What does Luke 17:35 mean?

Jesus continues explaining that even at the end of the tribulation, people may not be able to distinguish His followers from those who do not follow Him. He has said that of two members of the same household who share a bed, one may follow Him and the other may not. One will go to judgment and the other to live with Jesus (Luke 17:34). As a parallel, Jesus mentions two women who are processing grain into flour. That would involve using a grindstone.

As with the prior verse (Luke 17:34), this statement has suffered from perverse attempts to be re-interpreted in a sexual context. Once again, nothing in the text, culture, or Greek language even hints at such a thing. It's an obvious reference to a mundane daily task, further emphasizing the sudden nature of Jesus' return.

These women have lived life together through at least part of the tribulation. They prepare meals together. They may be mother and daughter as in Luke 12:53. And yet one follows Jesus and the other doesn't. As in the previous verse, we're not sure which is "taken" and which is "left." It could be that one is taken to judgment and the other is left to live in Jesus' thousand-year reign. Or one is taken to live with Jesus and the other is left to experience the final judgments on earth.

We don't often take Jesus' warning seriously. We don't often accept the weight of Jesus' words. Some people close to us may spend eternity in hell because they don't accept Jesus as their Savior. Paul says, "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (Romans 10:14). Do our closest people know Jesus? If not, is it because we never told them?