There The Vultures Will Gather (Luke 17:37)

 


Saturday, March 29, 2025


Psalm 69:1-16

Genesis 50:7-26

Luke 17:20-37


Observance: John Keble, priest (d. 1866)


There The Vultures Will Gather (Luke 17:37)


I love this saying of Jesus. It makes absolutely no sense. The passage we have just read makes perfect sense – the kingdom of God is revealed in Jesus, not by reading tea leaves or the latest news from the Middle East. And since the kingdom of God is revealed in Jesus, we should be focusing on him, because the day of his return will be like the Great Flood or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.


But this line about the corpse and the vultures seems out of place – what does that have to do with anything that has come before? Perhaps we could do a little bit of Bible study and look if this saying appears anywhere else. And what do you know – it does. Job 39:26-30 is almost exactly what Jesus says in Luke 17:37, if we account for the difference between the ancient Greek of Luke and the ancient Hebrew of Job.


It comes as the dramatic climax at the end of the book of Job. Job is, as we hopefully all know, suffering having lost almost his entire family, all his wealth, and even his physical health. He has three terrible friends who blame his misfortune on his own sin, to which Job (rightly) defends himself. All the while, Job has been calling on God to appear and explain himself. Now, God has appeared, and God does explain himself: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird your loins like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” (Job 28:2-3) Basically, God asks Job (quite sarcastically) where he was when God made the world and everything in it. Effectively, God is reminding Job that God knows everything, and we humans know very little; therefore, just trust in God, because he will work everything out in the end. As part of God’s message to Job, he talks about the birds who nest in the rocks, and gather around corpses on which to feed.


Was this, perhaps, the message to which Jesus was referring when he spoke about corpses and vultures? We find ourselves so desperate to be able to point to something and say “therefore we are in the end times!” And yet the consistent (and persistent) message of scripture is that we need not worry about that at all; focus instead on the Lord, who has revealed himself as Jesus of Nazareth. Why worry about the future, or what we will eat, or what we will wear; we are worth more than many sparrows. Seek first the kingdom of God, then everything else will be given to us. Otherwise we might find ourselves guilty of uttering what we do not understand, things too wonderful for us, which we do not know. (Job 42:3)


What are you worried about? Where is Jesus in that worry?


Lord, we know you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Give us eyes to see your kingdom among us, in the real presence of Jesus Christ through his Holy Spirit.

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