Man, Matthew 24 is a big chapter that talks about a lot of stuff. Most of the chapter up until verse 28 is talking about the tribulation period, and Jesus even uses that word in the passage. Obviously, there will be a lot of very public events during that time. Jesus mentions Daniel's antichrist, and the false Christs and prophets during the Tribulation time, and He warns people that if you're going through this time and you see someone claiming to be Christ, don't believe them because you'll know when I come back, like lightening from east to west.
Then He goes on in verses 29-31 and talks about the Glorious Return, when He does return after the Tribulation in a very public way. The angels blow the great trumpet, and everyone is gathered for judgment.
But then from verses 32 to the end of the chapter, He changes gears and begins to encourage His people to be ready because no one knows when it's going to begin. Verses 32-51 don't necessarily consecutively follow the earlier part of the chapter on a timeline. He's in a different mode of encouraging people to be ready for when it begins. And that's when He talks about one being taken and one left, when all of this begins.
That's just one reason I believe in a surprise "catching away," followed by a public tribulation, followed by a very public physical return of Christ that the world sees at the end of that tribulation.