We have been privileged in our lifetimes to witness things that those who lived before us “could never even have imagined or dreamed of…”
The world is changing in extra-ordinary ways; we watched as Communism fell in our lifetimes, we “looked on” as every day our world seems to get “increasingly smaller.”
Once “so large and incomprehensible” and now we can find out things happening around the globe “as they actually are occurring.”
We are indeed in the midst of a “technological revolution.”
It is definitely “a new day and a new time.”
Perhaps as no other time in human history, “people of faith” are called to “understand the times in which we live.”
This requires not only aware-ness of our “world situation” but also of an under-standing of Scripture.
How tragic it is that today “women and men” can predict the movement of the stars and even put men on the moon, but are blind to what God is doing in the world.
and to distant planets but so many people are unsure about “how to get to heaven,” or even if there is a heaven.
Strange times, I tell you…
And when it comes to the Gospel from Luke this evening, Jesus is “chiding the crowds and the disciples” (seemingly both together) for not being able to interpret “the signs” around them…
Jesus actually says, something to the effect of:
‘Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is, And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; Wow! What hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you “do not discern” this time?”
So, I thought let’s see how good you guys are with some of “the signs” of our times…
SHOW SIGNS
Let’s see how you do!
The Bible starts with “CONSTRUCTION”…you know, all those orange barrels and cones! God created the world and he created everything that exists. That means higher fines and slower speeds! “CAUTION!”
But when he created us, he gave us “free will and reason”… which means “it’s up to us” to decide which “direction” we want to go.
But as the Bible shows, when left up to ourselves and not given direction, we always seemed to go down the WRONG WAY.
So God provided commandments and “rules and laws” to follow so that we would, STOP sinning.
Obviously, we need to “YIELD” to his will.
If we fail to follow his heeding we could end up at a “Dead End.”
It’s up to us to watch the signs of the times and to make sure when it says “Do Not Enter” that we do not!
We also need to learn that we need to help others along the way, and therefore “SHARE THE ROAD WITH BIKERS!” And watch out for pedestrians…especially at CROSSWALKS! And now, we can add to that E-Scooters!
Hopefully sooner rather than later we learn the lesson that there really is only ONE WAY!
We know all about TWO WAY STREETS and how the road can CURVE TO THE RIGHT or CURVE TO THE LEFT or that we have to SLOW DOWN in SCHOOL ZONES…and be careful when MERGING.
We also need to look out for those RAILROAD CROSSINGS…
So many signs to contend with on a regular basis…but perhaps the one that is most important of all is the path or the way that leads to our final REST AREA.
Remember Jesus’ words of CAUTION that “if” we are “wise,” we will be able to discern ALL THE SIGNS that are continually around us…especially those of the coming kingdom.
And from now on you will never look at traffic signs the same way…again!
Amen.