Friday in the 29 Week of Ordinary Time, October 27, 2023

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 — and so it does.”  It is very charming to see how the Lord talks to us of tremendous spiritual events and realities in such simple terms that all of us can understand him.  His speaking in this way also encourages us to look for signs of heaven and grace in the natural world, such as seeing God’s power reflected in storms or in the ocean’s tides and vastness.  And it is right for us to do this, for all that he has created bears some trace of his authorship as effectively as a signature on a painting.  Here, the Lord Jesus reminds us of how we look to signs in the natural world for what the weather will be like in the near future.

“You hypocrites!”  The Greek word that has given rise to our word “hypocrites” was used by the Greek translators of the Hebrew Scriptures for a word meaning “godless”, and that is the best way to understand this word here: “You godless people!”  Jesus refers to their worldly outlook for the sake of which they restrict God and religion to a very narrow space in their minds.  “You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”  They think themselves clever for their petty accomplishment while not bothering with what really matters.  The Jews failed to interpret “the present time” so that they missed his Birth in Bethlehem but the Gentiles did not, as St. Matthew shows through the arrival of the wise men from the East (the Jewish shepherds only became aware of it through the direct intervention of the angels).  The Jews could have reckoned the time of his Birth from checking the genealogical records: from Abraham to their time there were forty-two generations, six multiplied by seven, that is, the number of days of the creation of the world multiplied by that number plus the sabbath.  The scribes should have known the time.  And the Jews knew the place of his Birth, for the Prophet Micah revealed it.  And so the Lord warns them to pay attention to spiritual things, and to think hard about their eternal destinies: “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.”  The Lord gives an example of what the people should be paying attention to through his use of an everyday example.  The Greek word translated here as “magistrate” means “prince” or “ruler”.  He means for the people to “interpret” this example spiritually, on their own.  “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.”  The legal case the Lord describes involves a matter of debt.  He advises the debtor to make a deal with the lender.  Such as deal would result in a desperate plight for the debtor, but one far less worse than imprisonment for the debt.  The Greek word for “debt” also is translated as “sin” and the Jews should have understood the Lord’ meaning here: ask forgiveness of the one you have sinned against before you face your Divine Judge. 

“You will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”  The Lord refers to purgatory, a place in which the “last penny” is paid that we owe due to unrepentant venial sins.  Of course, a person’s debt may be so heavy that it can never be paid, and this represents mortal sin, sin committed with malice.  But those without mortal sins weighing down their souls may be perfected in love through the purifying flames of purgatory.  

We ought to keep our minds on God and on our path to salvation as we make our way through each day for the things we pass by shall certainly pass away.