It is good to ask questions because they can open up opportunities to\u00a0find answers on topics that can be of great importance to us. The teaching methods of rabbis in Jesus\u2019 day with their disciples included a significant proportion of discussions on key subjects by way of asking questions and seeking to discern an appropriate biblical answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this passage today the unexpected question put to Jesus is recorded in Luke 17:20:\u00a0Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come\u2026\u00a0<\/em>The standard teaching on this subject in Jewish synagogues at that time focussed on a military strongman who would lead the nation to evict the occupying Roman forces and establish a godly Jewish nation under his rule. This figure was viewed as the Messiah sent in God\u2019s name. The questioners wanted a checklist of things to tick off to indicate how close they might be to that event.\u00a0It is similar to Christians seeking to try to work out how close we are to Jesus\u2019 second coming. What did Jesus say in response to their question?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1.Beware of false predictions\u00a0(<\/strong>Luke 17:20-24)\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied,\u00a0\u2018The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed,\u00a0<\/em>21\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>nor will people say, \u201cHere it is,\u201d or \u201cThere it is,\u201d because the kingdom of God is in your midst.\u2019\u00a0<\/em>22\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Then He said to His disciples,\u00a0\u2018The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 23\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>People will tell you, \u201cThere He is!\u201d or \u201cHere He is!\u201d Do not go running off after them.\u00a0<\/em>24\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>For the Son of Man in His day\u00a0will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There have been a number of scientists with their different models claiming to suggest how the Covid-19 virus pandemic will go in our country. Some of\u00a0them may be right and accurate in their predictions, but no-one knows for certain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet it doesn\u2019t stop some of the headlines in newspapers\u00a0and\u00a0other\u00a0on-line\u00a0sources\u00a0that offer a level of clarity in interpretation of the data that goes beyond the evidence. Of course we want certainty of what will happen in coming months, but no-one knows for certain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the same way, there are plenty of people who\u00a0make\u00a0claims that they know when Jesus is coming back,\u00a0and a few individuals have even claimed\u00a0to be Jesus come back to earth!\u00a0What does He say here? Ignore them! Quite a few cults or new religions began by people making claims about Jesus\u2019 return. God hasnot\u00a0given us sufficient information to make such a prediction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Mark 13:32 Jesus specifically said that only God the Father knows the date of His return. It will be when no-one is expecting it.\u00a0We must ask God to help us handle the uncertainty of life today.\u00a0Will this new way of living here make people in richer countries more sensitive to the fact that hundreds of millions of people have only ever lived with this kind of economic uncertainty in the two-thirds world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. A clear pointer<\/strong> <\/strong>(Luke 17:25) But first H<\/em>e must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.<\/em> <\/em>The events of the first Easter were still in the future when Jesus spoke these worlds. It was a prophetic prediction that came true. There were many Old Testament prophecies referencing the birth, life death and resurrection of Jesus hundreds of years earlier. God keeps His word. He is trustworthy. How trustworthy are you and I when we make promises?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3.\u00a0Alarming Indifference<\/strong>\u00a0(Luke 17:26-30\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u2018Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.\u00a0<\/em>27\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>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.\u00a0<\/em>28\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u2018It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.\u00a0<\/em>29\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulphur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.\u00a0<\/em>30\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u2018It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018<\/em>Business as usual\u2019\u00a0is what is conveyed here. Even when there were warning signs they were ignored. No matter how strong the challenge to them, they were\u00a0living life as before,\u00a0they had no interest in what God was trying to communicate. This\u00a0pattern\u00a0was not new, the exact same thing happened in the time of the \u2018natural disasters centuries earlier in the times of Noah and Lot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are plenty of\u00a0questions that arise from\u00a0this\u00a0observation. These include:\u00a0How open am I to God speaking into my life? Or if I am not giving God first place in my life,\u00a0what will it take for me to stop what I am doing and listen to Him\u00a0and then be willing to take action?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4.\u00a0Additional Pointers<\/strong>\u00a0(Luke 17:31-37)31\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>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.\u00a0<\/em>32\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Remember Lot\u2019s wife!\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>33\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 34\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.\u00a0<\/em>35\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Two women will be grinding corn together; one will be taken and the other left.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>37\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u2018Where, Lord?\u2019 they asked.\u00a0He replied,\u00a0\u2018Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.\u2019\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n These verses are a warning and a challenge to complacency. We must not put off committing our life to follow Jesus because we think we have plenty of years \u2018to do our own thing\u2019 first. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow let alone a few weeks, months or years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As Christians these verses are a challenge to avoid drifting through life giving God a place but not \u2018the place\u2019 at the centre of our lives. These words from Jesus were far from a timetable for His second coming. Instead they should make us think and question as to what is most important in our lives,most of all if He came back unexpectedly tonight or tomorrow would you be ready? The only way we can be ready is if we have already put our faith and trust in Him. Don\u2019t delay taking that step today if you havn\u2019t done it before.\u00a0The person who by faith accepts Jesus as Lord and Saviour will be welcomed into God\u2019s family for ever,\u00a0the moment they truly seek it in prayer. I hope that is true today for us all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our song for reflection today is: \u2018All my days I will sing this song of gladness\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n