Luke
17:26 - 37
26 "The time of the Son of Man will be just like the time of Noah-- 27 everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ship. They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away. 28" It was the same in the time of Lot-- the people carrying on, having a good time, business as usual 29 right up to the day Lot walked out of Sodom and a firestorm swept down and burned everything to a crisp. 30 That's how it will be-- sudden, total-- when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 "When the Day arrives and you're out working in the yard, don't run into the house to get anything. And if you're out in the field, don't go back and get your coat. 32 Remember what happened to Lot's wife! 33 If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you'll lose it, but if you let that life go, you'll get life on God's terms.
34" On that Day, two men will be in the same boat fishing-- one taken, the other left. 35 Two women will be working in the same kitchen-- one taken, the other left. " 37 Trying to take all this in, the disciples said," Master, where? " He told them," Watch for the circling of the vultures. They'll spot the corpse first. The action will begin around my dead body. "
Food for thought
Our reading speak of the Second Coming of Jesus. Out of this difficult passage we can pick only a few things which are certain--and in truth they are enough.
First of all, the coming of Christ is certain, but its time is quite unknown. Speculation is vain. People will come with false prophecies and false predictions; but we must not leave our ordinary work to follow them. The best way that Christ can find us is when we are faithfully and humbly and watchfully doing our duty. The best way to prepare for the Lord is to carry our ordinary duties extraordinarily well. Just be and do your best in everything.
Another lesson to note is that when that day comes the judgments of God will operate on a personal level, and of two people, who all their lives lived side by side, one will be taken and the other left. There is a warning here. Intimacy with a good person does not necessarily guarantee our own salvation. Goodness and holiness is intransmissible because it is personal; we can neither borrow nor lend goodness! Living with a righteous or holy person is no guarantee for salvation. As St. Paul says in Phill. 2:12,
"Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self- distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ)."
The judgment of God is an individual judgment. (2Co 5:10), "For we must all appear and be revealed as we are before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive [his pay] according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil [considering what his purpose and motive have been, and what he has achieved, been busy with, and given himself and his attention to accomplishing]."
26 "The time of the Son of Man will be just like the time of Noah-- 27 everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ship. They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away. 28" It was the same in the time of Lot-- the people carrying on, having a good time, business as usual 29 right up to the day Lot walked out of Sodom and a firestorm swept down and burned everything to a crisp. 30 That's how it will be-- sudden, total-- when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 "When the Day arrives and you're out working in the yard, don't run into the house to get anything. And if you're out in the field, don't go back and get your coat. 32 Remember what happened to Lot's wife! 33 If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you'll lose it, but if you let that life go, you'll get life on God's terms.
34" On that Day, two men will be in the same boat fishing-- one taken, the other left. 35 Two women will be working in the same kitchen-- one taken, the other left. " 37 Trying to take all this in, the disciples said," Master, where? " He told them," Watch for the circling of the vultures. They'll spot the corpse first. The action will begin around my dead body. "
Food for thought
Our reading speak of the Second Coming of Jesus. Out of this difficult passage we can pick only a few things which are certain--and in truth they are enough.
First of all, the coming of Christ is certain, but its time is quite unknown. Speculation is vain. People will come with false prophecies and false predictions; but we must not leave our ordinary work to follow them. The best way that Christ can find us is when we are faithfully and humbly and watchfully doing our duty. The best way to prepare for the Lord is to carry our ordinary duties extraordinarily well. Just be and do your best in everything.
Another lesson to note is that when that day comes the judgments of God will operate on a personal level, and of two people, who all their lives lived side by side, one will be taken and the other left. There is a warning here. Intimacy with a good person does not necessarily guarantee our own salvation. Goodness and holiness is intransmissible because it is personal; we can neither borrow nor lend goodness! Living with a righteous or holy person is no guarantee for salvation. As St. Paul says in Phill. 2:12,
"Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self- distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ)."
The judgment of God is an individual judgment. (2Co 5:10), "For we must all appear and be revealed as we are before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive [his pay] according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil [considering what his purpose and motive have been, and what he has achieved, been busy with, and given himself and his attention to accomplishing]."
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