In today’s Gospel account, Jesus continues to answer the Pharisees’ question about “when the kingdom of God would come” (Lk 17:20) but now he is directing his response to his disciples. Jesus reminds them about how during the time of Noah and during the time of Lot many were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, buying, selling, planting, building (cf. Lk 17:26-29). In effect, other than Noah and Lot, and those few listening to them, no one else had any clue about the impending calamity or wanted to know. They were so absorbed in their own pursuits and desires that they did not heed the warnings and calls to repentance from Noah.
Another focal point was on those who were attached to only material and finite things. When the final hour came, people on the rooftop or in the field were directed not to go back and get their possessions. This is kind of like the instructions when we are sitting in the airplane and are told that in the event the plane crashes into the water, we are not to stop to take anything with us, just in an orderly fashion, get out to the plane.
Jesus emphasized this and pointed out succinctly, “Remember the wife of Lot” (Lk 17:32). Lot left Sodom with his wife, she did so physically, though she could not resist looking back, she was too tied to what she was leaving behind, and so she lost herself to her attachments.
Spending time speculating when the end will come is a pointless pursuit. What is more important is being aware of the kingdom of God in our midst, developing a relationship with God now. Matthew shared in his gospel account that Jesus stated only the Father knows the time or the hour as to when the end will come (cf. Mt 24:36). If we are only going to prepare at the final hour, we may be too late because we will be too attached to the things of this world to let go.
Asking, “When will the kingdom of God come?” also misses the point of what Jesus is teaching. There is an intrinsic value in developing a relationship with God and one another, now. Growing and maturing as a disciple, now. Jesus shared in the first words of his public ministry, that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (cf. Mk 1:15). All we need to do is reach right out and grasp his extended hand of invitation and walk with him, now.
For many of the Pharisees, this meant letting go of their own power and prestige and choosing instead to participate in the living reality of God in their midst. So many of us are caught up in our day to day affairs of existing that we are barely living. We can also be distracted by false lures and attractions of security and gratification, wealth, power, pleasure, and honor, that we miss the love and wonder that Jesus wants to share with us. Jesus is inviting us to wake up, to breathe deep, to slow down, to trust him and receive his unconditional love, so that we can become aware that he walks among us. Jesus calls us, as Lot called his wife, to keep our focus on God and the things of heaven.
Lord Jesus, help us to recognize when we have taken our eyes of of you, help us to identify: the distractions and diversions, when we are choosing to put our self first, where we are in need of healing from anxiety, fear, chronic stress, and business, and where we are attached and bound up by apparent goods, empty, and false pursuits. Guide us, such that we, in the words of Pope Francis, “understand what faith means when we open ourselves to the immense love of God that changes us inwardly and enables us to see our lives with new eyes” (Costello 2013, 12). Eyes that see the kingdom of God in our midst and the promise of our eternal home.
Photo: Just as the sanctuary lamp is a reminder that Jesus is present in the consecrated host in the tabernacle, so the invitation to slow down and enter into silence is a reminder Jesus is at hand.
Costello, Gwen. Walking With Pope Francis: Thirty Days with the Encyclical The Light of Faith. New London, CT: Twenty Third Publications, 2013.
