Luke 12:57-59 (NIV) “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”
Jesus frequently used the same imagery in different circumstances, in different contexts, and among different crowds. (See Matthew 5:25-26 for this teaching in a different context.) In this case, the context is Jesus’ statement about not being able to interpret the signs of the times. God was actually reaching out to His people through the presence and person of Jesus, even to the Jewish leadership who were rejecting Him, and thus rejecting God. Many of the people had no clue as to what was actually going on. They saw the miracles and were filled with awe and wonder, but their perception went no farther than that.
Jesus knew that a window of grace was opening in the spiritual realm with His coming. But He also knew that, in the hearts of the people, attitudes and positions were being settled that would align people for or against Him in the months to come. And He understood that those alignments would culminate in His crucifixion and resurrection, solidifying into trajectories that would either draw people to the risen Lord, or push them farther away.
So Jesus was urging everyone to get things resolved, not just between each other, but between themselves and God, before the sentence was passed and their doom sealed forever. As long as there was life there was an opportunity for repentance, and for a different destiny than the one they were headed for. But they needed to get it settled “on the way,” while they were still alive. Once the final judgment convenes, it will be too late.
Father, it is still that way today. Far too many people have no idea that their opportunity to repent and settle matters with You has a limited window that could snap shut at any moment. And far too few of Your people are willing to explain it to them as clearly as Jesus did. But it’s critical that they know and understand! Free my lips, Lord, and my heart, so that I will speak the truth to those around me clearly, boldly, and lovingly, so that they can hear, repent, and be saved. Amen.