Being the forerunner of Christ (i.e. Malachi 3:1), John the Baptist was preparing people for the coming of Christ in public to establish his Kingdom. Citing Isaiah (40:3), he regarded himself as the voice calling in the wilderness to prepare the straight path of Christ (Matthew 1:3). In doing so, he preached in the Judean wilderness:
“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!”(Matthew 3:2).
The Kingdom of heavens was at hand, then. And so was the public appearance of the incarnated Christ who is Jesus.
As he began his public ministry in Galilee, Jesus proclaimed:
Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17).
This means that the Kingdom was forthcoming and had become attainable with Christ’s presence.
In the Gospel Reading of Thursday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time (Luke 17:20-25), Jesus is speaking of the coming of the Kingdom in response to the Pharisees’ question as to when would be the coming of the Kingdom.
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, “Look, here it is,” or, “There it is.” For behold, the kingdom of God is among you (Luke 17:20-21).
Why is the coming of the Kingdom is unobservable?
To the inquisition by Pilate as to who he is, if he is a king, as so he was alleged to be tried by the Roman authorities, Jesus said:
My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here (John 18:36).
This clearly indicates that the Kingdom is not physical but rather transcendent. Therefore, it is not necessarily visible.
In asking Jesus when the Kingdom would come (Luke 17:20), the Pharisees seemed to have thought that the it would be a very powerful geopolitical Davidic kingdom, in reference to these words of God to David through Nathan:
I will assign a place for my people Israel and I will plant them in it to dwell there; they will never again be disturbed, nor shall the wicked ever again oppress them, as they did at the beginning, and from the day when I appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you: when your days have been completed and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom. He it is who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. If he does wrong, I will reprove him with a human rod and with human punishments; but I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from Saul who was before you. Your house and your kingdom are firm forever before me; your throne shall be firmly established forever (2 Samuel 7:10-16).
In addition, the Pharisees could be thinking of these words of Daniel when he interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream:
In the lifetime of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people; rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever (Daniel 2:44).
“Those kings” are kings of four powerful empires symbolically appeared in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2:36-43). But these powerful kings on earth would be placed under the dominion of the Kingdom that God would set up. Thus, the Pharisees were likely to have thought that the Kingdom preached by Jesus could be the one to deliver Israel from the dominion of Rome.
However, the Kingdom that Jesus had proclaimed does not match what the Pharisees had in their minds as its coming is not perceivable to our eyes and not announced.
Then Jesus said to the disciples:
The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. There will be those who will say to you, “Look, there he is,” or :Look, here he is.” Do not go off, do not run in pursuit. For just as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation (Luke 17:22-25).
With these words, Jesus cautioned the disciples not to be fooled by Satan in regard to the timing of the coming of the Kingdom and its King, as there would be some people making false claims about the coming of the Kingdom and the King to divert people from their preparation for the coming of the King and the Kingdom. At the same time, Jesus made it clear that he would be rejected by his people and go through passion into death in order for him to let his Kingdom come at the end of time in his coming. And when it takes place, it be as prevailing as lightening’s flash lights up all over the sky.
At the same time, the Kingdom has already come as the King has come, as Christ has been incarnated and born in Bethlehem (i.e. Malachi 5:2; Luke 2:7). But it was not noticed, except for the shepherd who stayed up vigilantly to protect sheep (Luke 2:8-20).
The Kingdom has been present with the presence of Christ, who is the Logos (Word) incarnated to dwell among us (John 1:1, 14). This is why Jesus said to the Pharisees that the coming of the Kingdom is not visible but the Kingdom is among us (Luke 17:20-21). In fact, Jesus, the incarnated Christ, is the embodiment of the Kingdom. That is why John the Baptist proclaimed that the Kingdom was at hand, when the coming of Jesus in public to begin his ministry was at hand (Matthew 3:2). And he began dwelling among people (i.e. John 1:14). So the Kingdom of God is among us (Luke 17:21).
However, in order for the consummation of the establishment of the Kingdom to take place, Christ the King had to be rejected and suffer into death (Luke 17:25; cf. Psalm 118:22-23; Luke 23:18-49; cf. Mark 12:1-2).
After his death, the King was raised and ascended into heaven (Luke 24:1-53). But the Kingdom remains among us (Luke 17:21) for Christ the King is with us until the end of time (Matthew 28:20) through the Word and the Eucharist and the Holy Spirit (i.e. John 14:18, 28), making bread and wine into the very bodily presence of the King and his Kingdom,
Let us remain in the King,(i.e. Jonn 15:4-9) who has been among us (John 1:1, 14) and with us always (Matthew 28:20), so that the Kingdom remains among us (Luke 17:21). This way, we will not be deceived by Satan who sets us false prophets to make fake announcement of the coming of the King and his Kingdom.
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