Luke 12:54-59
Please read the passage before the homily.
I have my copy of the Old Farmer’s Almanac for 2024. It gives good advice for planting and growing crops. It has good presentations on weather, good stories and items of interest. For those who farm or who raise gardens, it would probably be a good book to use.
It does have one failing. It does help us interpret weather and the times of the seasons, but it does not give us much direction on right living. If we need the Almanac for living among nature, we need more the Church for the business of living for what is above nature.
Jesus’ advice for today is that we know the signs of the time for farming and more so the signs of the times for the work God calls us to do.
We waste our time playing magistrate, judge, and police officer for our neighbors when we should be playing supporting roles in the dramas of their lives.
The months of Nov-ember and Dec-ember represent the dying embers of the year. We know this, but do we not also have dying embers in our lives? The Lord’s coming is more certain than that January 2024 is coming. If we can read the calendar and know the signs of the times, how do we not read the signs of Christ and bear the fruit God has given us to bear?
It is not just to the crowds around Jesus that Jesus addressed his words. It is to us, as well, the people of today, that these words are directed. They knew how to interpret signs for season and should have known the signs of the coming of God. While we have almanacs and weather reports to keep us up to date with our physical world, we still need to keep up to date on how God calls us daily to do his work and await his full return.