|
And he (Jesus of Nazareth around AD 30) was also saying to the crowds, “When you see a cloud coming up in the west, you immediately say, ‘A rainstorm is coming,’ and it becomes so. And when a south wind blows, you say that, ‘It will be burning heat.’ And it comes about. Playactors! You knew to discern the appearance of the earth and the sky, but you did not know how to discern this particular time. And also, why do you not judge, for yourselves, what is right?” (Luke’s biography of Jesus 12: 54, first published around AD 60, own translation) |
What was Jesus on about when he spoke openly to the crowds like this? It seems that – then as well as now – forecasting the weather was a major occupation and a major topic of conversation.
But it seems that that, despite being good at weather forecasting, his hearers were failing in two respects: (1) they did not “discern this particular time”; (2) they did not judge for themselves “what is right”.
What’s that all about? From (1), it seems that the age, the era, in which those people lived had significantly and remarkably altered with Jesus’ arrival on earth. But they hadn’t noticed. From (2), one may gather that his hearers were refusing to judge for themselves what was right and what was wrong. I wonder if these still apply. And do they apply to us? “This particular time.” “What is right.”
|
|
“Because, similarly, (Jesus continued) you are going, along with your opposer, in front of an authority. Make an effort to be released from him on the way, so that he may not drag you to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the executive, and the executive will throw you into prison. I say to you, you may never come out of there until you indeed may give back the last fifty-pence.”
|
|
Clarification was not far away. Jesus said that each one in the crowd was on his or her way to "an authority” and that alongside each one was an “opposer”. Apparently, the crowd did not “discern” this. He wanted them to put two and two together. They needed to see the signs that one day they would inevitably appear before “an authority”.
In addition, he was trying to enable them to “discern” that there was the possibility, if they so discerned, to make peace with this their “opposer”. If not, the train would continue down the track: the judge; the executor of the judge’s sentence; prison. But, did not notice, the prison sentence is for debt, for debt owed to another. So, the problem was not only harm done to others which needed to be paid for but also an inability to pay off a debt. What debt do I owe which I have not seen? What have I received and never paid for?
|
|
| And at the same time some nearby were reporting to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices. And, responding, he spoke to them. “You think that these Galileans made themselves offenders beside all the Galileans, in that they have suffered these things. No, I say to you, but, if you may not change your minds, you will all self-destruct likewise. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them— you think that these made themselves debtors beside all the human beings living in Jerusalem? No, I say to you, but if you may not change your minds, you will all self-destruct likewise.”
|
|
Luke’s ancient eye-witness biography of Jesus records these two recent occurrences around AD 30. Folk drew Jesus’ attention to them. One tragedy was in Galilee, 50 miles or so from Jerusalem. The Jews of Jesus’ day considered all Galileans to be sinful. Jesus asks the crowd whether those who were killed by Pilate were more sinful - greater offenders - than other Galileans who were still alive. The other tragedy was in south Jerusalem itself. The tower of Siloam collapsed killing eighteen. In this case, Jesus asks a similar but different question. Were those eighteen were more heavily in debt than any of the other Jerusalem debtors.
These days, we have been greatly shocked and distressed by the fishing accident off Jersey’s west coast and by the explosion just outside of St Helier killing nine people. Our sympathy goes out from the heart towards them and towards those who loved them and knew them.
But the questions of Jesus still arise. He asked them with a view to the long-term good of everyone in that crowd. With tears.
Are our tears enough?
|
|
|
