The Consequences of Pertinacious Blindness; Luke 12:54-59

Delivered during the Sunday Morning Worship Service, 1/18/2024. Jesus continues to warn His listeners of the dangers of spiritual lethargy and blindness. Speaking directly to the large crowd following Him, He rebukes them for their willful, contrived and even obstinate refusal to believe in Him and His Gospel. He points out how they use common sense to predict the weather, and appeals to them to use the same deductive reasoning to think for themselves and consider the overwhelming evidence that He is the Messiah. He then tells a short story of a man who failed to settle with his creditor when he could, and ended up in debtor's prison. We will analyze these two very integrated paragraphs and realize that Jesus is talking of spiritual matters rather than financial. Then we will revisit the story of the debtor in a redemptive and eschatological setting, realizing the dangers of failing to "settle" with our Creditor before facing the final Judge, and thereby suffer the devastating consequences of pertinacious blindness.