Luke 17:26-37

2 John 4-9

Psalm 119:1, 2, 10, 11, 17, 18

Luke 17:26-37

Jesus said to his disciples:

“As it was in the days of Noah,

so it will be in the days of the Son of Man;

they were eating and drinking,

marrying and giving in marriage up to the day

that Noah entered the ark,

and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot:

they were eating, drinking, buying,

selling, planting, building;

on the day when Lot left Sodom,

fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all.

So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

On that day, someone who is on the housetop

and whose belongings are in the house

must not go down to get them,

and likewise one in the field

must not return to what was left behind.

Remember the wife of Lot.

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,

but whoever loses it will save it.

I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed;

one will be taken, the other left.

And there will be two women grinding meal together;

one will be taken, the other left.” 

They said to him in reply, “Where, Lord?”

He said to them, “Where the body is,

there also the vultures will gather.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you have sent your Son, the Good Shepherd, to find me and save me from slavery to sin and eternal death. Help me embrace the path of salvation. No matter how difficult it may seem, I need to lose my life and die to myself to save my life and attain eternal life with you.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Days of Noah and Lot: In the Gospel, Jesus is answering a question from the Pharisees about the coming (advent) of the Kingdom of God. The Pharisees wanted to know when the Kingdom of God would come. Jesus answers that the coming of the Kingdom is a mystery and is not something that can be observed. He teaches that the Kingdom is something already mysteriously present but also something that has not yet come in its fullness. Jesus invites his disciples to learn about the coming of the Kingdom from two examples from Genesis. The first example is taken from the story of Noah. The generation of people “in the days of Noah” were absorbed in their everyday lives and were oblivious to their need for repentance. Noah, by contrast, listened to the word of God and saved his family by building and entering the ark. The second example is taken from the story of Lot. Lot and his family left the sinful city of Sodom, but Lot’s wife looked back. She symbolically longed for and returned, so to speak, to the life of sin she left behind. 

2. The Day of the Son of Man: Meditating on the story of Noah encourages Jesus’ disciples to heed the Word of God. Just as Noah lived among an evil generation, so also Jesus’ disciples. Will they be absorbed and “choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life” (Luke 8:14) or will they be attentive to God’s word and seek salvation? Meditating on the story of Lot and his wife encourages Jesus’ disciples to persevere in their decision to heed and follow God’s Word. To lose and leave behind their old life to gain eternal life. Christians, through their washing in the waters of Baptism, have embraced new life and left behind the life of sin – symbolized by life in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Will we look back with longing to our old life of sinful pleasure or continue to look ahead to new life in Christ?

3. Walking in Truth and Love: The Second Letter of John envisions our life as a journey. John speaks about walking in the truth and walking in love. Truth is something that is within us but also something in which we walk. “For John, ‘the truth’ is Jesus Christ himself, the truth about him, and the true way of life he has called us to follow. The author also draws attention to the commandment to love one another and urges his readers to walk in love and keep the commandments. Further, he warns his audience against deceivers who teach in the spirit of the antichrist: they do not acknowledge that Jesus Christ has ‘come in the flesh.’ John calls his readers to reject these deceivers and to remain in the ‘teaching’ of Christ the Son. This enables them to abide in the Father and the Son” (Anderson and Keating, James, First, Second, and Third John, 244).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, walk with me always. Be at my side, pick me up when I fall, encourage me when I want to give up, nourish me with your Body and Blood, give me to drink of your Spirit, and show me where I need to help others on their journey.

Living the Word of God: How is my Christian life journey going? Have I recently started looking back to my former sinful ways of life? Or am I keeping my eyes on the goal ahead and walking with Jesus along the path that leads to glory?