Already, Not Yet, and Suddenly

At some point in his onward journey to Jerusalem, the Pharisees ask Jesus when the kingdom of God will come. It’s a question that seems out of context, given the preceding passages. But it is important to remember that Luke’s placement of this question follows Jesus’s miraculously healing of ten lepers, an event surely to have caused attention and drawn curiosity. Miracles didn’t happen every day, or any day. But everywhere Jesus went, preached, and ministered, there was miracle after miracle, including ten in one day. And this was sure to lead some to wonder if Zephaniah’s prophesied “day of the Lord” (Zeph. 3) was soon to come, when Israel’s Messiah would come and establish his kingdom forever. And so, the Pharisees ask, “When will the kingdom come?”