Church Fathers Commentary Luke 17:22-25

"And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, Lo, there! Lo, here! go not away, nor follow after [them]: for as the lightning, when it lighteneth out of the one part under the heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation." — Luke 17:22-25 (ASV)

St. Cyril of Alexandria: When our Lord said, The kingdom of God is within you, He wanted to prepare His disciples for suffering so that, being made strong, they might be able to enter the kingdom of God. He therefore tells them in advance that before His coming from heaven at the end of the world, persecution will break out upon them. Hence it follows, And he said to the disciples, The days will come..., meaning that the persecution will be so terrible that they would desire to see just one of His days—that is, of the time when they still walked with Christ. The Jews often beset Christ with reproaches and insults, sought to stone Him, and often would have hurled Him down from the mountain; but even these things seem slight in comparison to the greater evils that are to come.

Theophylact of Ohrid: For their life was then without trouble, because Christ took care of them and protected them. But the time was coming when Christ would be taken away and they would be exposed to perils, being brought before kings and princes. Then they would long for that former time and its tranquility.

The Venerable Bede: Or, by "the day of Christ" He signifies His kingdom, which we hope will come, and He aptly says, "one day," because no darkness will disturb the glory of that blessed time. It is right, then, to long for the day of Christ, yet in the earnestness of our longing, let us not imagine that the day is near. Hence it follows, And they shall say to you, Lo here! or, Lo there!

Eusebius of Caesarea: It is as if He said, "If, at the coming of Antichrist, his fame is spread abroad as though Christ has appeared, do not go out or follow him." For it cannot be that He who was once seen on earth will ever again dwell in the corners of the earth. It will therefore be the one of whom we speak, not the true Christ. For this is the clear sign of our Savior's second coming: the splendor of His arrival will suddenly fill the whole world. And so it follows, For as the lightning that lightens... For He will not appear walking on the earth like any common man, but will illuminate our whole universe, manifesting to all people the radiance of His divinity.

The Venerable Bede: He rightly says, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, because the judgment will be given under heaven—that is, in the middle of the air—as the Apostle says, We shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. But if the Lord appears at the Judgment like lightning, then no one will remain hidden in the depths of his heart, for the very brightness of the Judge pierces through him.

We may also take this answer from our Lord to refer to His coming by which He comes daily into His Church. For often have heretics so vexed the Church by saying that the faith of Christ rests on their own dogma, that the faithful in those times longed for the Lord, if it were possible, to return to the earth even for one day and Himself reveal what the true faith was.

And He says, you shall not see it, because it is not necessary for the Lord to testify again by a bodily presence to what has been spiritually declared by the light of the Gospel, which was once scattered and spread throughout the whole world.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: Now His disciples supposed that He would go to Jerusalem and immediately manifest the kingdom of God. To rid them of this belief, therefore, He informs them that it was necessary for Him first to suffer the life-giving Passion, then to ascend to the Father and shine forth from above, so that He might judge the world in righteousness. Hence He adds, But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

The Venerable Bede: He means the generation not only of the Jews but also of all wicked people, by whom even now in His own body—that is, His Church—the Son of Man suffers many things and is rejected. But while He spoke many things about His coming in glory, He also inserted something concerning His Passion. He did this so that when people saw Him dying—the one they had heard would be glorified—they might both soothe their sorrow for His sufferings with the hope of the promised glory and, at the same time, prepare themselves, if they love the glories of His kingdom, to face the horrors of death without alarm.