Luke 17:20-37

Luke 17:20-37 (The Message)
When the Son of Man Arrives
20-21Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, "The kingdom of God doesn‘t come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, ‘Look here!’ or, ‘There it is!’ And why? Because God‘s kingdom is already among you." 22-24He went on to say to his disciples, "The days are coming when you are going to be desperately homesick for just a glimpse of one of the days of the Son of Man, and you won‘t see a thing. And they‘ll say to you, ‘Look over there!’ or, ‘Look here!’ Don‘t fall for any of that nonsense. The arrival of the Son of Man is not something you go out to see. He simply comes. 24-25"You know how the whole sky lights up from a single flash of lightning? That‘s how it will be on the Day of the Son of Man. But first it‘s necessary that he suffer many things and be turned down by the people of today. 26-27"The time of the Son of Man will be just like the time of Noah— everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ship. They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away. 28-30"It was the same in the time of Lot—the people carrying on, having a good time, business as usual right up to the day Lot walked out of Sodom and a firestorm swept down and burned everything to a crisp. That‘s how it will be—sudden, total—when the Son of Man is revealed. 31-33"When the Day arrives and you‘re out working in the yard, don‘t run into the house to get anything. And if you‘re out in the field, don‘t go back and get your coat. Remember what happened to Lot‘s wife! If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you‘ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you‘ll get life on God‘s terms. 34-35"On that Day, two men will be in the same boat fishing—one taken, the other left. Two women will be working in the same kitchen—one taken, the other left." 37Trying to take all this in, the disciples said, "Master, where?" He told them, "Watch for the circling of the vultures. They‘ll spot the corpse first. The action will begin around my dead body."Devotion: You may be asking yourself, what is Jesus talking about? Noah, Lot, lightning…
We know that Jesus died and came back to life (Luke 24:4-8). When He came back to life, He visited the disciples (Luke 24:36-43, talked to various people (Luke 24:13-35), and then went back up to Heaven to be with God the Father (Luke 24:45-51). In this section, Jesus is talking about how He will come back to earth again.
He mentioned two Old Testament stories, Noah and Lot. You can check those out in Genesis chapters 6-8 and Genesis 19:1-29, respectively. Jesus was referring to these stories because in both situations people didn‘t pay attention to what was going to happen. Very few people paid attention to God‘s warnings in these stories. Noah warned people that a flood was coming, but they disregarded his message and went about their lives. Lot warned his family that the city was going to be destroyed, but they laughed it off as a joke.
He‘s letting us know that we should take His teaching and His warnings very seriously. He will come again, and we can‘t be going about business as usual. We need to be expectant, paying attention to God every day. We can‘t grasp and cling to the things of the world, because they are only temporary. But if we let go of the temporary things, we will get life on God‘s terms.
Prayer: Jesus, help me to let go of the things in this world. Help me not to rely on them, but to rely on You. Thank you that You are coming back to earth. Help me to be expectant and continue to live my life on earth to serve You. Amen.