NOTES for Luk 17:20-25
The Pharisees' question to Jesus about when the Kingdom would come is entirely natural, at least within the logic and understanding of the Kingdom that guided them. They were certain that the Kingdom must appear to the world as a powerful earthly state, existing and establishing itself according to the laws of the untransfigured world.
Of course, its internal laws, by which its inhabitants would live, would differ from those of pagan states: in the Pharisees' view, the Kingdom was to become an ideal state founded on the Torah. There is nothing surprising about this: religious people—and the Pharisees are no exception—have always believed it possible to build an ideal state based on laws given by God. Even utopias that are secular in character have religious roots. Like all religious people, the Pharisees failed to realize that even the Torah cannot make a person sinless. Thus, even on its foundation, one can build an optimal but by no means ideal society, and create the best possible but by no means perfect state.
In His reply, Jesus speaks of a Kingdom that, in His own words, is “not of this world,” and that can be “within” or “among”—the corresponding Greek word allows both meanings—those who open their hearts to the Kingdom entering the world. He also speaks to them of Himself as the One who has brought the Kingdom into the world, so that when His earthly journey ends, every day of His presence in the world will be remembered with joy and with sorrow that it is all over. But He says this to those who have seen the Kingdom He brought into the world only from the outside, without accepting it inwardly.
To His disciples He says: do not give in to any deception or trickery; do not believe those who tell you that the Kingdom can become part of the present, untransfigured order of things, or that it can triumph before My return. When I return, says the Savior, it will be impossible not to notice My return. Then the day of the Kingdom's triumph will come. Until then, all that remains is to believe, wait, and carry the Kingdom into the world, within ourselves and in our midst, fulfilling the central task Jesus set before His faithful ones.