As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man; 27 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. 28 Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; 29 on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. 30 So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, a person who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise a person in the field must not return to what was left behind. 32 Remember the wife of Lot. 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. 34 I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. 35 And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left.” 36 37 They said to him in reply, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.”
Jesus gives two scenes from Genesis to explain how his public revelation will come. In Noah’s day, people went on with ordinary life—eating, drinking, marrying—right up to the moment Noah entered the ark; then the flood swept all away (vv. 26-27; cf. Gen. 6-7). In Lot’s day, people were buying, selling, planting, and building; when Lot left, fire and brimstone fell on Sodom (vv. 28-29; cf. Gen. 19). Ordinary routines are not condemned; they show how sudden and decisive God’s action can be.
“So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed” (v. 30). “Revealed” means made openly manifest. The title “Son of Man” echoes Dan. 7, where one like a son of man receives authority from God. Jesus uses that title for himself: the same one who suffers and is rejected will one day be made manifest to all.
Because that day will be decisive, Jesus speaks of urgency. A person on the flat rooftop must not go down to gather belongings, and someone in the field must not run back for what was left behind (v. 31). The images are about detachment. When God acts, clinging to things is out of place. The mention of Lot’s wife makes the point sharper. She “looked back” and became a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26). Looking back is not a glance of curiosity; it is a heart pulled toward what God is leaving behind (v. 32).
“Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it” (v. 33). Here “life” means more than physical survival. It includes the drive to protect ourselves and stay in control above everything else. To “lose” one’s life is to surrender that claim to Jesus and to God’s will. In Luke’s Gospel, this saying echoes the call to take up the cross: life is saved by trustful surrender, not by grasping (cf. Lk. 9:23-24).
Jesus then describes a separation that will cut through ordinary settings. Two share a bed; one is taken, the other left. Two grind grain together; one is taken, the other left (vv. 34-35). The emphasis falls on the sudden division that God’s judgment brings into the most ordinary places. Luke does not pause to explain whether “taken” means taken into safety or taken in judgment. The point is that the final sorting belongs to God and will be decisive.
When the disciples ask, “Where, Lord?” Jesus answers with a proverb: “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather” (v. 37). Vultures circling in the sky show the location of a corpse. In other words, the event will not need a map. Its reality will be as evident as vultures signaling what has happened. The revelation will not be hidden; it will be plain.
The thread through the whole passage is clarity and urgency. In Noah and Lot, ordinary life went on until the moment of divine action; then the difference between trusting God and clinging to the old became stark. Jesus applies that pattern to his own revelation as the Son of Man. The reign of God is already at work in him, but a day is coming when that reign will be revealed beyond dispute. On that day, attachment to possessions or to past ways will be exposed for what it is, and those who entrusted themselves to God will be shown to have chosen life.
Lord Jesus, steady our hearts. Free us from clinging to what cannot save, and teach us to live ready for you, trusting your mercy and your timing. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011).
- Bernard Orchard et al., A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (1953).
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: Luke (Four Courts/Scepter).
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018).
- Raymond E. Brown et al., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990).
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