Reflection
Wisdom 7:22 – 8:1
Psalm 119
Luke 17:20-25
Where is it? When will You do it Jesus? In our gospel today, the Pharisees are trying to get Jesus to tell them when the kingdom of God will come to fruition, at least the kingdom as they understood it to be. Jesus replies to the Pharisees with words that must have confused them terribly because of the perspective from which they asked the question.
Jesus tell them “…the Kingdom of God is among you.” When we look at the original Greek text in which the gospel was written, the word for “among” can also be translated to mean “within”. The Kingdom of God is certainly heaven but it is more than heaven. The Kingdom should be understood to also mean the relationship we have with God when we see Him as our King and Lord.
The King of that Kingdom, will remain among us and we will see Him most clearly one day but we do not know when. So Jesus calls us to live a life well-prepared for the day when we do see Him. Mankind over the years, has had several false prophets claiming to know when the end of this world will occur and when Jesus will return. As Christians, we long for that day trusting in God’s great mercy as He takes us to heaven with Him for eternity.
Jesus, though, tells us not to get caught up in knowing when we will see Him again…just live our lives as he has instructed, do the best we can, and carry forth His mission. There is a lot of rotten stuff going on in our world, seems like it is the worst it has ever been, but all of this will pass and God wins in the end. Our job is to live our lives according to God’s laws and help others see how incredible His love is for us.
So don’t wait! Smile at God today!