Parables Of Jesus Christ

The parable of the watchful servant

The parable of the watchful servant or you must be ready luke 12:35-40
You Must Be Ready
"Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 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. 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. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 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. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."In many ways jesus's words are pretty self explanatory. He told this parable to the crowds and his disciples. Lets have a closer look at this. The parable has two parts Readiness for his coming and when the lord returns his .....judgement. Jesus uses different situations to help people understand and to emphasize point. "Stay dressed for action". In jesus's day, everyone wore long robes which werent easy to move quickly or freely with. If a person planned to run or work, he would tuck his robe into a sash around his waist so that it would not interfere with his movements. So jesus is telling them to have there robes tucked up in readiness for his return.
This is followed by "keep your lamps burning," we have to remember in those days there was no electricity comes from a day when there was no electricity. If you were expecting a midnight visitor, you would keep an oil light burning so that when he knocked on the door, you could see to let him in. Again, the idea is, be ready for the Master's coming. Moving on to the servants who are awaiting their master's return from a wedding feast.
Feasts which lasted for days, even a week. The servants would need to be ready when they heard their master arrive to open the door and serve him. When i looked into this parable i found that scholars debate whether Luke is using a Roman or Jewish servants watching ,but the point is the remains the same, the master could come in the middle of the night when you least expect him, so you must be ready.We then move on to a thief breaking into a house in the middle of the night. If the homeowner had known when the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. He would have been ready and waiting. From this Jesus is stating "You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."Scoffers may say, "It's been over 2,000 years since Jesus spoke these words. Every generation since then has thought that it was the final generation before His coming, but they all died without seeing it happen. Face reality they say, It's just not going to happen!"
Peter points out this would happen and the foolish scoffers fail to note that
2 Peter3:3 " knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires" and in 2 peter3:10"But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." Gods view of time and ours are vastly different from ours. A day could be a thousand years. When i was at alpha course i remember it being said "god is delaying his judgment because of his great patience as He waits for more to come to repentance." More people coming to the kingdom. I Peter then uses Jesus' image of a thief 2 peter3 10-12........ "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed."
To sum it up as jesus said " you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
How can we prepare and be ready
1). TO BE READY FOR JESUS' COMING, HE MUST BE YOUR MASTER.
(2). TO BE READY FOR JESUS' COMING, YOU MUST BE HIS SERVANT.
(3). TO BE READY FOR JESUS' COMING, YOU MUST LIVE IN EXPECTATION OF HIS RETURN.
So are we ready, are we ready for the king to return? Only we can be "dressed" and ready.