No warning

 This week's verses are Luke 17:26-35:

 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage—right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

Jesus is talking to his people here about the end times. But he is also talking about the present moment.

Jesus warns us about the end times, but we always want to know when it will be. People have whole TV shows and book-writing careers based on trying to answer that question, but it is based in wickedness.

Imagine someone is robbing your house, and you tell them that if they don't stop you will call the police. What would you do if they continued to pile things in their bag while asking what time you expect the police to show up, and if you could remind them right before the police get there? It would be clear that they have no intention to stop robbing you! All they care about is not getting in trouble!

That's how we are when we want to know specifically when things will happen. What we are asking is, "how long can I reasonably go on sinning without consequences, before I have to think about behaving myself?" We are not interested in ending our sin. We are only interested in escaping its consequences once we've gotten all we can.

So when we ask when he is returning, Jesus tells us the same thing we would tell the stubborn burglar: "I'm not telling you how long you have. It's your choice whether to do the right thing or not, regardless of how long it is." There will be no warning of when our end comes, whether it is through natural death or some world-ending event. Life will go on as it normally does.

It's the same way things were before the flood and before Sodom was destroyed by fire and sulfur. It was business as usual...right up until it wasn't. People went to work. They got married and fell in love. They dreamed and planned for the future. Then one day it was over and they faced the consequences for their lives.

In the middle ages, it was popular for rich people to wait until they were on their deathbed to give their lives to Christ so that they would not have to live a Christian lifestyle. The unfortunate problem was that they sometimes died unexpectedly and didn't get a chance to set things right. We look down on them as being foolish and wicked, but in a lot of ways we do the same thing. We want to be Christian, but maybe not too Christian. We want options and some time to play before we have to be serious. But Jesus is telling us we don't have that kind of time.

He says when the time comes, when we are called, we shouldn't turn back momentarily. There's always one more thing to buy or do. But in the moment we have no more time. If we turn to something else, we will miss the call.

To really drive it home, Jesus also uses the example of companionship. We often use those around us as a gauge of where we stand spiritually, or of whether we're doing the right thing. If Jesus calls one of these righteous people we hang around with, surely we can just do what we see them doing, right? But here Jesus is saying one person will be taken and the other left. We can't use them as a frame of reference either.

The point here is that Jesus is basically telling us that eternity is now. The kingdom of God is not some future thing we can sit around waiting for. We're not going to receive some special thirty-day warning to get our lives together. The time is now. We can't look at world events, or our personal circumstances, or even the people around us to know when our time will come. It didn't work for people in Sodom or in Noah's time, and it won't work for us. We have to be ready.

The signs of the end are the signs of daily life. Work, career, marriage, romance, world events, daily chores and entertainment will all cry out for your attention as they always have. When we are called to follow Jesus to the cross, there will always be something to go back for, something important to do, someone to watch to see if they make the first move. But we can't let those things set our path. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus and follow his steps. We have to be ready. There will be no warning when the time is up.