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The coming of the Son of Man to be revealed


Gospel
Luke 17:26-37
When the day comes for the Son of Man to be revealed

Jesus said to the disciples:
    ‘As it was in Noah’s day, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating and drinking, marrying wives and husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in Lot’s day: people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but the day Lot left Sodom, God rained fire and brimstone from heaven and it destroyed them all. It will be the same when the day comes for the Son of Man to be revealed.
    ‘When that day comes, anyone on the housetop, with his possessions in the house, must not come down to collect them, nor must anyone in the fields turn back either. Remember Lot’s wife. Anyone who tries to preserve his life will lose it; and anyone who loses it will keep it safe. I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed: one will be taken, the other left; two women will be grinding corn together: one will be taken, the other left.’ The disciples interrupted. ‘Where, Lord?’ they asked. He said, ‘Where the body is, there too will the vultures gather.’

Short Reflection

This passage is a stark and urgent warning about the sudden and decisive nature of God's judgment. Jesus uses two well-known stories from the Old Testament—Noah and the Flood, and Lot and the destruction of Sodom—to illustrate a single point: life often looks perfectly normal right up until the moment everything changes. People were absorbed in the ordinary, good things of life—eating, drinking, marrying, working—but they were oblivious to the coming crisis.

The call of Jesus is not to a life of fearful paralysis, but to a state of spiritual readiness and detachment. The warnings—"do not turn back," "remember Lot's wife"—are powerful images against clinging to our old lives and possessions when God is acting in a new way. The paradox, "anyone who tries to preserve his life will lose it; and anyone who loses it will keep it safe," is the heart of the message. True security is found not in frantic self-preservation, but in trusting obedience to Christ, even when it means leaving everything familiar behind. The final, mysterious image of the vultures reminds us that judgment is inevitable and follows a spiritual reality as surely as scavengers are drawn to a carcass.

Question for Reflection

What in my life—a possession, a routine, a relationship, a mindset—might I be tempted to "turn back" for, causing me to miss what God is doing now? Where is Christ calling me to let go in order to truly receive and preserve my life in Him?

Short Prayer

Lord Jesus, you call us to be watchful and ready for your coming. Free our hearts from attachment to the temporary things of this world, that we may not be found clinging to a life we are meant to leave behind. Give us the courage to lose our lives for your sake, trusting in your promise that in doing so, we will truly find them. Amen.

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