Luke 17:20–37
20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can 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.”1
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.2 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 sulfur 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. 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. 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.”3 37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse4 is, there the vultures5 will gather.”
1 Or within you, or within your grasp 2 Some manuscripts omit in his day 3 Some manuscripts add verse 36: Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left 4 Greek body 5 Or eagles
Section Overview
The subject shifts to the coming of the kingdom, and the Pharisees inquire about when the kingdom will arrive. Jesus emphasizes that the kingdom does not come from observation; indeed, the kingdom exists already in the person of Jesus Christ. From there the disciples are addressed about their desire in the future to see the Son of Man and are warned not to follow those who think the Son of Man is at a particular location. Actually, his coming will be as clear as lightning that illumines the skyline; there will be no doubt about the location of the Son of Man.
Still, before the Son of Man comes in glory, he must suffer. The future return of the Son of Man will not be marked by indisputable signs. His coming will be like the days of Noah, in which people were engaging in the ordinary activities of everyday life before the flood came. Or it will be like the life of Lot before Sodom was annihilated. Life was proceeding as normal, and then fire streamed from heaven and destroyed the city. When the Son of Man comes, disciples must be ready; they must not be like Lot’s wife, who looked back and was destroyed. Only those who are willing to lose their lives will gain them. When Jesus returns, some will be taken in judgment and others will be spared and left, and thus all should be prepared when the Son of Man comes. The coming of Jesus will be as obvious and clear as vultures descending upon a corpse, which probably emphasizes the judgment to come.
Section Outline
IV. Galilee to Jerusalem: Discipleship (9:51–19:27) . . .
C. The Last Leg of the Journey (17:11–19:27) . . .
2. The Coming of the Kingdom (17:20–18:8)
a. The Kingdom and the Coming of the Son of Man (17:20–37)
Response
If you tell no-nonsense, practical-minded, everyday people that the end is coming, they might laugh at the idea. “What crazy ideas people get in their heads,” they might say. Lot’s sons-in-law certainly thought this way:
Lot’s sons-in-law thought the whole thing was a joke. Of course the end of Sodom will not come, they thought. Everything will go on as usual! But they were wrong. The cities were destroyed with fire. So, too, Jesus will come again someday.
Prophecy will be fulfilled in a way that exceeds our understanding. Some passages of the Bible portray the end as a time of great suffering and judgments, as the world reels under God’s hand. It will seem obvious that the end is near. But other passages, like this one, suggest that at that time life will seem normal in many ways and people will look to the future with confidence. I think here of what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:3: the end will come when everyone is saying, “There is peace and security.” Let us be careful not to think that we can figure out exactly when the end will come.
The main truth for believers is to be ready, which means to be ready spiritually, with our fundamental affection being for the Lord. Do we love our houses, what we stream on our devices, our social media and movies more than God? Jesus reminds us of a spiritual law: when we live by faith alone and find our joy and happiness in him, we will gain our lives because of our joy in Christ. We never ultimately lose anything. We gain everything. As Jim Elliot pointed out, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Or within you, or within your grasp
Some manuscripts omit in his day
Some manuscripts add verse 36: Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left
Greek body
Or eagles
17:20–21 The subject shifts to the kingdom of God, which all Jews devoted to the Torah prayed would be realized on earth. The Pharisees, perhaps expressing subtle doubts about Jesus’ credentials, ask when God’s kingdom will come (cf. 19:11). They may be thinking that the evidence for the coming of the kingdom is scarcely clear. Jesus responds that the kingdom is not coming in observable ways. Some understand this to refer to signs in the sky—in the sun, moon, or stars. Or perhaps the signs relate to wars and other cosmic events. But it is more likely that Jesus refers to signs that would accredit his ministry. He rejects any demand that he perform a sign to validate his ministry or prove the coming of the kingdom (11:16, 29–30). People will not be able to point to anything that will prove that the kingdom is established, as if they could say “the kingdom is here” or “the kingdom is there.” “God’s reign has not announced itself with pyrotechnic, triumphalistic, apocalyptic phenomena that make its presence indisputable.”
The kingdom, Jesus declares, is “in the midst of you.” The word translated “in the midst of you” (Gk. entos) could also be translated “within,” so that some translations render the statement “The kingdom of God is within you” (KJV, ASV). If we adopt this latter reading, the interiority of the kingdom within human beings would be emphasized, which would explain why the kingdom cannot be discerned by humans. Still, the narrative context points against this reading since Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees, who scarcely have the kingdom within them. Others read the saying as if Jesus were saying that the kingdom is within their grasp if they repent. This view has much to commend it, but Jesus is not emphasizing human response here. Instead it makes more sense to say that the kingdom is in their midst or among them. In other words, the kingdom is present in the person of Jesus. He is the sign of the kingdom, but he is more than the sign of the kingdom; he embodies the kingdom. The Pharisees want to see the kingdom, but even more important than the kingdom is the king, who is standing right in front of them. When one is in the presence of the king, the kingdom is present as well (cf. 11:20).
17:22–25 The conversation turns from the Pharisees to Jesus’ disciples as he looks forward to the future, to the days after his death and resurrection. There will be a period of time in which Jesus will be absent from the disciples. The kingdom is present in his person (v. 21), but he will depart, and the disciples will long to see him on earth again—but that desire will not be fulfilled immediately (cf. 5:35). The “days of the Son of Man” refers to the day in which he returns and establishes God’s kingdom fully. Some will claim in the coming days that the Messiah has arrived and can be found at a particular place. But the disciples must ignore all such claims. Jesus will not return in secret. His coming will be as obvious and as pervasive as lightning that fills up the entire skyline, which means that his coming will be an unmistakable and public event. “Like lightning, the Son of Man’s arrival will be sudden, eye-catching, glorious, frightening, and celestial.”
Luke 17:25 backs up to consider what must happen first. Jesus, after all, is traveling to Jerusalem to suffer and to die, and thus before he can return he has to suffer death, as he is being rejected by his generation. This is another Lukan passion prediction (cf. 9:22, 44; 18:32; cf. 13:33), and Luke is unique in including such in an eschatological discourse.
17:26–30 Jesus draws an analogy between the days of Noah and Lot and the coming of the Son of Man. He does not emphasize the corruption and evil of human beings during the time of Noah (cf. Gen. 6:5–12) and Lot (Genesis 19). Instead the focus is on ordinary life: people eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, and building. No criticism is voiced about these matters, for they constitute life in this world. The problem, however, is that people begin to think that such life will go on as usual and never end. Implicit as well is their failure to repent and turn to God, since the flood and the destruction of Sodom point to the final judgment. We think of the skeptics in 2 Peter 3:4 who doubt that Jesus will return since life has not changed from the creation of the world (though the matter of doubts about Jesus’ return are not addressed here). In any case, no signs anticipating Jesus’ coming are sketched here; everything progresses as normal. The same normalcy held when Noah entered the ark and was delivered while the flood burst forth, deluging all. Similarly, there was no warning that fire and brimstone would descend from the sky and vanquish all as the fate of Sodom. Yet Noah and Lot were rescued and delivered from the judgments engulfing the world and Sodom, and disciples can take heart from the deliverance of Noah and Lot.
17:31–33 When Lot and his family were exhorted to leave Sodom, the urgency of departure was emphasized. The angel warned, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away” (Gen. 19:17). The same urgency pertains to the end. The admonitions in Luke 17:31 are not literal but designate the importance of not turning back. When the time comes, one must not go back into the house to retrieve possessions; similarly, if one is working in a field, one should not rush back to the house to reclaim items. The two illustrations are intended to convey the object of our affections. If one returns to home on the day the Son of Man is coming, one reveals that things rather than the Lord are central to one’s life. This point is confirmed by verse 32, as readers are admonished to remember Lot’s wife, who perished because she looked back to Sodom (Gen. 19:26). Her looking back reflected her love for Sodom; she looked back to her true home, to what she valued most in life. If disciples run to their houses when Jesus returns, they show that they do not differ from Lot’s wife. The question regards what humans seek and desire; if they desire to preserve life in this world, then, like Lot’s wife, life will be lost in the eschaton. But those who lose their life for Jesus’ sake, who long for his return, who love Jesus as their greatest treasure, will find their lives (cf. Matt. 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; John 12:25) and will be delivered as Noah and Lot were.
17:34–37 The consequences of that day, of the Son of Man’s return, are considered. Life goes on normally. Two different situations are envisioned. In the first, two are in bed together; one is taken while the other is left. It is not clear that a husband and wife are envisioned here, since in Palestine bed-sharing was common. (We remember the man’s statement in Luke 11:7: “My children are with me in bed.”) Such references should not be read in sexual terms but represent a culture quite different from western ones. Similarly, two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other will be left. The differences between the righteous and the wicked are not necessarily apparent; superficially, people look and seem the same in many respects. But some belong to the Son of Man while others do not. It is difficult to know if to be “taken” is to be taken in judgment or rescued from judgment. Similarly, to be “left” could mean left to face judgment or left in the sense of being spared judgment. Fortunately, the meaning does not change much in either case; in either instance some are delivered while others are judged.
The last verse is difficult to interpret and quite obscure. We should note the question is not about when something will happen but about where it will occur. Thus it does not refer to the speed with which the Son of Man will come. Others take it to refer to the place where the elect will be taken—to their bodily resurrection. It is not clear that Jesus speaks of the destination of believers here, and reference to the future resurrection is lacking. Bock thinks the reference is to the judgment, which “will be visible, universal, and permanent.” Probably the reference is to the Son of Man’s coming, for earlier in the discourse the question of where the Son of Man would appear was prominent (17:23–24). I understand Jesus, then, to be saying much the same as he said earlier about lightning and the Son of Man’s coming. The statement about vultures should be interpreted in this context; where there are corpses, there vultures congregate. As we say today, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” In other words, the coming of the Son of Man will be obvious and clear to all; there will be no mistake, no uncertainty, no lack of clarity. But perhaps Bock is right to say that the emphasis here is on judgment, since vultures are gruesome creatures that feast on the dead.