And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them,
Wherever the body is, there will the vultures be gathered together.
Read Chapter 17
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
“Answering, they said, ‘Where, Lord?’ ” The disciples asked this. The Lord predicted where they must flee, when they must stay, and of what they should be wary. He summarized everything in a general definition, saying, “Wherever the body will be, the eagles will be gathered together there.” Let us first speculate what the eagles are, so we may determine what the body is. The souls of the righteous are compared with eagles, because they seek the heights, leave the depths behind, and reportedly reach a great age. David also says to his soul, “Your youth will be renewed like that of an eagle.” If we understood the eagles, we cannot doubt concerning the body, particularly if we remember that Joseph received the body of Christ from Pilate. Does it not seem to you that the eagles around the body are Mary of Cleopas, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of the Lord, and the assembly of the apostles around the Lord’s tomb? Exposition of the Gospel of Luke–.
He says concerning this body, “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” Around this body, eagles fly on spiritual wings. Around the body, eagles believe that Jesus has come in the flesh, because every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Where faith is, there is the sacrament and the dwelling place of holiness. The body is also the church, in which we are renewed in the spirit through the grace of baptism, and the frailties of old age are restored for ages of new life.
To the question of his disciples in the preceding verse, our blessed Saviour only returns this enigmatical answer, which seems to mean, that where-ever there are guilty Jews, there shall their enemies pursue them and find them out, not only in Jerusalem, but in all the cities of Judea, Galilee every where the vengeance of the Lord shall follow them, and overtake them. For the interpretation of other parts of this chapter, see St. Matthew chap. xxiv. (Calmet)
If we observe some discrepancies between the precise words of our Lord, as given by St. Matthew and St. Luke, as in St. Matthew chap. xxiv. ver. 40, and in Luke xvii. 34, and alibi passim , we can reconcile those apparent variations, by supposing that our Lord, in the course of his conversation, made use of both expressions. (Haydock)
