Lk 17:20-25
The kingdom is among you: Luke presents a pronouncement saying about the coming of the kingdom of God, which is followed by a discourse dealing with the Second Coming of Jesus.
Luke uses the pronouncement about the coming of the kingdom of God to reject the notion that the time of the event could be calculated. The reply that Jesus gives to the Pharisees reflects Luke’s perspective and his historical situation at the time he is writing this Gospel.
First, the kingdom of God is not coming in a way that can be observed. This response cancels out any possibility of observable phenomena preceding the coming of the kingdom. In other words, there will be no signs which indicate that the kingdom is coming.
Second, just as there will be no visible signs, there will be no one who can locate the coming of the kingdom in a particular place. It has no boundaries.
Luke shifts the popular notion of the time from an imminent observable coming of the kingdom to an emphasis on the presence of the kingdom in Jesus’ ministry and the presence of the Holy Spirit in his ministry. The kingdom of God is present now. Still, Luke cautions his community against an over-emphasis on its presence now to the exclusion of the Second Coming of Jesus.
There are also those in Luke’s church who thought think it is possible to experience the Second Coming of Jesus in the present in a secret way. Just as the kingdom cannot be located spatially, so the Second Coming of Jesus cannot be spatially restricted. The event will be universal and instantaneous.