Businessman stranding next to a trap

Entrapment -Trinkets or Jewels? Friday, 32nd week in ordinary time – Luke 17:26-37

The text of Luke 17:20- 18:8 calls the disciples to fidelity while waiting for the coming of the son of man. However, this larger pericope takes several twists and turns as Luke, from several eschatological materials available to him (matters dealing with the ed times), creates a series of exhortations for the disciples who are walking to Jerusalem with Jesus. In short, this large pericope is a series of teachings grouped together to form a set of instructions under one heading; the end times.

So far, Jesus has told his disciples that the kingdom of God has already been ushered yet there are those who distract themselves and distract others seeking visible signs of a divine reality. Verse 26 changes the focus from the suddenness of Jesus’ coming to the need for the disciples to be prepared (JBC). To this end Jesus offers two examples; Noah and Lot.

It is common for people to see those references and quickly think they were unusually evil. There is no question about the utter evil of both the days of Noah and the days of Lot to which Jesus refers, but Jesus does not mention any of those things. Instead, He points out the common events of everyday life. People were living with little to no thought about the consequences of the evil among them, and that was despite whatever Noah or Lot said.

That is what makes this passage so disturbing. While these two examples were times of extreme wickedness, it is not the sin to which Jesus points, but the indifference to God in just living out their lives doing the common things of life as they desired. It is at that point that judgment came upon them suddenly. Though they had plenty of warning, they were completely unprepared.

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