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.
Many of us spend a lot of time and effort trying to accurately predict the future. The idea is that we presumably do this so that we can be prepared for what is to come. We are rewarded by the fact that our heuristics often help us take practical steps to plan for future contingencies. But all such efforts, however practical they may be, are shortsighted when compared to God's interpretation of the present time.
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 plan for a heatwave or a storm that may or may not come and that, in any case, will have consequences that are only short-lived, while ignoring the matter of God's impending judgment on the entire human race? The later is certain, and its consequences cannot be overstated.
If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate,
make an effort to settle the matter on the way;
We are meant to interpret the present time in the light of the coming of Jesus to see what is truly urgent and what is less so. But we prefer to distract ourselves by fixating on matters that seem to be more predictable and therefore controllable. But this fixation tends to function as a distraction from things that are more important but harder for us to control. Jesus desires to show mercy while we are still on the way, to forgive us and transform us and make us holy.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (see Second Peter 3:9).
Jesus goes on to describe the parable of the fig tree where he himself is the gardener who pleads for more time in order to fertilize it and help it to grow (See Luke 13:6-9). It is this same desire that is on display on his insistence that settling with the magistrate on the way is of such paramount importance.
How then do we settle the matter on the way? We are like the debtor who owed such a large sum that he could never hope to pay it back. But Jesus himself is like the master in that parable, ready to forgive the debt to any who ask sincerely (See Matthew 18:21-35). Jesus desires to do precisely this, announcing the year of jubilee when debts are remitted. But we must actually turn to him to receive this forgiveness. And we must do this not just once, but every time we see what Paul experienced happening in us, "in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members". Whether Paul was speaking of his life before Jesus or not we realize that we still experience our old self tries to influence our behavior even after we become Christians. And it sometimes succeeds. Transformation is possible, but it cannot be found in the weather forecasts, or any other matters of practical planning. It was as though Paul considered every possible solution and found only one:
Miserable one that I am!
Who will deliver me from this mortal body?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our solution, our help, and our salvation is in Jesus. And this, not just once, but always, daily, moment to moment until the last steps of our journey and beyond. We may not reach perfection here and now in this present life but we nevertheless, "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (see Hebrews 12:14). Provided we placed our trust in Jesus and put our lives in his hands he himself we make sure that transformation is finally accomplished. Paying that last penny in purgatory ought not to be our goal however. Let us realize the urgency of what the Lord wants to do in us here and now, not least because the more he has his way in us the more he can use us to reach others.
Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
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