It’s easy to live as though God doesn’t exist. And the reason it’s tempting to live without God is that that’s how our society is set up: everything around us - our political and economic system, our culture, and the fields of science and technology - everything is set up in such a way as to direct our focus entirely on the here and now. We are told that reality essentially consists of “the kind of things we are able to observe in the ordinary course of events,” and therefore, we’d all just be better off lowering our “sights” and forget about heaven.1
The result of living life with this mindset, of course, is that there’s nothing to look forward to, nothing to give meaning to everyday life activities. We eat, we drink, and we marry (Luke 17:27), we buy, we sell, we plant, and we build (17:28), and while there’s nothing wrong with these activities - some of these are just the stuff of human life - if these ordinary life affairs consume us, if they define who we are, we will miss the bigger picture, and we will eventually be overtaken by destruction, just like Noah’s generation, just like Lot’s wife (Luke 17:27, 29).
She, that is, Lot's wife, she came as close to deliverance without achieving it as was possible. She was safely brought out of Sodom, a city doomed for destruction, yet, she lingered, “longing for the delights she was leaving behind.”2 The destruction of Sodom caught up to her, and she perished with the city (Genesis 19:26). She sought to gain her life, but instead she lost it.
In Luke 17:20-37, Jesus bids us to steer away our gaze from this world, and towards heaven. He bids us to be concerned not with the “where” and the “when”, with issues of space and time, the here and now, but rather, we are to focus on the conversion of the heart, focus on God’s kingdom. We are to fix our eyes on heaven.
Of course, it’s hard to be indifferent about questions of the here and now. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to answer the “when” question: when is the kingdom of God coming? (17:20) And the disciples, they wanted to know the “where” question: “Where, Lord?” (17:37). Where will this kingdom be established? To both the Pharisees and the disciples, Jesus’ message is that they’re asking the wrong question. The right question to ask is ‘How do we preserve life’ ? (17:33) Or, “What must we do to be saved?”3
But the answer to this question is also a problem: there’s nothing we can do to be saved. Salvation comes from God, that’s why Jesus came down from heaven.
And when Jesus came down from heaven, in a very real sense, he brought heaven to earth. That’s why he says to the Pharisees: “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (17:21). His miracles of healing, his exorcisms, and the conversion of the people around Jesus, these are all signs of the “kingdom of God among you.”4
All we can do towards our own salvation is give up our illusions of grandeur and welcome the kingdom of God among us, welcome Christ among us: “Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it” (17:33). So the reason we look to heaven is because that’s where salvation comes from.
But there’s another reason we look to heaven, and that is because of Jesus’ return, his second coming. The first time Jesus came, he was rejected, and he suffered death on the cross (17:25) for our salvation. But he rose from the dead, he is glorified in heaven, and he will come again to judge both the living and the dead.
We await Christ’s return, and this is not escapism: this is real, tangible hope. On that day, we will not need to look for him: “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” (17:24). Jesus will return in glory.
So let us not seek to gain our life: let us not linger, let us not long for the things we leave behind, let us not be consumed and ruled by our possessions, our relationships, and our desires.
Rather, let us lose ourselves in Christ, who came down from heaven for our salvation. Let us fix our eyes on heaven, let us fix our eyes on Christ, in anticipation of that great day when he returns.
Thanks be to God.
Amen ✠
-----
1- Craig M. Gay. The Way of the Modern World. Or, Why it’s Tempting to live as if God doesn’t Exist. Foreword by J. I. Packer. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), 6.
2- Leon Morris. Luke: An Introduction and Commentary. The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Revised Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988), 286.
3- Leon Morris. Luke: An Introduction and Commentary. The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Revised Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988), 285.
4- Luke Timothy Johnson. The Gospel of Luke. Sacra Pagina Series. Volume 3. Ed. by Daniel J. Harrington, S, J. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1991), 266.
The result of living life with this mindset, of course, is that there’s nothing to look forward to, nothing to give meaning to everyday life activities. We eat, we drink, and we marry (Luke 17:27), we buy, we sell, we plant, and we build (17:28), and while there’s nothing wrong with these activities - some of these are just the stuff of human life - if these ordinary life affairs consume us, if they define who we are, we will miss the bigger picture, and we will eventually be overtaken by destruction, just like Noah’s generation, just like Lot’s wife (Luke 17:27, 29).
She, that is, Lot's wife, she came as close to deliverance without achieving it as was possible. She was safely brought out of Sodom, a city doomed for destruction, yet, she lingered, “longing for the delights she was leaving behind.”2 The destruction of Sodom caught up to her, and she perished with the city (Genesis 19:26). She sought to gain her life, but instead she lost it.
In Luke 17:20-37, Jesus bids us to steer away our gaze from this world, and towards heaven. He bids us to be concerned not with the “where” and the “when”, with issues of space and time, the here and now, but rather, we are to focus on the conversion of the heart, focus on God’s kingdom. We are to fix our eyes on heaven.
Of course, it’s hard to be indifferent about questions of the here and now. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to answer the “when” question: when is the kingdom of God coming? (17:20) And the disciples, they wanted to know the “where” question: “Where, Lord?” (17:37). Where will this kingdom be established? To both the Pharisees and the disciples, Jesus’ message is that they’re asking the wrong question. The right question to ask is ‘How do we preserve life’ ? (17:33) Or, “What must we do to be saved?”3
But the answer to this question is also a problem: there’s nothing we can do to be saved. Salvation comes from God, that’s why Jesus came down from heaven.
And when Jesus came down from heaven, in a very real sense, he brought heaven to earth. That’s why he says to the Pharisees: “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (17:21). His miracles of healing, his exorcisms, and the conversion of the people around Jesus, these are all signs of the “kingdom of God among you.”4
All we can do towards our own salvation is give up our illusions of grandeur and welcome the kingdom of God among us, welcome Christ among us: “Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it” (17:33). So the reason we look to heaven is because that’s where salvation comes from.
But there’s another reason we look to heaven, and that is because of Jesus’ return, his second coming. The first time Jesus came, he was rejected, and he suffered death on the cross (17:25) for our salvation. But he rose from the dead, he is glorified in heaven, and he will come again to judge both the living and the dead.
We await Christ’s return, and this is not escapism: this is real, tangible hope. On that day, we will not need to look for him: “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” (17:24). Jesus will return in glory.
So let us not seek to gain our life: let us not linger, let us not long for the things we leave behind, let us not be consumed and ruled by our possessions, our relationships, and our desires.
Rather, let us lose ourselves in Christ, who came down from heaven for our salvation. Let us fix our eyes on heaven, let us fix our eyes on Christ, in anticipation of that great day when he returns.
Thanks be to God.
Amen ✠
-----
1- Craig M. Gay. The Way of the Modern World. Or, Why it’s Tempting to live as if God doesn’t Exist. Foreword by J. I. Packer. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), 6.
2- Leon Morris. Luke: An Introduction and Commentary. The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Revised Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988), 286.
3- Leon Morris. Luke: An Introduction and Commentary. The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Revised Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988), 285.
4- Luke Timothy Johnson. The Gospel of Luke. Sacra Pagina Series. Volume 3. Ed. by Daniel J. Harrington, S, J. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1991), 266.
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