"Do not run in pursuit"

In today’s Gospel (Luke 17:20-25), our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ says important things about the end of the world, about His Kingdom, and about the conduct of our lives.

We all have heard of people who speculate or make definitive-sounding statements about the imminent return of Christ. Sometimes these people attract followers and create their own cult: with tragic results to those who did not heed our Lord’s warnings in today’s Gospel:

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.

But this warning is not only for those looking for the second coming of Christ (which all Christians are), but also for those who are looking here, there, and everywhere for the person, place, or thing they think will give them perfect happiness or be the Answer to their lives.

For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.

The Answer is Christ. Perfect happiness comes only in and through Christ.

And we as Christians, as members of His Church, have Christ among us, by the gift of His grace.

But, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we do not always recognize His presence fully.

We need to pray for a greater outpouring of His grace in our lives, for by His grace we can fully recognize – intellectually, emotionally, spiritually – the presence of Christ.

Perhaps this grace will come after a long journey, perhaps it will come quickly, but when it comes, when we fully recognize the presence of Christ, it will be illuminating beyond imagining.

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.