Luke 17 20-27 When will God's kingdom come? Did they expect a specific time? Jesus did not give one but replied that the Kingdom of God was in the midst of them (RSV) or as some other translations give it "is within you". Did He mean that He was the king therefore the kingdom was among them? Or did He mean that the Kingdom was within their hearts? The Pharisees, like a lot of other people, would have liked a more specific answer but Jesus never gave one and for an excellent reason. The word "observed" (v.20) is from a Greek word that would have been used by a medical practitioner observing symptoms. The next thing He said was equally puzzling (v.22). Were the days that some would wish to see, the days of Jesus' first advent or the days of the second advent? What follows in v.23 might give the impression that He was referring to the latter. And that verse gives a warning not to follow false trails. There will always be those who get excited about the wrong thing. Lightning is unmistakable. (Matt 24.27).

What is it about the days of Noah and the days of Lot that give us warning? Would the natural disasters have occurred if ordinary people had repented? That is not a speculative question but intended to help us discover what Jesus was really teaching here. Did He mention these two historical events to explain what the days of the Son of Man would be like? Was he contrasting godly with the ungodly? If those killed in the disasters ignored warnings, what kind of warning was given? Was it 'Repent or you will die' or was it `Repent and accept the way of God?' Do we repent because we are afraid of consequences or because we want to behave in God's way?

The final puzzling section speaks of some being 'taken' and others 'left'. Much has been written (and sung) about these verses. Jesus was by no means trying to make things more difficult to understand. Nor was His gospel of love compatible with frightening people into the Kingdom of Heaven. This passage should challenge God's people and teach us that we cannot please God by proxy. Close association with a child of God doesn't automatically give us a place in His family. Each of us must make our own calling sure by reason of the kind of life we lead with the Lord. What can we learn from birds of prey gathering to a carcass? (Matt. 24.28) This was in answer to the question "Where Lord?" Firstly, this is more likely to be a reference to vultures rather than eagles that do not take carrion and probably it is a quotation of an ancient proverb. E.H. Plumptre says that this tells us that God's judgments are wherever they are needed. Barclay's dry comment is "Where the spiritual dead are found there will be judgment."

The Master never intended these verses to cause disputes among God's people. As with all such passages of Scripture there is here the strong message that the believer must be alert and ready and this is achieved by walking with the Lord, thinking, speaking and behaving like Him. Nothing else will prepare for sharing His Kingdom. Fascinating though the study of prophecy may be, alone it will not transform us into His likeness. Whatever the future may hold, as we watch prophecy unfold, we shall be best ready for the trials and temptations of a critical period of world history by being close to the Lord. Intellectual knowledge will be of little use in the `fire'. Whatever may come if we are with Him, we shall have His peace.

Luke 18. 1-14 Jesus' teaching about prayer. Luke gives us more teaching about the prayer life of Jesus than the other three Gospel writers. These two stories contrast. The first, vv 1-8, is a recognition that human nature soon becomes tired of an activity if immediate results are not obtained. We lack the patience that God has shown in the outworking of His purpose. Jesus infers that His Father does not always answer prayer immediately. Why doesn't He do so? Sometimes He does respond immediately and sometimes the answer is 'wait'. Unless the answer is a clear well-defined 'no' then we should continue to ask, developing not only patience, but the valuable quality of tenacity ‑ 'hanging on' ‑ a willingness to believe and therefore develop faith also.

In this parable God is being contrasted with and not compared to an unrighteous judge. This was not a Jewish judge but one appointed by Herod or Rome ‑ Barclay. It reflects the state of disorganization and corruption in Galilee and Peraea at the time ‑ Plumptre. Jesus stretches our minds. Even an unjust person will act to get peace. God is just and loving and has the highest welfare of all creation at heart especially His children. He acts for the best, waiting for the moment when action will obtain the greatest blessing. Is this parable linked to the previous chapter and the coming of the Kingdom and the King? Perseverance is needed in the age old prayer "Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is done in Heaven". The signs and signals of chap.17 take time ‑ they don't happen all at once but God wants us to pray because prayer helps us to live in the spirit of that Kingdom and by its laws. Commentators point out that Jews limited their prayer to three times a day but Jesus urged His people to live in an atmosphere of prayer, continuous prayer, patiently longing for what is asked. What guided this judge is his judgment? He feared neither God nor man but was tired (hupopiazo) of the widow's incessant pleading. Paul uses the verb in 1 Cor 9.27 "to beat or buffet" and literally means to give a black eye ‑ Morris, Barclay. The widow for her part knew that she was right and was absolutely determined to get what she wanted. She had no one to help or money to bribe. God's people cry unceasingly and He will show that they are right. By delay He gives their tormentors opportunity to repent. Jesus speaks of the certainty of God's actions. 'Speedily' is within God's time scale of a 'thousand years as one day'.

Jesus' next question about the Son of Man finding faith when He comes has been assumed to be rhetorical. In contrast we might ask, will there ever be a time when the Earth will not have some witness to the true faith?

Is the next parable teaching the breadth of salvation as well as illustrating attitudes in prayer. The story was about a Pharisees but does it apply to us? We all have the same tendency to believe that we are better than we really are. Progress in one aspect of Christian living does not exclude us from failure in another. We may pray regularly, even often, but does this not demand deep repentance that requests revival in our own life.? This is why the Pharisee failed and worse, he looked upon the tax collector as if he were 'holier than thou'. Are we guilty of such uncharitable contempt? The outwardly pious want all to see and hear that they are good, righteous people. Inwardly, the man was a sinner, who hadn't learned the first lesson in God's school of prayer. The tax collector was ahead of the 'religious' leader in learning about God ‑ "the Lord looks on the heart". The Pharisee "glances at God but contemplates himself" (Plummer). Did he go to the Temple to talk to God or himself and those around him? Are we likely to switch the characters round so that the non-churchgoing supporter of charity thanks God that he not like those chanting hypocrites in church. Should not our prayer attitude be one in which life will be determined not by what we have done in the past but by what God will make of us in the future? This parable teaches that good deeds cannot buy spiritual credit. Jesus said elsewhere, that however much we think we do for God we are always indebted to Him. If we haven't felt the conviction of sin as did the tax collector we haven't begun real spiritual growth. God can only acquit us of sin if we own up to it (1 John 1.9). None may boast before God but he who is humble will be exalted (14.11 Morris). Justified here means 'acceptable' to God.

vv 15-30 The younger ones: "It is one of the loveliest things in all the Gospel story that Jesus had time for the children when He was on the way to Jerusalem to die" ‑ Barclay says that it was the custom for mothers to take their children to a distinguished rabbi to be blessed on their first birthday. Were the disciples unkind to the children or were they shielding Jesus from stress and unnecessary attention? What did Jesus think? What is the childlike spirit that is a passport to the Kingdom of God? Barclay says its "to keep alive the sense of wonder, to live in unquestioning trust, instinctively to obey, to forgive and to forget". Many movements, churches and groups fail to follow the Master's example. They do not involve the younger generation in their work and worship? There is a price for disobedience. It is a terrible thing to place obstacles in the way of children coming to Christ. It is just as terrible to ignore those children; even worse to set before them a wrong example.

A young man asked a question. It is useful to compare parallel accounts in the various Gospels. He was a rich ruler and in Jewish eyes he lacked nothing. He had all that could be wished for. He wanted to be on his way to the Kingdom of Heaven but he was aware of something missing in his life. Was it 'self fulfilment'? Why go to Jesus? What had he got that the great religious rabbis of the Temple lacked? He was evidently a likable young man, yet he was pious and strict otherwise he would not be a ruler of the synagogue. So he comes to Jesus with a rather unusual if not patronizing form of address ‑ 'Good Master'. That is not how rabbis were normally addressed. Plummer says that there was no such address in the whole of the Talmud. Jesus naturally focused the young man's attention on God. Commentators suggest that Jesus was inviting the young man to reflect on what he was asking and that would certainly be so concerning his desire to 'earn salvation' by doing something. Did the questioner understand that eternal life must mean appearing in the presence of a holy God? Entering the Kingdom meant coming to God with nothing but repentance and the desire to do God's will. Was he in fact breaking the Law towards God and man? Was he prepared to express his love for God by giving Him everything? Where now was his love for his neighbour who was in need a coin or two? Why were these commandments listed in this way here? Is the Greek translation of the OT ‑ Septuagint, anything to do with it? Is not the rich young ruler's question, a prayer? Is not the cry of the blind man in the next story also a prayer? Certainly he needed persistence. But before we look at that incident there is the conversation that Jesus had with the disciples.

Wealth among the Jews, as in other cultures, was a mark of God's special favour. Was there support for this in the Old Testament? Even the apostles were astonished that Jesus should speak of the extreme difficulty of a rich person getting into the Kingdom. But did Jesus say here or elsewhere that it was impossible for a rich person to enter the Kingdom? Affluence is dangerous. The problem with this man was the power of wealth to distract a believer from the service of God. Wealth was competing with God for the rich man's time and energy. It corrupts because collecting it becomes addictive hence the traditional miser. Many have sought to interpret the camel climbing through the eye of a needle. Some refer to a postern gate (small door) in a city gate but Morris believes they miss the point that Jesus is using a humorous illustration. Barclay has further suggestions ‑ kamelos (camel) is similar to kamilos (ship's hawser). Is Jesus saying that it's easier to thread a needle with a ships wire cable than for rich people to enter the Kingdom? Or is He just comparing something fantastically impossible? Either we are absorbed with material things such as money or our focus is upon God with a desire to be like Him and to do the work He plans for us. Like the young man, we have to make a choice. The disciples confessed that they had already done that and were keen to know about the rewards attached to their decision. Jesus was quite clear; they would share His life and Kingdom. But more than that, they would receive now much more than they gave. Was that the experience revealed in the Acts of the Apostles or those who came afterwards …in the last 2000 years. What are the 'sacrifices' that a follower of Jesus has to make? Is it to be compared to the peace that the world cannot give and cannot take away? ‑ Barclay

Jesus now contrasts those rewards with His immediate future. This is usually referred to as the third of such warnings but was it? (5.35; 9.22, 43-45; 12.50; 13.32; 17.25 - Morris). He was deliberately going to Jerusalem knowing that the Jews would hand Him over to the Romans who would treat Him badly before killing Him. For Him it was the fulfilment of prophecy; for His twelve closest followers it was confusion but did they still not understand why He had come to Earth? In retrospect they would understand, but at that moment the 'twelve' could not share their Master's experience.

Jesus' journey to Jerusalem takes Him through Jericho and a glance at the map will show that he was now entering the last phase of His ministry with the long hard climb up to Jerusalem. Before that could happen he was faced with two delightful incidents and healing of the blind man is the first. As always it is interesting to compare the various gospel accounts ‑ they do not contradict each other but each adds details that gives it a character of its own. What made this man address Jesus as 'the son of David'? He seems to have had a companion and one of the two was called Bartimaeus and they sat near the city gate. Nothing was going to prevent them from pleading with Jesus for the gift they most desired ‑ and Jesus ignored the crowd who would have kept them away from Him and they were able to see again. Barclay suggests that the crowd were lining the streets to see the pilgrims on their way to the feast (Passover). He also points out that the words in the Greek for 'shout' in vv 38 and 39 are different ‑ the first is to attract attention, the second is the emotional despairing call for help. The story has much to tell us about the man and about Jesus.

DN

( in preparing this study Geldenbhuys, Morris, Plumptre and Barclay commentaries of the Gospel of Luke have been used)