NOTES for Luk 17:20-37

The Kingdom of God is said to be within us, or, in another translation, among us. In any case, we must acknowledge that it begins close to us, in our hearts, and is reflected in our relationships with those around us and in our deeds. People are accustomed to waiting for its coming as some external force that will change the world for the better and establish order, arranging everything wonderfully for everyone regardless of our efforts, which are assumed in advance to be pointless. But it is no accident that the Lord calls us to follow Him and to be His fellow workers: we are not called to passivity.

Looking at the vast number of false messiahs who pass themselves off as Christ, one cannot help wondering whether the prophecies about the nearness of the end of the world are coming true. By focusing on some signs and ignoring others, we really can fall into a trap. But here is one of the circumstances mentioned by Christ: at the moment of the Second Coming, ordinary daily life will still be going on. This means that we should not listen to those would-be preachers who urge us to abandon everything and wait for the end of the world. No, normal life must continue.

It is difficult to understand the words about those who save their soul losing it if we are guided by human considerations. But this is about being saved not from what we are trying to save it from, but from what the Lord saves us from. By failing to understand what true salvation consists in, we destroy ourselves.