“Jesus said to his disciples; “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man…”  (Luke 17:26)

As we approach the end of the liturgical year we begin to reflect upon the eschatological scriptures that point us to the second coming of Jesus and the final day of judgment.  These eschatological writings bring to mind the “last things”: death, judgment, heaven and hell.  Often when we consider the “Day of the Lord” or the “Day of Judgment” we cast this “Day” far into the future and keep it far away from our present reality.  We comfort ourselves with the thought that we have plenty of time to prepare ourselves for our encounter with Christ the Judge.  When Jesus speaks to us about the “days of the Son of Man” we frame this discourse in the frame of a far distant future that we may not be around to witness.  In this way we listen to these teachings of Jesus as if they were science fiction stories whose theme may have an interest for us but which should not be taken too literally.  If this is the case then I think we need to adjust our frame of reference and listen to these teachings of Jesus within a new frame.

Every day of our lives is a “Day of Judgment”.  We are living now in the “days of the Son of Man” and these are days of encounter and decision.  The final assertion of Jesus to his disciples on the mountain of ascension was: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt 28,20)  Jesus is always present to us, to walk with us, to guide us and shepherd us, to protect us and to lead us into the kingdom of heaven.  Many people in the world live their lives totally unaware of the presence of Jesus.  “As it was in the days of Noah” and “as it was in the days of Lot” people go about their daily lives “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” (Lk 17,27), “buying, selling, planting, building” (Lk 17,28) totally oblivious to what and where their daily actions and decisions are leading them.  They don’t have the time or interest to acknowledge and bring awareness to the presence of God who has “made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1,14) in the Word made flesh of Jesus.

The presence of Jesus “with us always” makes this time that we live in a very special time.  It is a time of kairos and krisis.  The “kairos” is a time of opportunity, a time for decision, a time for change and conversion.  This time of kairos is marked by crisis, the tension of meaningful decision making in our lives and the call and transition to a new way of life.  Each day of our life is an opportunity to encounter Jesus who is always inviting us to “come, follow me,” (Mt 19,21) which places us in crisis as we must make a decision for or against discipleship.  We must decide to leave everything behind and follow the call of Jesus to new life or to turn back and return to our former way of living in the world.  The disciple cannot look back or return to former ways of life for, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Lk 9,62)

In this context of the demands of discipleship we can understand the admonition of Jesus when he speaks about the “day of the Son of Man” when, “On that day, someone who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise one in the field must not return to what was left behind.” (Lk 17,31)  Every day of our life we must make the decision to follow Jesus and to leave our former way of life behind.  We cannot return to former ways and we cannot hold on to material things.  Today is the day of judgment when we renew our decision to live for Jesus and to choose his kingdom over the enticements of the world.  Jesus told his disciples more than once about the conditions of discipleship, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 10,39) and again later, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mt. 16,25)  So again on the “day of the Son of Man” Jesus admonishes his disciples, “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.” (Lk 17,33)

Today is our Day of Judgment when we must once again make the decision to follow Jesus and to leave behind our former way of life in the world.  Each day we must make this decision.  There can be no going back. We must choose to live consciously aware that Jesus is with us always and that he is our greatest treasure.  We cannot live like those in the world who are unaware and will be caught sleeping and left behind.  We want to “be taken” with Jesus every day of our lives and never leave his side.  One day we will stand before the Lord for the final judgement but we will have already written our verdict by the daily decisions that we have made for or against God’s will, for or against the light of Christ, “Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.” (Jn 3,18f)  If you have chosen life in Jesus Christ and have committed yourself to his Way, don’t look back, whatever you have left behind, leave it behind and keep your heart set on the things that are ahead where the glory is yet to be revealed.  That’s the one thing that you truly do not want to miss!