Scripture Daily

Context No. 3362 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 12:54-59: in context

54He said to the multitudes also, “When you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens. 55When a south wind blows, you say, ‘There will be a scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you don’t interpret this time? 57“Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 58For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59I tell you, you will by no means get out of there until you have paid the very last penny.”

Jesus points out an odd blindness in the crowds. They can read the sky, a cloud in the west means rain, a south wind means scorching heat, and they are usually right. Yet they cannot read the far more important signs of the times, the meaning of the very moment they are living in, with God's kingdom breaking in among them. They are sharp about the weather and dull about God.

And he presses them: why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? He wants them to see and act on what matters, not simply drift along. Then he gives a small parable: when you are on the way to court with your accuser, settle the matter before you arrive, or you will be handed to the judge and thrown into prison. The urgency is spiritual. While there is still time, get right with God; do not put off the reckoning until the door has closed. The signs of the moment call for a response now, not later.

Am I discerning about the things that truly matter, reading the signs of God's work and acting on them now, while there is still time, rather than putting off the reckoning?

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