You Must Be Ready
Luke 12:35-48
35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
41 Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, 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 does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. 48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
Observations and Reflections
Jesus Christ has already allowed for His disciples to know about who He is, His imminent death and resurrection. Now, He is preparing them for when He comes back to take His followers to be with Him in Heaven for eternity.
He beings to explain that as Christians, our focus should always be on the eternal and preparing ourselves for when Jesus will come back for us. He tells us that the way in which we live our lives is valuable and our time here on earth ought to be spent wisely.
We are each given a role and a task to play during our time here. God expects for us to use our time to the fullest and to ultimately live our lives for Him. He compares the Christian life to that of a hardworking servant. One who works hard and seeks to use their time to get as much word done as possible will be rewarded. They are the type of person who aims to please their master and earns the masters respect of being devout, hardworking and productive.
As Christians, there are many opportunities in which we can serve God and others. Jesus expects for us to always be on the go and ready for when Jesus Christ comes back because our time here is precious. Furthermore, He points back to what it means to truly accept the message of the Gospel fully or reject it.
The comparison between one who is working hard and one who is going about doing what they want is also what it means to either love God whole heartedly or reject Him. We are either living lives that are honoring to Him and focused on the eternal life we have in Him or we are focusing on ourselves and our own selfish needs.
The end result for the hardworking servant versus the unproductive servant are complete opposites. The hardworking servant is called blessed and earned a lifetime of respect from His master. Then unproductive servant is deemed unfaithful and useless. The point is there will come a day in which Jesus returns and each of us will be held accountable for how we lived our lives. As Christians, our end goal is to live in the light of God’s Grace and hope that we will one day spend eternity with Him. Pursue serving Christ in whatever situation you are in and thank Him for the eternal reward we have in spending the rest of our lives with Him starting now and forever.