As Jesus travels towards Jerusalem his teaching focuses on the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Jews were eagerly anticipating a Messiah who would destroy their enemies and establish God’s kingdom throughout the earth. The incident with the Samaritan leper was already a sign that subverted their expectations. But people will not see things that don’t agree with their desires and expectations. In today’s reading, the Pharisees, ironically, ask Jesus, their messianic king, when their messianic king will come. They missed what was right before their eyes. In contrast, they would, in the decades to come, gather around false messiahs like vultures around a corpse. Jesus warns his disciples of this. He explains that his glorious universal rule will be preceded by his rejection and departure. He refers to himself as the “Son of Man”, a messianic title used in Daniel 7:13-14 of the one who would be worshipped by all and given all dominion. Jesus confirms this promise but warns his disciples that they should stay faithful to his mission until he comes (which will be at an unknown time), even if it means their martyrdom. Given that the Bible-steeped Pharisees were wrong about the nature of Jesus’ first coming, we should be wary of forming definitive theories about the details of his second coming. People have always been attracted to ‘end times experts’ who turn them into speculative world-watchers. It can all become a tragically ironic distraction from what is most important. The main thing is to remain faithful to the mission now. That’s how we’ll be ready.
Ask God where you can exercise more faith.
Read Luke 17:20-37
