Kingdom Come

It is so good to travel with him – to see the way he loves the people, to see the compassionate miracles that rescue others from their woundedness.

Perhaps we might like a little more notice about where we are going and what we will be doing, but we are the followers, and he is our teacher. He tells us what we need to know at the times he thinks best. It remains rather unnerving when the priests draw close. They seem to be trying to trap him, even as they act like they want to learn more. Yet he always seems to know the perfect thing to say in response to those questions, and often we learn more with each exchange.

“When will your kingdom come Rabboni?” The Pharisees asked.

Oh, I liked that question, and awaited his reply. The actual schedule has not been shared with us yet, perhaps through an oversight. It was hard to tell if they genuinely wanted to know, or if they were making fun at his expense, but I wanted to know. Rabboni answered:

“The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within.”

As that group of teachers seem to recede into the crowd, perhaps not knowing how to continue their questioning, Rabboni continued to speak to us who remained close:

“The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.”

In his day?  What does that mean?  But I like that idea that he will be like lightning. He would be safe lightning, wouldn’t he?

“But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”

Rejected by this generation? Hong long will that take?

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.”

Noah took about 100 years to build the ark, but when that final day came, it was only a matter of minutes that changed things forever, as God shut the door into the ark, leaving the scoffers outside in the rain.

“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.”

But Sodom was full of sinners… Of course what city is full the righteous, really? Still, it was only a matter of minutes between ‘normal’ and their end.

“It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.

What does that mean? That somehow we should not seek to preserve our possessions? Or look back at what we left behind? Or even try to keep our lives?

“I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

“Where, Lord?” someone asked.

‘Where’ what? Where are some taken? Where will those who are left then go? Where will the Son of Man be revealed? All good questions…

The Rabboni replies

“Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”

What do vultures have to do with this? They gather to feed on the dead, if no one is there to chase them off. But why does he talk about a dead body in the same lesson about the coming of the kingdom of God, and Son of Man being revealed? How could a dead body bring God’s kingdom, especially among the gathered vultures?

 “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!”

Good for her! She kept appealing for justice, and she got it, at least in that case.

“Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Why would the chosen ones call for justice?  And how is it possible that the Son of Man would not find faith on the earth if his chosen ones were calling out to him?  Our world is full of religious people. I suppose they do not all have faith in the same thing. Maybe that’s it. Will he find faith in the right thing?  At least the twelve of us believe.  We will remain faithful no matter who comes.

So much to think about during this journey. Even though I go over and over these things that he said, still I cannot make sense of them.

I see another group now draws near, pious people who look down at the rest of us. They are not saying anything to Yeshua, but they appear to want to be seen close to him.

He does not seem concerned, for he continues his teaching.

 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Well that slowed their pace a bit. Perhaps it slowed mine a bit too.

What now? Several mothers with infants are coming forward. Time for us to help out again with crowd control:

“Why are you coming with your little ones? The Rabboni is not here to help with childcare! It is not his duty to teach your children to walk, or feed them, or carry them in his arms while you rest[i]. He is addressing serious matters.”

That appears to have sobered them.  Oops! I think Yeshua heard us. He is moving this way…

 “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Ouch! How can we help him when he countermands our efforts? And how can we, mature and faithful disciples, once again be like these little children? If the kingdom of God belongs to them, where does that leave us? The more he says, the more confused I become.  I have been following him for three years, and still there are so many thoughts that surprise me…

I see that young ruler moving closer with his entourage. It was not long ago that he was a child. Then came his massive inheritance. Wouldn’t we all like an inheritance like that! We could really use a well-endowed follower like him.

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” he asks.

“Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”

“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

Perhaps that is true, but it seems a bold claim.  This man has inherited great wealth, and now asks how to inherit eternal life. I wonder which inheritance he thinks is the greater…

The Rabboni appears to be giving his statement some thought. He did not answer right away.

“You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Did I hear that right? He should give up everything that makes him noteworthy – dump all of his assets – and join us like another beggar? What good would that do? Perhaps he could give what he has to us.  That could turn the tables in Jerusalem. Is that what the Rabboni meant, in a subtle way? Of course he could have made the request outright, but he did not. Could it be that he does not need or want this man’s possessions?

The ruler looks very sad. I doubt that was the answer he expected either. Yet Yeshua does not seem to take offense at his countenance.

“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

A camel going through the eye of a needle? How is that possible?

“Who then can be saved?” someone asks.

“What is impossible with man is possible with God.”answered Yeshua.

 “We have left all we had to follow you!” added Peter.

Ah, Peter, always the first to reply when there is a chance to point out how we are so far ahead of others, even this rich man, though we did not have quite so much to leave behind.

 “Truly I tell you, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

That is reassuring. Perhaps the most sensible thing I have heard today. At least that means that we have done something right.

What now? Yeshua is directing we twelve aside from the road as the larger group continues.  What have we said or done to cause this abrupt separation? Will he tell us more about the age to come? Perhaps we, who have given everything to follow, will hear more about what we will receive. Or is there more that he wants us to give? When can we enter that age when all these things will be clearly understood?

 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him;they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

Now what could that possibly mean? That makes no sense! How much have the prophets written about the Son of Man? I have begun thinking that Yeshua might be the Son of Man, but this does not fit. So if they will kill the Son of Man, where will Yeshua be? And how could that vast majority of people who seek his help and his company turn on him? If we are going up to Jerusalem, surrounded by Jews, how could the Gentiles even find him?

What could he possibly mean “On the third day he will rise again”? Rise from where, to where?

I was just starting to feel that I was developing an understanding of most of what he said today, even though his thoughts seem so much higher than mine.

Somehow this mock, flog and kill comment just does not seem to fit in. In past seasons it seems like that was indeed a possible end, but things have been going so well recently. I had better keep my eyes wide open out here on the road, looking for danger, until we reach the safety of Jerusalem, the city of God’s peace…

 

(c) 2018 Chuck Curtiss

To read other similar stories in this series see The Witness List.

Based on Luke 17:20 – 18:34

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. http://www.zondervan.com.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

 

[i]Hosea 11:1-4