Go to Related Reading
About this book

Luke

About this book
Chapter 17

1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 So the Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 7 “Would any one of you say to your slave who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’? 8 Won’t the master instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready to serve me while I eat and drink. Then you may eat and drink’? 9 He won’t thank the slave because he did what he was told, will he? 10 So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’”⁠ 11 Now on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was entering a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance, 13 raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went along, they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He fell with his face to the ground at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. (Now he was a Samaritan.) 17 Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to the man, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well.” 20 Now at one point the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming, so he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’⁠ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”⁠ 22 Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.⁠ 23 Then people will say to you, ‘Look, there he is!’ or ‘Look, here he is!’ Do not go out or chase after them. 24 For just like the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage—right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; 29 but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife!⁠ 33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.⁠ 35 There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” 36 Then the disciples said to him, “Where, Lord?” He replied to them, “Where the dead body is, there the vultures will gather.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Luke 17:21 and Gospel of Thomas 113

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

Share:

Summary

In Luke, Jesus answers a question about when the kingdom will come by saying it cannot be located here or there. In the Gospel of Thomas, it is already spread across the earth, so the problem is that people fail to see what is present.

Passages

Luke 17:21

New Testament
19 Then he said to the man, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well.” 20 Now at one point the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming, so he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” 22 Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
75–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Luke

Gospel of Thomas 113

Nag Hammadi
112 Jesus said, “Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul; woe to the soul that depends on the flesh.” 113 His disciples said to him, “When will the kingdom come?” “It will not come by watching for it. They will not say, ‘Look, here,’ or ‘Look, there.’ Rather, the kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.” 114 Simon Peter said to them, “Let Mary leave us, for females are not worthy of life.” Jesus said, “Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

References

“... There follows in the Lucan travel account an answer which Jesus gives to some Pharisees who ask him about the coming of the kingdom of God (17:20-21). The setting for the Pharisees’ question is left unspecified, and Jesus’ answer is an isolated saying which might have been uttered by him at any time during his ministry. R. Bultmann (HST 25) has ascribed the utterance to a Palestinian origin and recognized it as “a genuine dominical saying.” The saying is found only here in the canonical Gospels, but forms of it are to be found in the Gospel of Thomas. The first part is paralleled in § 113: “His disciple said to him, ‘On what day will the kingdom come?’ ⟨Jesus said.⟩ ‘It comes not with expectation (of it). They will not say, “Look, here (it is)!” or “Look, there (it is)!” Rather, the kingdom of the Father is spread out over the earth, and human beings see it not!’ ” The latter part of it finds a parallel in both the Coptic and Greek forms of the Gospel of Thomas. [...] None of these noncanonical forms, however, preserves a more primitive formulation of the canonical saying; but § 3 may be in part influenced by Deut 30:11-14. The only thing to be noted is that the first part of the saying in § 113 is addressed to disciples, whereas the Pharisees ask the question in Luke 17:20a; cf. 17:22. ...”
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke X–XXIV (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985), 1157.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Luke 17:21 and Gospel of Thomas 113

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library