By Herb Montgomery
Once Jesus was asked by a Pharisee when the kingdom of
God was coming. He answered:
“The kingdom of God
is not coming with signs that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here
it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” Then
he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will long to see one of
the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you,
‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. For as the
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 endure much suffering and be
rejected by this generation . . . (Luke 17.20-37)
In our fifth prophecy of our eight prophecy line up,
Jesus is once again presenting two options to Jerusalem: nonviolent, enemy
love, or nonexistence. These really are the same options that we are faced with
today, but we will take a look at that in part 6.
With brilliant clarity, Jesus lays out a contingent
prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction and a statement about the transforming
alternative to that destruction, saying that Jerusalem’s destruction need not
happen.
Jesus provides the alternative in verses 20-21:
“Once Jesus was
asked by a Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming. He answered, “The
kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they
say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is
among you.”
We’re going to see that this is most likely not the best
way to translate Jesus phrase shortly, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
Remember, for Jesus, this “kingdom” is a radical new way
of orienting and doing life here and now, on earth (as it is done in heaven)
that is rooted in and based on a radical new picture of a nonviolent God and
His character of enemy love.
This kingdom would result in, but not at all be limited to, the political and social liberation of the Jewish people from the Roman Empire rather than Jerusalem’s annihilation by Rome. This enemy-loving kingdom would, in all actuality, liberate the entire world from “the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” and the systemic way of violence, or “path that leads to destruction” what we are all enslaved to. (See Ephesians 6.12 & Matthew 7.12-14)
The proclamation of this “kingdom” that has now come to earth IS the gospel! It is the centerpiece of Jesus’ entire ministry. It is also the common thread that runs through Luke’s entire version of the Jesus story.
From Anna’s words in Luke 2.38:
“At that moment she came, and began to praise
God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for THE REDEMPTION OF
JERUSALEM.”
All the way down to the words of the disciples on the road
to Emmaus found in Luke 24.21:
“But we had hoped that he was the one to
REDEEM ISRAEL.”
And pervading each step of the journey Luke writes all
along the way:
“Soon afterwards he
went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of
THE KINGDOM OF GOD.” (Luke 8.1);
“And he sent them
out to proclaim THE KINGDOM OF GOD and to heal.” (Luke 9.2);
“Whenever you enter
a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick
who are there, and say to them, ‘THE KINGDOM OF GOD has come near to you.’” (Luke
10.8-9).
When the Pharisee questions Jesus here in Luke 17, the
Pharisee is actually challenging Jesus as the “prophet” to present his own
“revolutionary vision” of this “Kingdom.”
What the Pharisee is challenging Jesus to do is to explain what the
coming of this long-awaited for Kingdom looks like as Jesus envisions it.
Jesus, in his customary fashion, transforms the question
into a contingent prophecy with two potential outcomes – embrace nonviolent, enemy
love and be part of a global restoration and healing (see John 3.17) or remain
entrenched in the world of an eye for an eye, punitive retribution still hoping
for a militaristic Messiah and end up being destroyed. (i.e. – The destruction of Jerusalem by Rome
in A.D. 70)
Jesus’ words, “The
kingdom of God is not coming with signs that can be observed; nor will they
say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is
among you”, contains both this Pharisee’s most cherished dreams (the favor
of God on Israel) as well as his worst nightmares (the favor of God also on
their enemies, the Romans).
Loving one’s enemy and nonviolent mutual liberation of
Jerusalem and Rome from the real Enemy (see Ephesians 6.12 again) was a path
that would require Jerusalem to forgive Rome, to love Rome, and to endeavor to
save even Rome herself from its allegiance to “the Powers” and encourage Roman
to follow this nonviolent, enemy loving Messiah.
The potential for all of this was among them and the
choice was within them. (This way of bringing about such global change was also
referred to by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as the “new community.”)
A window into Jesus’ words, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” is given to us by Josephus
who writes about incidents that occurred around the mid-first century (50 A.D.)
when revolutionary prophets would lead large groups of people into the desert
under the pretense that, once there, God would show them “signs” of approaching
liberation.
During these incidents, the Roman procurator, Felix, who
regarded this as the first stage of revolt, would send cavalry and heavy
infantry to cut the mob into pieces (see Josephus, The Jewish War, Williamson
and Smallwood, p. 147).
The most infamous of these revolutionary prophets who
promised “signs to be observed” was a militaristic messiah referred to as “the
Egyptian” and who is mentioned in Acts 21. 38:
“Then you are not
the Egyptian who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand
assassins out into the wilderness?”
“Arriving in the
country, this man [the Egyptian], a fraud who posed as a seer, collected about
30,000 dupes, led them round from the desert to the Mount of Olives and from
there was ready to force an entry into Jerusalem, overwhelm the Roman garrison,
and seize supreme power with his fellow-raiders as bodyguard.” (Josephus,
The Jewish War, Williamson and Smallwood, p. 147)
These were not lunatic leaders, but hopeful militarist
messiahs, action prophets, who
contemporary scholars today see as attempting to lead movements of Jewish
peasants in active engagements with Rome, placing their hope in violently
overpowering Rome, with the promise that if they would simply put forth a
little human effort in this direction, their efforts would be accompanied by
divine acts of empowerment and deliverance. The lie went something like,
“Success is dependent on combining human effort with divine power.” If they
wanted divine deliverance, they must first present the human effort for Yahweh
to bless. God would meet their efforts if they took the first step.
The rhetoric of these militaristic messiahs was steeped
in the symbols of the Exodus and the Conquest of Canaan. (Much like Augustine’s
arguments for marginalizing Jesus’ teachings on nonviolence in the fourth
century also centered on the story details of the Exodus and Conquest of Canaan
of the Old Testament.) This technique is used today by politicians when symbols
and icons of the American Revolution are used as part of their campaign to
inspire a following. The militaristic messiahs of the mid-first century in
Jerusalem used this same technique by employing symbols of the Exodus and of
the Conquest of Canaan.
Josephus also describes another event where Romans
massacred a thousand Jewish women and children who were acting in obedience to
another Jewish militaristic messiah “prophet.” This militaristic messiah had
declared to the people in Jerusalem that God had commanded them to go up to the
Temple to receive the signs of deliverance. (Josephus, The Jewish War, p. 360)
Elsewhere, Josephus describes a “Samaritan prophet” who
was a contemporary “messiah” of Jesus during the time of Pontius Pilate. This
prophet’s “sign” was to lead the people up the sacred Mount Gerizim to find
holy vessels left there by Moses. Instead, the armed crowd was attacked and
overwhelmed by Pilate’s troops at the foot of the mountain. (Josephus,
Antiquities, 85-87)
When Jesus says “the Kingdom is not coming with signs to
be observed,” he is emphatically rejecting the specific way in which popular
prophets led masses of Jewish people to their deaths at the hands of Roman
soldiers. The reference to such leaders becomes more specific when he warns, “They will say to you, ‘Lo there!’ or ‘Lo,
here!’ Do not go, do not follow them.” (Luke 17.23) Those who followed
these would-be messiahs and used violence, retribution, and retaliation would
perish needlessly in horrific slaughters by Rome.
What they could not get their minds around was that Jesus
was really offering the way that is labeled today as nonviolent
noncooperation. The hope that Jesus
gives them is of an enemy-loving, forgiving, nonviolent approach that would
change the world through their embracing a Roman cross. This was neither a passive acceptance of
Roman occupation thereby avoiding a cross nor was it picking up of a sword to
fight back. Neither flight nor fight, Jesus offered a third way, a narrow way,
a narrow gate that would lead through death to life eternal. It was
counter-intuitive, but it was the way of wisdom. The way that seemed right to
them [violent retaliation] would lead to their utter defeat and annihilation
instead (Proverbs 14.12; 16.25).
“The Kingdom of God
is among you!” I believe should be translated as “within you”
or rather “within your doing.” Look how Paul put it:
or rather “within your doing.” Look how Paul put it:
“But the justice
that comes from faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into
heaven?”’ (that is, to bring Christ down) or ‘Who will descend into the
abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say?
“THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, ON YOUR LIPS AND IN YOUR HEART” (that is, the word of
faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is
Lord [rather than Caesar, and call Jesus, according to last week,
“blessed.”] and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”(Romans 10.6-9,
emphasis added.)
Paul here is actually referencing Moses after the giving
of the law on Mt. Sinai.
“Surely, this
commandment that I am commanding you today IS NOT TOO HARD FOR YOU, nor is it
too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to
heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?”
Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other
side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe
it?” NO, THE WORD IS VERY NEAR TO YOU; IT IS IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART
FOR YOU TO OBSERVE.” (Deuteronomy 30.11-14, emphasis added.)
Again, Jesus was presenting a way to live, but it was a
way that first passed through death, not of one’s enemies, but of oneself at
the hands of one’s enemies. It was a plan, thought they could not understand it
at this stage; one that included resurrection.
It would be centered around the hope of a new world, and intimately centered in
believing in one’s heart that God “raised Jesus from the dead.”
Jesus was clear – To follow the illusive and falsely
promising way of violence was a trap. To trust in a future hope by using
violence in the present was an illusion. Jesus was not offering them the
annihilation of their enemies, but the nonviolent transformation of themselves,
their enemies, and the entire world.
“The Kingdom of God
is within your power.” This nonviolent, enemy-loving and forgiving kingdom
offered by Jesus was both a means and the end of all their hopes. Through the
power of the Spirit, this path was both within them, within their doing, and
also present among them or, as Jesus said in other places, “At hand!”
Overthrowing kingdoms of this world through the power of
the sword, through the way of violence, is rarely within our power. But to
transform and change the world one person at a time by embracing our enemy, by
embracing nonviolence, forgiveness, and healing love—THAT is always at our
disposal.
By staying connected with Jesus (John 15), those means
are always within our power and waiting simply for our choosing. It is a
radically different path of showing kindness toward the “ungrateful and the
evil” (see Luke 6.35) even when it costs us our own lives.
As odd as saying it this way sounds, the reason the
healing of the world is “within our power”, according to Jesus, is because the
power itself is enemy love. It is this love that Jesus wants to not only
educate us in, but also empower us for. It is a way of life flowing from God’s
love for us AND for our enemies. It is an indiscriminant love, showered like
the rain and shining like the sun on all creation (see Matthew 5.45).
This way of life is “within our power” because we can
choose to accept God’s transforming love, not just for ourselves, but for our
enemies as well. To view our enemies through the lens of what is in God’s heart
for them is transforming. It transforms us! And then, by relating to our
enemies within this context of love, it transforms them too!
Before long, we have set in motion a contagious chain of
events, dominoes tipping upon dominoes, until a world where love reigns is the
only world that remains.
Regardless of who they may be or what they may have done
to us, we must see that within our loving of them, our forgiving of them, our
choosing the way of nonviolent love rather than eye-for-an-eye, punitive
retribution, lies the hope of our world.
Like the Samaritan of old, we will be saved by seeing our
enemies as “good,” and specifically by learning how to forgive and love them. Our enemies, or rather learning to love our
enemies, are the means of our salvation.
God’s Kingdom of enemy love, on earth as it is in heaven,
is within our power and is there for our choosing, waiting for us to affirm
it’s divine power, the divine power of agape, and to begin experiencing it.
Through our enemies, we meet the heart of God and the hope of the world.
In the movie of Gandhi’s life from 1982, there is a scene
where a Hindu is conscience stricken over his own violent slaying of Muslims.
Gandhi offers him a way out of “hell.” Gandhi tells the Hindu to find a Muslim
child who has lost their parents due to the violent fighting of the civil wars
between Muslims and Hindus and to take that Muslim child into his home, his
family, his heart and to raise him, not as a Hindu, but as a Muslim.
I wonder what forgiving your enemy will look like?
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