Subj: MATTHEW 24:37-44: SUNDAY'S GOSPEL FOR YOUR REFLECTION
Date: 11/28/98 1:42:43 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: mtuazon@ix.netcom.com (Manuel Tuazon)
Reply-to: early-word@cin.org
To: early-word@cin.org
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
For: Sunday, November 29, 1998
1st Sunday of Advent
From: Matthew 24:37-44
The Time of the Second Coming of Christ and of the Last Judgment
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [37] "As were the days of Noah, so will
be the coming of the Son of Man. [38] For as in those days before the
flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
until the day when Noah entered the ark, [39] and they did not know
until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of
the Son of Man. [40] Then two men will be in the field; one is taken
and one is left. [41] Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is
taken and one is left.
Vigilance. The Faithful Servant
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[42] "Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is
coming. [43] But know this, that if the householder had known in what
part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would
not have let his house be broken into. [44] Therefore you also must be
ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
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Commentary:
37-39. In a few strokes our Lord sketches man's perennial insensitivity
and carelessness towards the things of God. Man thinks it is more
important to eat and drink, to find a husband or wife; but if that is
his attitude he is forgetting about the most important thing in
life--eternal life. Our Lord also foretells that the end of the world
will be like the great flood; the Son of Man's Second Coming will
happen unexpectedly, taking people by surprise, whether they are doing
good or evil.
40. It is in the context of the ordinary affairs of life--farmwork,
housework, etc.--that God calls man, and man responds: that is where
his eternal happiness or eternal punishment is decided. To be saved,
one does not need to meet any special conditions, or to be in a special
position in life: one simply has to be faithful to the Lord in the
middle of ordinary everyday affairs.
42. Jesus Himself draws from this revelation about the future the
practical moral that a Christian needs to be on the watch, living each
day as if it were his last.
The important thing is not to be speculating about when these events
will happen and what form they will take, but to live in such a way
that they find us in the state of grace.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentary
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland. Printed in Hungary.
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