells us to be ready. He tells us about the kingdom. He tells us what our heavenly father is like. He tells us how much he wants us there. But he is pretty vague about the timing. I’m just sayin, maybe we don’t have to have it figured out.
