Notice how Jesus specifically mentions both men and women busy with their everyday lives. Notice their close relationships; they work together as colleagues, perhaps even brothers or sisters at the same job. The women's hands probably even touch one another as they work at the same hand mill. They are sharing their lives and have much in common.
Then Jesus finally comes to call them to himself. One is taken, and the other one is not. What is the difference?
Is one taken (willingly and happily) because he or she knows the ‘Shepherd’s voice’ and follows without hesitation, while the other is ‘tuned out’? Does one respond because they are expecting Jesus’ arrival any moment, and the other isn’t? Is one ‘ready’ and the other ‘neglectful’?
Close as their relationships may be as they work together in close proximity or shoulder-to-shoulder, is one’s relationship with her or his Lord and God perhaps even closer than the other’s?
Where do you stand today in all of this?
How ‘at one’ do you feel with Jesus?
How would you respond if Jesus were to come right
now?