NOTES for Luk 17:20-37

Today the Lord speaks to us about readiness—readiness to meet Him face to Face. On the day when He appears, the world will be occupied with its ordinary affairs. Yet we too have ordinary things that we must do each day—we need to eat and drink, buy and build. How, then, are we to be ready for the final meeting? Here the Lord recalls the rescue of Lot from Sodom (Gen 19)—he too lived in that sinful city, ate and drank, bought and sold. Nevertheless, he was different from the other townspeople. Lot lived there as a sojourner, by his own laws rather than by the customs of the Sodomites. This is what the Savior means when He says, “The Kingdom of God is within you”: although we do not see His face, we live by the laws of His Kingdom already now, in this life. These are the laws of faithfulness to God (so as not to become like Lot's wife, who turned into a pillar of salt), service and self-giving (so as to renounce one's own life and thereby bring it to life), and love for those around us (for Lot was saved because of his hospitality).