Luke 17:20-37: Making Ready
Friday, February 3, 2023
The coming of the kingdom 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 . . . But first [the Son of Man] must suffer greatly and be rejected by his generation.
The days of Noah – the days of Lot – the days of Christ – today. Floods – brimstone – the crucifixion – the perils of today’s world.
We are told that the kingdom is not announced to us in the way we might expect. We are told of coming consequences. It is explained that we must use senses other than those we use for eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. It is explained that the kingdom is already among us. We are told that the one who saves us will first suffer and be rejected.
The message is clear: One who wishes to gain the soul must forfeit life. When we hear the call, we must not think of gathering anything up to take with us. God will provide all that we will need on the journey; therefore, our only preparation need be to keep vigilant watch.
We must be alert . . . but how? If we are not to hear announcement or see a warning, how do we know when to respond? If we are not to pack any bags or prepare any food, then what are we to organize? What and how are we to make ready?
Suffering and rejection will be a part of our lives just as it is in the Messiah’s. We live through these experiences of hurt, and we learn from them about God’s presence in our lives. These experiences and what we have learned from them are what we pack for our journey. This wisdom that is born of pain and that is used to refine our way of being in the world; this is something we will want to take with us to present to the Lord at his coming.
In Psalm 40 we are told that God does not really want our burnt offerings and sacrifices; rather, we are to use the suffering and rejection we experience to convert our human hearts to hearts that are open to God’s love. Psalm 51 reminds us that God heals the offering of our broken spirit, and God delights in our offering of all that is out of order about us. This is what we take to the Lord.
We cannot change the events of the past or the future . . . we can only effect the present moment in which we live. We cannot go back to change something that happened, but we can make amends where possible and correct our own behavior. We cannot foretell the coming circumstances of our lives, but we can prepare ourselves to be open to the amazing possibilities God presents to us in even the darkest of moments.
For behold, the kingdom of God is among us . . . what and how do we make ready today?
When we spend time with these verses from Luke and these two psalms, we begin to understand what it means to make ourselves ready for the Lord. We begin to understand how we might use God’s Yardstick of love.
Image from: https://asburylv.org/
A Favorite from January 26, 2010.
The Noontimes 