Jesus presses the crowd to use the judgment they already have. They were skilled at reading the weather, but they would not draw the obvious conclusion about the time they were living in (Luke 12:56). The words "of yourselves" mean they did not need anyone to tell them. Gill explains that they could have judged "by the light of reason, and according to the dictates of their own consciences," by what they saw and heard, that the time of the Messiah had come. Matthew Henry adds that even without "these loud alarms" they should have judged what was right, because "Christianity has reason and natural conscience on its side."

No answer from the crowd is recorded. Jesus goes straight on with a picture of what judging rightly looks like: "When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him" (Luke 12:58). If the matter goes to court, "thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite" (Luke 12:59). The wise thing is to settle the matter while there is still time. Matthew Henry applies it to our standing with God: "let us give diligence to be delivered out of the hands of God as an adversary, into his hands as a Father."

The Greek words behind "of yourselves" are aph' heauton, literally "from yourselves." The verb "judge" is krinete, and "what is right" is to dikaion, the just or righteous thing. Gill notes that the Syriac and Persic versions (ancient translations in Syriac and Persian) render "what is right" as "truth."

The illustration that follows in Luke 12:58-59 pictures an ordinary lawsuit of the day: an accuser, a magistrate, a judge, an officer, and a debtors' prison. Barnes points to the similar words in Matthew 5:25-26 for its explanation.

This question shows that God holds people responsible for what they can already see. Jesus did not ask the crowd for special learning. He asked them to be honest with the evidence in front of them, the same way they were honest about rain and heat (Luke 12:54-55). Gill says the signs and wonders they saw and heard were as easy to read "as the face of the sky was."

The question also carries urgency. Matthew Henry, writing on Luke 12:56, says, "It is the folly and misery of man that he knows not his time," and he points to Luke 19:44, where Jerusalem "knewest not the time of thy visitation." The settling-with-your-adversary picture that follows (Luke 12:58-59) makes the same point: the time to make things right is now, on the way, before it is too late.