Interpreting the Times

Luke 12:54-56: "He (Jesus) said to the crowd: 'When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?'"

This very interesting admonishment by Jesus is wedged between our Lord's words of warning of coming judgment for those who do not surrender themselves to His Lordship. At the beginning of Luke 12, Jesus warns His hearers of the One who has the "power to throw (a person) into hell" . . . namely God Himself (12:5). Jesus interjects the consequence for those who would fail to surrender to Christ as Lord (which is the foundational message propagated by the Holy Spirit); specifically, He said that these reprobate would be "disowned before the angels of God" in eternity (12:9).

Jesus then shares with the people the parable of the rich fool . . . a man who was consumed with himself and his wealth accumulation and was indifferent to his relationship with God. This man in effect sought his own lordship over everyone and everything else. On the day of his death, his riches were not able to help his plot; he would be cast into the depths of hell for eternal punishment. And so Jesus concludes the parable by telling His hearers not to be consumed with the things that pagans pursue, but be consumed with the Kingdom of God.

Jesus reinforces his homily by telling the people of the story of the faithful versus the unfaithful servant. The context of this story has to do with the preparedness of individuals for the coming of the Son of Man (Jesus). For those who have hearts attune to Jesus' will and are surrendered to Him as Lord, Jesus will bring eternal blessing; for those who defy the Lordship of Christ by the pursuit of their own lordship, Jesus will "cut (them) to pieces and assign (them) a place with the unbelievers" (12:46). Jesus then lets his hearers know that He has come into the world to bring division between family and friends. Some will hear His words and respond with repentance and obedience, whereas others will rebel against such expectations, for it counters their quest for self-supremacy.

After the featured passage above (12:54-56), Jesus warns the people that unless they repent they will perish (13:5); he then used the illustration of the unproductive fig tree to teach that those who were not productive for the kingdom of God would be cut down. Jesus wanted the people to know that the same fate of the fig tree would befall them if they were unproductive for God's kingdom.

Now, having seen the context for our cited passage, we see that Jesus is warning the people that they must be discerning as to the times at hand. The Messiah had come into the world to provide salvation, but each person must respond to that offering of grace through submission to Christ as Lord and obedience to His commands. This offering is short lived, for no man knows the duration of time that he has been appointed to live on this earth. As with the rich man in the chapter 12 parable whose life was suddenly taken away, so too each man is not guaranteed another day. Jesus is telling His hearers to understand that today is the day of salvation . . . tomorrow may be too late. Each of us must understand that we are given the opportunity to surrender to Him as our Lord and Savior, which necessitates that we kick ourselves off the throne of our own lives and seek Jesus above all other things. We are no longer consumed with self-adulation and self-fulfillment as the end of all things; rather, we are committed to serving the Lord as our Eternal King.

For those who fail to interpret the time of God's offering of grace ultimately will stand before a Holy and Righteous God in judgment. God will disown that person (12:9) and will assign that person to the place of eternal torment with other unbelievers (12:46).