Saturday, October 27, 2012

The Kingdom of God (Luke 17:20-37)


Jesus is asked by the Pharisees when he Kingdom of God will come. 

This is a very important question for the Pharisees to ask.  Remember, the Pharisees want a political Messiah and will testify to the Roman authorities that Jesus claims to be a political Messiah.  So, implicit in this question is a political one.  Essentially, when is the Kingdom of God coming to displace the Roman empire?  When, if ever, Jesus will you displace the Roman overlords?  It is a very simple question, but there is a lot in it.

Jesus responds by saying that the Kingdom of God is within you.  The marginalia of the NIV states that "within" could be translated "among".  On one level, Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of God is "within" one's heart.  Jesus later says that his presence is whether two or three gather in his name, which goes to the "among" aspect.  Either way, the Kingdom of God is here.

However, Jesus is not exactly denying the political implications of the question.  The Pharisees could take the statement to mean that Jesus has followers, whether soldiers or spies, among the Jewish people.

Jesus then discusses his second coming.  It will be after he suffers and is rejected by "this" generation, meaning his trial and execution at the hands of the Jews.  Then, there will be a time when people long to see Jesus.  This seems to refer to every generation of Christians that has lived since Jesus was taken up to heaven that spans nearly the last 2,000 years.

Jesus states that he returns, people will be taken off guard, just like in the days of Noah and Lot.  Likewise, some will be taken up.  These statements seem to refer to a rapture event.  

The passage ends with the disciples asking "where?".  Jesus then talks about vultures going to dead bodies.  

I think it is commonly conceptualized that a rapture event will involve people's bodies disappearing out their clothes, but Jesus' statement that vultures will be by dead bodies indicates that dead bodies will not disappear.  Rather, they will be food for vultures.  Whether this refers to people taken up in a rapture or the general state of woes of humanity at the time remains unclear.

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