Readiness for the Son of Man

In light of the persecution that Jesus knew would beset His church, our Savior gave instruction on the need for His disciples to remain faithful and to keep their hearts set on heaven and not on the things of this world. All who do that—all who persist in faith and repentance, ever seeking to place Christ and His kingdom first in their affections and confessing the truth about Him before others—Jesus will defend in the heavenly court on the last day, welcoming them into eternal blessedness (Luke 12:1–34). Those points naturally lead us to ask the questions: When will our perseverance be fully rewarded? When will Christ consummate His kingdom and show to all creation that we have been right to trust Him all along?

Jesus addresses these questions in today’s passage, not by telling us the exact date of the consummation but by exhorting us to be ready for it. He tells a parable involving servants who stand awake and alert at all times for the return of their master in order to receive him when he comes home. Instead of turning off the lights and going to bed, the servants keep their lamps burning, watching for the master’s arrival. They persevere in a state of watchfulness and readiness, for they are able to receive him in the second or third watch of the night. Based on either the Roman or Jewish way of reckoning time, this means that they are still awake late into the night, even well past midnight. Moreover, the sense is that the servants are awake and ready to let the master in so that they can attend to his needs and hear any orders he might have for them. This return could happen at the time they least suspect, so they remain awake (Luke 12:35–40).

The point is clear: we must be prepared for the coming of Jesus to consummate His kingdom and not let the fact that He seems to be delayed make us think that we can be slack in watchfulness. He might come back later than we have been expecting—like a visitor who arrives after midnight—but He is surely coming. All who are ready will be blessed indeed, for at Jesus’ return, the Lord will actually serve His people (Luke 12:37). This does not mean, of course, that we will become masters over Jesus; instead, the image conveys abundant blessing. The joy, peace, and satisfying refreshment that we will experience when Jesus returns will be so great that one of the best ways to portray it is to speak of the Master’s serving us. God will do such great things for His people at the day of judgment that we can hardly begin to imagine them (1 Cor. 2:9).