Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,36
like servants 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. Truly I tell you, 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 middle of the night or toward daybreak.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.” 41
Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” 42
The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time?
43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.
44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk.
46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47
“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.
48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be
asked.
Many have noticed the ‘connections between Jesus’ words here and the Exodus event in the Old Testament. Indeed, we find similar admonitions. “Be girded about…your
clothes pulled tight…ready to move because redemption is at hand.” It is the same message here! Jesus tells his disciples that they must be diligent in preparation and in being watchful. Jesus is speaking to his disciples, for there is a real sense that even
those in the church become lazy and undiscerning. Self wants it easy, to sit in the comfy chair and be served. In fact, the Lord seems to be telling us that there will be those who instead of this diligence will turn to sinful and worldly lifestyles, even
using what they have to lord it over others and to exalt themselves. There will be those who had much given to them who did not use what they were given humbly for the honor of the one who gave it. Therefore, much will be demanded of them when the master returns.
The text sets before us two types of servants and interestingly, they are both called servants, but one is unfaithful. That is, one does not serve, trusting
and believing the words of the master.
This unbelief, begins in the heart, the unfaithful man says IN HIS HEART, my master is delaying His coming…And then this lack of faith reveals
itself. It becomes evident in the behavior of those who are not found believing and trusting the word of the master. This is the point the Bible makes over and over again with regard to faith, it proves itself. If a servant has faith, it will be seen. And
if there is no faith, if it is all a ruse, that too will be made evident.
This text might make us a bit uncomfortable. Here we have more words of Jesus that seem bent to uncover “the poser”, the pretender, the one who says they are a follower
of Jesus but has no life that backs up such a claim. And although the warning of this text is sobering, and strong, there is a message here that if seen clearly will cause us to rejoice. We will marvel at the great love of the Lord Jesus, love that He has
for us!
The Lord calls his people over and over again to be ever mindful of His coming, ever mindful of the master’s return. We are to watch and we are to be ready, our lives
are dictated by this one great redemptive event that is yet to come. We are to view our lives, our living, our decisions, our affections, our calling, through these lenses, that we are servants of our King and that He is coming again.
There are so many texts that make explicit that we are to be alert, and sober minded, you are to keep watch, not living in drunkenness but as children of light. (I
Thess. 5:1-11) Because Jesus is coming, since we know the master is returning, Peter asks, “What manner of persons ought we to be? (2 Peter 3:10-18) We are called to diligence, making sure we are in Christ without spot and without blame. And we are to remember
the longsuffering of Jesus because we will have to suffer long as well as we wait for His coming. At the very beginning of I Corinthians, Paul sets the tone of his entire letter, where he gives explicit instruction about how to live the Christian life. He
tells them that they are to be eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also conform you to the end, that you may be blameless when He returns.
Listen to Paul’s letter to Titus:
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all me, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and
godly in the present age… looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Great God and Savior, Jesus XP who gave himself for us, SO THAT He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good
works.”
What do we find as a result of living in light of Christ’s return? Is it a sluggish, listless existence in regard to the things of God? Is it, ‘hey I’m saved, so
who cares about how I live’? Is it a pie in the sky, oh don’t worry about things here, heaven is all that matters? Is it a Gnostic view that life here is nothing and life there is everything? NO, and a thousand times No!!!
We are to deny ungodliness, and to live soberly and righteously in this world, we are to be zealous for good works, serving the kingdom with all our energies and affections.
Paul tells the Roman church that because the day is at hand, the day of the Lord, because you live in this reality, because you have this hope of the Master’s return: “Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light.
Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the lord Jesus XP and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Romans 13:11-14)
But there is something else from our text that is often missed. Look at verse 37. “Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes will find watching.
Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them.”
Brothers and sisters, who is girding himself? Who are the ones who sit down and get served? Who does the serving? Did you notice? This seems turned around in so
many ways. The whole thing strikes us as strange. The Master is the servant! The servants are the ones being served!
We have grown used to hearing of Jesus on the earth, in his humility as one who came not to be served but to serve. But let’s admit it, this is hard enough for us
to really understand, to really grasp, how and why this would be the case. How is it that God the Son, the Creator of all things and sustainer of all things, the all-powerful second person of the God-head, willingly bows to the feet of sinners…to love them,
to serve them, to wash them? We don’t really have our heads wrapped around that now do we? It must not be forgotten that on that night where Jesus demonstrates this principle to his disciples, the night he got up from the table and took off his outer garment
and washed their feet….it must not be forgotten that right before this, the disciples were arguing about which of them was the greatest! Jesus responds to them by saying, “…the greatest among you should be like the youngest and the one who rules like the
one who serves. For who is the greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? BUT, I am among you as one who serves.”
Can you imagine how quiet it must have gotten in that room? Can’t you just picture in your mind the heads hanging a bit as the silence grows painfully uncomfortable?
And then, Jesus gets up and begins to wash their feet? Is it not our inflated view of ourselves, what we think we deserve some kind of special treatment? Isn’t it this kind of thinking that keeps us from falling down before Christ as the One who has so served
us? And, and is it not this same self-importance, that stops us from seeing how right it must be, how true it must be for our lives to therefore be poured out in the service of others? Is this not to be the characteristic of the Christian life? Is this not
to be the characteristic of your life? Is this not the gospel demonstrated, even demonstrated by God the Son?
We talk about loving others, every Christian talks about it, in fact many non-Christians talk about it as well. But the Lord is not a Savior of talk, but of action,
of love, and of bowing to those who should be bowing to Him. No one expected to have his feet washed that evening. No one thought this to be necessary, this was not urgent, it was a room full of adult men, there were no servants in the room…Ah, but that is
just the point … .there was a Servant in the room, and when this is over, they will all be servants.
Prayer: Father, help me to see my place as a servant to my Savior and to those you have placed in and around my life. Forgive me for demanding others serve me.
Help me to set Jesus before my mind and heart so as to imitate the life He lived and to be and stay ready for His return. I ask in His name, Amen.
Hymn: Lo He Comes, With Clouds Descending