In this parable and next weeks too, Jesus compares his faithful followers to servants in a master’s household who were always prepared for his return and faithfully managed the resources he had left with them.
We all have a choose where we want to store up our treasures. Our heart, the center of emotions and mental activities, will concentrate on where we have our treasures. Our identity is determined by where our heart is. Ignore God, and spend all our physical, emotional, and mental energy on the world’s goods and earthly success, or trust God, and spend all your efforts on kingdom matters. To worry or not to worry, that is the question.
This week’s parable is found in Luke 12:35-40.
35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Have you even been late meeting someone for lunch? Have you ever forgotten about an appointment or forgotten to call someone after you said you’d get back to him? Of course, you have. How do you think the other person felt? How do you feel when this happens to you? What if you expect to hear about a job application in a week and don’t hear anything after 2 weeks? What if your taxes are being audited and you expect to hear something in 2 months and 4 months go by without hearing anything? What if you son is traveling around Australia and he says he’ll call “when he has a chance” and after 6 months you’re still waiting to hear from him?
In this parable Jesus is telling his followers to be ready, and wait. To keep the lamps burning is a picture of readiness. This is not a new command, but reminding the Jewish people of what they should have been doing. This is a reference back to Exodus 27. In the court of the tabernacle, in the tent of meeting there was to be a lamp burning continually from evening to morning.
How long to wait? Jesus didn’t really say, but implied the master might not come home until quite late, “the third watch.” Night was divided into four watches by the Romans: (1) 6:00 – 9:00 pm, (2) 9:00 pm – midnight, (3) midnight – 3:00 am, (4) 3:00 – 6:00 am. The Jews had only three watches during the night: (1) sunset – 10:0 pm, (2) 10:00 pm – 2:00 am, (3) 2:00 am – sunrise. The parable probably referred to the last two of the Jewish watches. The wedding banquet would have begun in the first watch right after sunset.
Wedding celebrations may last four to seven days back in these times! But it did not matter how long the wedding was to be, when the master came home he does not want to come up to a dark house, all servants sleeping and having to stumble his way though the house. There was to be a servant ready to open the front door and be ready to carry out any tasks he has planned for you. But what happens to the servants who are ready?
In Verse 37 Jesus says, “It will be good for those servants [that is, believers] whose master finds them watching when he comes.” Then, having said that, he deviates totally from Middle Eastern culture. He says, “…I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.”
Notice in actual life back then the master would come home to his house, knock on the door, and find his servants ready. They open the door, escort him in, hang up his coat; they show him to his favorite chair and they give him a hot drink. They say, “Do you want a bath?” They’ve already warmed the water because there were no hot showers in those days. Basically, they greet him with an attitude of “we are ready to serve you.”
But, in the parable, we read the very opposite. In Verse 37 when it says “he will dress himself to serve, the “he” does not refer to the servants. It is a singular word and it refers to the master. So here we have the master girding himself up and saying, “I want you servants to recline at my table and I will serve you.” That is a huge difference between a Middle Eastern lord or master, who would absolutely never do that. So in the story who does the master represent? The Lord Jesus Christ. The wedding banquet that the master went to would seem to be a symbol for the enthronement of Jesus in heaven and it points to his return for the final judgement for which he wants every believer, every one of you to be prepared.
We must be watchful and ready for Jesus’ return at any moment. Jesus return is certain but the time is not known. In Matthew 24:36, it says, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” A specific outline of the future would actually be a hindrance, not a help, to faith. Certain signs have been given, but not for the purpose of making detailed predictions.
Watchfulness is not passive or easy. As Luke warns in 21:34 – “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.”
There are three messages to be taken in this parable. First, Followers of Christ must be ready for His return at any moment. As verse 40 says, “the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Second, you must allow for a delay that must neither reduce your expectancy not impede your preparedness (verse 38). You must not let the delay discourage you so you fall into a trap or get overwhelmed by the drudgeries and anxieties of life. Finally, you must faithfully manage the resources that have been entrusted to you by God. Don’t forget, you are stewards, not owners, you can’t take it with you.
Need reinforcement on this point? Think about the person down the street whose house was broken into and robbed. What would have happened if the thief had set up an appointment to come rob the house? The owner of the house would have had guards ready to stop him. Christ, the Son of Man, is coming back just as unexpectedly as the thief came to break in and rob the house. So be ready.