Luke 12:54-58

Repentance – Urgent and Non-Negotiable

Luke 12:54-58 - Alert to the Times and Responsible

⁵⁴ He said to the crowds,

“When you notice cloud building up around sunset,

you spontaneously say, ‘A storm is brewing’ –

and so it does.

⁵⁵ And when a southerly wind blows up,

you say, ‘It will be hot’ –

and so it happens.

⁵⁶ You play-actors, you can read the face of earth and heaven,

but you do not how to read this present time.

In Jesus’ day the present time was that of the in-breaking of the Kingdom. People would not accept the meaning of the activity and the teaching of Jesus. They went into denial, encouraged perhaps by the non-responsiveness of their own leaders. Ordinary persons were very much subject to the collective thinking of their peers and superiors. To think independently was not common. Yet Jesus expected it. The stakes were high, and they were urgent: life or non-life.

Why Jesus called them play-actors is not so obvious. Perhaps Jesus was convinced that there was some degree of dishonesty behind their attitudes. Perhaps he believed that in their inner selves they saw the significance of himself and of his mission but were unwilling to stand out as different from the collective stance of the culture. Obviously, the disciples were able to reach the appropriate conclusions and had the courage to take the fitting steps. If they did, others could!

The problem was similar at the time of Luke’s community. Their need was to recognise the presence of the Kingdom.

Even in the modern world, in the things that really matter, people are more often swayed by what they want to believe than by how they read the evidence.

⁵⁷ “Why do you not judge the right thing by yourselves?

The comment as it stood was be a fitting wrapping up of the argument Jesus had addressed immediately above: reach your own conclusions irrespective of how others respond to you.

⁵⁸ Like when you go with your opponent before the magistrate,

on the way make every effort to disentangle things,

lest he send you on to the judge,

and the judge hands you on to the court-officer,

and the court-officer puts you in prison.

⁵⁹ I tell you, you will not get out of there

until you pay up the last cent.”

The passage is long and convoluted. The sense seems to be: get your facts and state your position clearly. Otherwise things get complicated and confused, and you finish up worse off.

Next >> Luke 13:1-5