(Audio)
Jesus began to speak of the revelation of the Son of Man that would occur only after he was "rejected by this generation" (see Luke 17:25). On one level this did was probably in reference to his coming again in glory. But on another it probably pertained specifically to events which that generation would witness when the judgment upon Jerusalem that culminated in the destruction of the temple. In that generation there would be found some like in the generation of Noah, righteous, who was willing to enter the ark to find protection from the coming flood. However, many in the generation of Noah were too preoccupied with business as usual to avail themselves of the opportunity of rescue.
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage up to the day
that Noah entered the ark,
and the flood came and destroyed them all.
This was the danger for those in Jerusalem in about 70 AD. Those Christians who were attuned to the Holy Spirit and awaiting the coming of Jesus were able to flee to the mountains and escape without harm. They were able to leave almost everything behind them in order to remain under the divine protection of God, just as Lot did when he left Sodom.
Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot:
they were eating, drinking, buying,
selling, planting, building;
on the day when Lot left Sodom,
fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all.
The danger is still a reality for us. We easily get caught up and preoccupied with eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. We tend to be too attached to our belongings to head straight from the housetop to the hills. We tend to be too attached to our projects, hobbies, and work, to simply leave the grinding stone and go. Our worldly attachments, even ones that seem harmless, can put us in danger if we give them higher priority than the Son of Man. Even hesitation is a risk we ought not take. We should pray for the freedom of heart to hear Jesus when he calls us and to follow where he leads.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses it will save it.
If we try to save our own life we will be swept away with the flood, consumed by fire and brimstone. But if we are willing to let go of our own control, our possessions, our work, everything that seems to define in us life, and avail ourselves of the rescue mission on which Jesus came he will do whatever it takes to save us.
In his letter to the Lady John gives us two suggestions in particular that can help us have the attitude of heart that will ensure that we do choose the rescue Jesus offers.
But now, Lady, I ask you,
not as though I were writing a new commandment
but the one we have had from the beginning:
let us love one another.
Walking in love means that Jesus is first in our lives, and our neighbor in a non-competitive second place. It means we are willing to forget about ourselves for the sake of love. The detachment we need to leave the the world is not only negative, but is primarily motivated by this love for what is greater and more lasting.
Anyone who is so “progressive”
as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God;
whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son.
We must remain grounded in the teaching of the Christ. This will guard us against our frequent tendency to try to justify things which are less than loving. It will help us keep our orientation toward heaven and not toward this life alone, but with a proper concern even for material things, since Christ himself took on material flesh. In Christ we see a properly ordered life in obedience to the Father revealed. If we remain in him he himself will be the ark that saves us, and the flood will do nothing more than renew the world around us.
Open my eyes, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
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