Use your brains!

Luke 12:54-59

54-56 Then he turned to the crowd: “When you see clouds coming in from the west, you say, ‘Storm’s coming’—and you’re right. And when the wind comes out of the south, you say, ‘This’ll be a hot day’—and you’re right. Frauds! You know how to tell a change in the weather, so don’t tell me you can’t tell a change in the season, the God-season we’re in right now.

57-59 “You don’t have to be a genius to understand these things. Just use your common sense, the kind you’d use if, while being taken to court, you decided to settle up with your accuser on the way, knowing that if the case went to the judge you’d probably go to jail and pay every last penny of the fine. That’s the kind of decision I’m asking you to make.”

Food for thought!

Jesus expects us to use our mind and intellect. He says, “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky.” In other words, you know how to use your eyes and your minds to draw right conclusions when it comes to the natural world. So he approves of their use of empirical observation and rational deliberation. In fact, it’s precisely this approval that makes the following disapproval valid.

He says at the end of verse 3, “But you cannot interpret the signs of the times.” And when he says, “You cannot,” he does not mean you don’t have the sensory and rational capacities to do what needs to be done. We do in fact have the sensory and rational capacities to do what needs to be done.

We are very adept at observation and deliberation when it comes to getting along in this world. Why then can’ we use those same faculties to interpret the signs of the times? Answering this question will open a window on how faith and reason are connected. Why do we, with all our reasoning abilities, not able to use them to come to faith in Jesus. What’s wrong? Why is their thinking working so well at the natural level but so badly when it comes to perceiving spiritual things? Why not judge for ourselves what is right? Wonders Jesus.

What Jesus says is that we do have all it takes to understand, and that we are perfectly able to use our senses and our minds to make valid judgments when we are trying to draw conclusions about what we want. Our minds are in full gear to think clearly about sunrise and sunset. But not so when it comes to thinking clearly about Jesus.

“You don’t have to be a genius to understand these things. Just use your common sense, the kind you’d use if, while being taken to court, you decided to settle up with your accuser on the way, knowing that if the case went to the judge you’d probably go to jail and pay every last penny of the fine. That’s the kind of decision I’m asking you to make.”