Pastor Scott Andrews | December 28, 2025
Watch
Listen
Read
Luke 12:54-59
We just celebrated the birth of Jesus – the first Advent of Christ on Christmas morning. While a few of you put away Christmas decorations immediately after Christmas, I suspect most still have the sweet signs and nostalgic symbols of Christmas displayed. Ours usually stay up a day or two after Christmas before they are stowed for the next year to sleep in heavenly peace in the basement storeroom.
But two weeks ago, in this very advent season, we heard Jesus say some rather startling words about His first coming. While we typically focus on the Christmas themes of hope, peace, joy and love – the most wonderful time of year – Jesus asked this anti-Christmas question, that if He didn’t give the answer, most of us would have gotten it wrong. Do you remember it? Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on the earth? That’s what the angels said – peace on earth, goodwill to men. Surely the answer is yes, but He said no. Rather, I came to bring division. Notice how He juxtaposes peace and division – around what? Even the closest of human relationships in the family will be divided – fathers against sons, mothers against daughters. In some cases, in-laws will actually become out-laws.
Of course, we saw the division His coming would bring would not necessarily be political, moral, or even relational – although those categories certainly follow. No, the division He brought is largely spiritual – those who are in the family of God by faith in Jesus, and those who are not. I know we’d rather not talk about this, especially during this significant family time of the year – but in His coming, Jesus divided all humanity into two camps – believers and unbelievers. It’s binary – either you are, or you aren’t. And it does impact biological, familial relationships. Perhaps you experienced the painful part of that reality in your family celebrations this year – whether Thanksgiving or Christmas. Because there are some in most every family who have not believed in Christ, or have walked away from their “faith” in Jesus, or have denied Christ altogether.
And so, think about it: in that sense, the division is represented in the central candle of the Advent wreath – the Christ candle that we just lit last Wednesday. That’s interesting. Here’s my point – we can jump to the outer ring of the Advent wreath and have a facsimile of hope, peace, joy and love – but those are most meaningfully met when Christ is at the center. You can take Christ out and still experience those qualities to a degree – in a temporary sense, but not ultimately and eternally.
So, the answer to that anti-Christmas question is quite important. I did not come to bring peace, but division. Do you see it? It’s all around us – within families, between neighbors and coworkers, political parties and nations. And because it is, Jesus went on to discuss that head on in the verses that follow. He was God in the flesh – truly come to bring peace – but most turned on Him. It is inconceivable that the Son of God, the Creator, would take on flesh to redeem people, and those so people were against Him. The same thing happens today – tell people that the God of the universe loves them and did something about their sinful rebellion, their deplorable condition, and they don’t like it. Tell them He died for their sins – they don’t like it. Tell them what Jesus said, that He alone is the way to be reconciled to the Father, and they don’t like it. So, Jesus turns His attention to the crowds – who would prefer to remain blissfully ignorant – and actually confronts them with some more difficult words. Let’s read the text – Luke 12:54-59. It’s a short sermon today – consider it a Christmas gift – but it’s an important one. Read it with me.
Remember, earlier in chapter 12, Jesus had given instructions to be prepared, ready, dressed for action, lamps lit, alert – waiting for the return of the Master – the second Advent of Christ. But then, in verse 41, Peter asked Jesus, are you talking to us, or to everyone? So, Jesus turned His immediate attention to the disciples, which lasted through verse 53. But now, having given the startling news that He came to bring division, He turns His attention back to the crowds. Know this – He is confronting them because they are currently on the other side of the division. They are not yet fully devoted followers, perhaps they’re curious, but they’re not committed. So Jesus takes them to task, with this outline:
- Read the Signs (53-56)
- Prepare to Meet God (57-59) – that is, after all, where you’re headed.
Starting with, Read the Signs – which is an in-your-face confrontation. It’s kind of funny – He actually says, you’re better weathermen than you are theologians. Isn’t that what you want on your spiritual resume – I’m a great weatherman but a lousy theologian. Look at verses 54 and 55. When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, “A shower is coming, and so it turns out.” Yep, Jesus says, you’re right. You see, even without doppler radar and trained meteorologists, they were quite good at predicting the weather. Because, then and even now in Israel, it was pretty easy to read, to forecast – certainly much easier than in the Appalachian Mountains of Boone. We once heard a weatherman in Colorado say, here’s your forecast – go to the front door and look out – whatever it’s doing, that’s your forecast.
But it was easier in Israel. If you see a cloud rising in the west – that’s over the Mediterranean Sea where the rain comes from, then you know you’re going to get wet. You may remember the time, under God’s direction, Elijah told Ahab they were about to experience a severe drought. He was right – because, well, God’s pretty good at predicting weather since He controls it. After over three years of drought and famine, Elijah battled with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. After putting them to death at the brook Kishon, Elijah said to King Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.” Remember, it hadn’t rained for over three years.
Then Elijah went back up to Mt. Carmel and prayed. He sent his servant to go look toward the sea – the Mediterranean – to the west. Seven times the servant went, and finally came back and said, I see a cloud the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea. Elijah sent the servant to Ahab to tell him, you better saddle up and run – a torrent of rain is on the way. You see, Elijah prayed to the God who brings rain on the earth – even to ungodly men like Ahab – and knew to look toward the west to see when the rain would come. But he knew it would.
So, Jesus says – it’s not that hard, weathermen. You know to look toward the west to see when the rain is coming. He goes on in verse 55, and when you see a south wind blowing, you say, “It will be a hot day,” and it turns out that way. You see, a wind coming from the south would be a Sirocco wind – a hot dry wind coming from the desert areas that, depending on the conditions, could wilt a flower in seconds. It’s not that hard – the signs were obvious to see.
But now, Jesus gets to the point. You hypocrites! Whoa – why does He say that to these accurate weathermen? You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time? You’re focused on the wrong things. It really shouldn’t be that difficult either. The word for time is kairos, not chronos, which speaks of the circumstances of the times. He’s not saying, you don’t know how to tell time – 10:00 in the morning. No, He means, you can’t, or rather, won’t read the signs like you do the weather and discern the times. You’re better weathermen than you are theologians.
What Jesus is basically saying is this: you have the ability to look at signs in the sky and predict the weather. With your knowledge of the Scripture, you should be able to look at what I’m doing, what I’ve been doing, what I’m teaching, My way of life – all the fulfilled prophecies – you ought to be able to read the signs and know that I’m the Messiah. It’s clear – you’re just willfully ignorant of the signs. You’re more concerned about the weather and whether it’ll rain tomorrow than whether I’m the Messiah.
Just a side note. One of my commentaries pointed out, yes, people today are more preoccupied with predicting the weather than discerning the signs of the times. Meteorology has become quite the science – with satellite pictures, Doppler radar, live pictures of meteorological events. One-day, two-day, five-day, even ten-day forecasts. It’s amazing, they are sometimes even right. Such that, many people would never miss the evening news to see the weather report for tomorrow, or check it on their phones, and yet…they can read the Scripture and see the accurate truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and they dismiss it. I mean, He fulfilled over 300 prophecies in His birth and life, and yet they dismiss it. Some even oppose it. You’re in the other camp, the other side of the divide. Remember, there are only two camps – you either believe, or you don’t. But know this – you’ve been given everything you need to know who Jesus is.
John chapter 5 is an interesting chapter. There, Jesus called God His Father – and they sought to stone Him – calling God His own Father like that was making Himself equal to God. Right. Jesus doesn’t correct them. He simply points out – all that Father does, I do. And then He gives them a bunch of proofs – signs if you will, that if they would just examine them, they would know that Jesus is, in fact the Christ, the Son of God. Those signs included the witness of John the Baptist, who testified to the truth of who Jesus was. You have the witness, the proof of My works which testify the Father has sent Me. You have the witness of the Father – who claimed Jesus as His Son at His baptism – further, Jesus spoke the words and did the works of the Father. Finally, you have the witness of Scripture. You search the Scripture, because you think that in them, you have eternal life. It is these Scriptures that testify of Me.
The commentator I mentioned earlier finished by saying this, “Wouldn’t Jesus say to us, if He were here to speak to us directly, ‘You know how to forecast the weather, but you cannot interpret the times in which you live. I came, I died for sin, I have been raised from the dead, all that means nothing to most of you. You worry about whether it’s going to rain tomorrow, but you don’t give a single serious thought to where you will spend eternity.’” I urge you this morning – be better at theology than you are at meteorology – know the God who makes it rain better than the rain itself. All Jesus said and did point to who He is. Analyze the evidence, and believe.
Which brings us to the second point – Prepare to Meet God in verses 57-59. Now, you can read these verses and think, hmm, Jesus is giving some instructions on how to face litigation – how to get out of a legal mess. How to strike a plea deal so you can avoid prison time.
But that is not what Jesus is doing. It’s a parable – one of His favorite teaching techniques. He takes a spiritual truth and lays it beside an earthly story to illustrate it. You see, everyone knew what was going on here. He starts with question – why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right? In other words, you know what to do in the illustration I’m about to give – why don’t you apply it to your spiritual lives.
Again, everyone had either experienced or observed what is happening here. There is a man, could have been any one of them, who is going before the magistrate with an opponent. The issue seems to be the man owed his opponent, his accuser, some money but had defaulted on the loan. So, they are on the way to the magistrate who will arbitrate a settlement. But the problem is, the man is in the wrong. He’s guilty. He owes his opponent money, and if they appear before the magistrate, the magistrate will turn the guilty party over to the judge. By the way, remember Luke is a Gentile – he is not describing a Jewish process, but a Greek process of law.
Again, the man was guilty. He owed a debt he apparently could not pay. When the magistrate hears the details of the case, he will send the case to the judge, who will consider its merits and render a judgment. In this case, the man’s defense is hopeless. He will most surely be found guilty of defaulting on the debt. The judge will then hand him over to the officer of the law – a policeman or prison warden who will throw the man into prison. He’s guilty – there is no avoiding his guilt, the judgment and the punishment.
And notice, the man will not get out of prison until he has paid the very last cent. The word lepton for cent here is the smallest measure of money – it’s like 1/8 of a penny. He would remain in prison until the last and smallest amount of debt is paid. Oh, but don’t miss it. He’s in prison – how is he going to earn money to pay the debt he could not pay when he was free? Typically, in this situation, in a debtor’s prison, he would be mercilessly beaten until his family paid off the debt. The man’s situation was hopeless – he will stay in prison for the rest of his life.
Now, we don’t want to make this story an allegory and press home every detail of it – it’s simply a parable. The man had a debt he could not pay. Jesus’ counsel was simple. On the way to the magistrate, since your case is hopeless, try to reach an agreement with the accuser. If you appear before the magistrate, you’ll most assuredly go to the judge and spend the rest of your life in prison. Your only hope is to throw yourself at the mercy of the opponent – perhaps some agreement can be reached.
The meaning of the parable is clear. Jesus is talking to the crowd – those who had not made a commitment to Jesus, were on the other side of the divide, and therefore guilty. You can head to the magistrate and the judge if you want to, but it will not go well for you. Instead, you ought to make amends, reach an agreement with your opponent before being brought up on charges.
There is a sense in this parable in which God is the opponent, the magistrate, the judge and the prison warden, all rolled into one. We owe God a debt we cannot pay – not in this life, nor in the life to come. If we expect to stand before Him at the judgment and seek to enter some plea-bargaining agreement, think again. It is appointed to every person who has lived to die once, then face the judgment. You don’t want to stand guilty before the judge, still owing the debt.
Here’s what you need to understand. Yes, you are the man. You have a debt you could never settle. Yes, you are guilty before your opponent, in this case God Himself, who will also serve as judge. Now understand, you will only have one plea to reach a settlement. Which is interesting. You owed God a debt you could not pay. You had broken His law infinitely, but God made a way for your debt to be canceled – He paved the way for a plea bargain to be reached. He sent His own Son to pay your debt.
Jesus came on that first Christmas to provide a double righteousness – both an active and a passive righteousness. The active righteousness is the perfect life He lived – which you could not. The passive righteousness was when He took your sins on the cross and died in your place – a substitutionary atonement.
The led to what is a double imputation. Our sins were imputed to Christ, and His perfect righteousness was imputed to us. By simple faith in the work of Christ on your behalf, your immeasurable debt can be paid.
But here is the point Jesus is making. You should make the effort to settle with the offended party on the way to the judgment. In other words, you should, by God’s unmerited grace through faith, accept what God has provided on your behalf. You should surrender your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Because you see, if you wait till the judgment, it will be too late. And God will cast you into an eternal prison until you have paid every last cent. Which you never will. Despite what you may have heard of those denying hell, or even of late, denying its eternality – the Scripture is clear. Eternal hell awaits those who do settle with the Judge of our souls now.
Listen, these are both hard words and good words. God calls those who know the truth who don’t act on the truth, hypocrites. Read the signs. See the reality of the person, words and works of Jesus Christ. Believe, and thereby, prepare to meet God. These are hard words if you choose to stay on that side of the divide – in the other camp. But these are eternally good words if you choose to believe, and join us – saved sinners – on this side of the divide. On Jesus’ side.