The kingdom of God is in you

Luke
At the end of Luke 17, we have another example of 'early scribal emendation' (so called by the Archaeological Study Bible).  If you were reading along and seemed to think a verse number was missing, you weren't crazy!  Luke 17:36 was added to a later version of the manuscript, and is not part of the original book.  Check out Matthew 24:40 - you'll notice that this is the 'missing' Luke 17:36, which a scribe probably copied into Luke because of his familiarity with this particular teaching.

Luke 17:21 says that the kingdom of God is in us.  That sounds almost like eastern mysticism or something, where we have the power deep within us somehow.  Anyway, that's not what the text means.  What is the kingdom of God?  I've talked a little bit about this in earlier posts.  The kingdom of God is wherever his will is being extended and lived out.  God came down to earth as Jesus to bring healing, eternal peace, joy, and righteousness.  If we have accepted his mission, the kingdom of God is now within us!  It has very little to do with what we can do, and has a lot to do with how we partner with God on his mission.