ACC ~ Matthew 24 v40 - 41

IN THE FIELD, AT THE MILL

CHRYSOSTOM: All these things are demonstrations that he knew what was to come. It would be like the days of Noah: “Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left,” so unexpected will it be. It is without thought that they will be taken. “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left.” This is not the employment of those who are contemplating such a calamity.

From both employees and employers some will be taken and some will be left. Among those who are at ease and those who labor, some will be taken, some left. Rank or station will not matter, as it says in the Old Testament: “From him that sits upon the throne to the captive woman who is at the mill.” [1] Even though he had said earlier that it is hard for a rich man to be saved, here he shows that not even the rich are altogether lost, neither are all the poor saved, but out of both groups people are saved and lost.

And to me he seems to indicate that the advent will come at night, like a thief, as Luke also indicates. It is amazing how fully he knows all things. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 77.2. [2]

[1] Ex 11:5 (variation on LXX).

[2] PG 58:704; NPNF 1 10:464.

A JUDGMENT COMING

HILARY OF POITIERS: Christ shows that a judgment is coming, since between two people in a field, one is taken up and one left behind. Between two grinding at the mill, one is chosen and one rejected. Between two lying in bed, one departs and one remains. This teaching means that the separation of the faithful from the unfaithful will consist in one being accepted and the other abandoned. For, like the prophet says, when the wrath of God rises, the saints will be hidden in God’s chambers but the faithless will be left exposed to celestial fire. The two in the field therefore represent the faithful and the unfaithful, both of whom will be surprised by the day of the Lord in the midst of the world, in the course of their life’s work. They will be separated, one taken and the other left. It will be the same for the two grinding at the mill, which represents the work of the law. For only some of the Jews, like Elijah, believed through the apostles that they must be justified by faith. One group will be taken up through the faith that produces good works, and the other group will be abandoned in the fruitless works of the law, grinding in vain at a mill that will never produce heavenly food. The two lying in bed are proclaiming the repose of the Lord after his Passion, which both Catholics and heretics confess alike. But because the truth of the Catholic faith preaches the unity of the Father and the Son, which we call their deity, whereas the false doctrine of heretics attacks this unity with many different insults, one of the two lying in bed will be taken up but the other will be left behind. For by accepting one and rejecting the other, God’s judgment will prove the merit of each confession. ON MATTHEW 26.5. [1]

[1] SC 258:198-200.