Luke 17:20,21

μετὰ παρατηρήσεως : there is considerable diversity of opinion in the interpretation of this important expression. The prevailing view is that Jesus meant thereby to deny a coming that could be observed with the eye (“not with observation”). The older interpretation “not with pomp” (μετὰ περιφανείας ἀνθρωπίνης is the gloss of Euthy. Zig.) is closely related to this view, because such pomp alone would make the kingdom visible to the vulgar eye. J. Weiss (Meyer) contends that it is not visibility but predictability that is negated. Παρατήρησις, he remarks, “is used of the observation of the heavenly bodies, from whose movements one can calculate when an expected phenomenon will appear. In a similar way the apocalyptists sought to determine by signs the moment when the kingdom should be set up. That was what the Pharisees expected of Jesus with their πότε ἔρχεται. And it is just this that Jesus declines. The Kingdom of God comes not so that one can fix its appearing by observation beforehand.” The assumption is that when it does come the kingdom will be visible. It does not seem possible by mere verbal interpretation to decide between the two views. Each interpreter will be influenced by his idea of the general drift of Christ's teaching concerning the nature of the kingdom. My own sympathies are with those who find in Christ's words a denial of vulgar or physical visibility.