Friday in the 29th Week of Ordinary Time, October 21, 2022

Luke 12, 54-59

Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain–and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot–and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time? Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”

“When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain.”  Israel’s rain came from the west, the Mediterranean Sea, while the wind from the south, coming from Arabia, was hot.  “You hypocrites!”  This is an example of why the underlying Greek word should be translated as “godless”, not as “hypocrite” in today’s sense: the same Greek was used in the Septuagint for “the godless”.  “Hypocrites” simply does not apply here.  The Lord is calling the people “godless” because they do not look for God’s will in their lives or his working in the world: “Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”  Specifically, the Lord is pointing to the fact that this is exactly the time for the Messiah to arrive.  It is the right number of generations since the creation of the first man, it is the correct age of the world, the sixth age.  The line of prophets had dried up and was no more, and John the Baptist had appeared to assure the people it was the time.  Besides this was the abundant proof offered by the Lord himself that he was the Messiah.  And yet the people had not repented and were living out their lives as though God lived aloof in his heaven instead of walking in their streets.  For every generation since his Ascension, including this one, we must interpret the “signs of the times” in what God wills for each of us personally, especially in terms of our vocations, and in what is meant for the world.  We can tell, for instance, that “the end is not yet” because not all of the signs the Lord has given us to look for have taken place, but we also know that we must be ready for his coming because they can happen at any moment.  Presently, with all that is going on in western culture and it’s denial of objective reality and its canonizing of the wicked and the demonizing of the good, as well as the tumult in Rome and with renegade bishops everywhere, we have good reason to place ourselves on high alert, but other signs remain to be shown. 

“Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?”  It is not clear whether this line should go with the above or with what follows.  It could go with either.  If we understand it as going with what follows, the Lord is advising his followers not to go to court with each other and dispute with one another publicly, to the scandal of believers and unbelievers alike.  This brings to mind St. Paul’s pleas: “Can it be that there is no man among you wise enough to decide between members of the brotherhood, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?  To have lawsuits at all with one another is defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong?” (1 Corinthians 6, 5-7).  The Lord says, “If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison.”  This is good, practical advice, adapted for the time, but it is also a warning to us not to become so engrossed with our possessions (or, the things we think of as our possessions), for in the end we will not have them anyway, and in the meantime they can distract us from becoming engrossed with God.  “I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”  And this is a warning about purgatory.  The whole of the Lord’s legal advice can be understood as about avoiding purgatory.  Our “opponent” can be understood as our conscience and the “magistrate” is our Judge, Jesus Christ.  The case to be set before him is the conduct of our lives.  The Lord advises us to settle with our conscience while “on the way” — while we still live — by examining it, repenting in sorrow, and doing penance.  The penance that we do not do here we must do in purgatory, which will be more demanding because of our obstinance or sloth on earth.  We will not leave purgatory until we have paid “the last penny”, meaning that we will eventually leave, unlike if we were condemned to hell, but that full satisfaction must first be made for the sins we committed on earth.