Luke 12:35

The first words of Luk 12:40, Be ye therefore ready also, expound Luk 12:35. In this sense we find the phrase used, 1Ki 18:46; 2Ki 4:29; 9:1; Job 38:3; 40:7; Jer 1:17. In those Eastern countries both masters and servants were wont to wear long garments, which they were wont to gird up, either when they went to fight, or when they were to travel, Exo 12:11 1Ki 18:46; or when they went about any service; see Luk 17:8; Joh 13:4; this was a piece of their preparation. We read of the girding about of the loins of the mind with truth, Eph 6:14, and with habits of grace and virtue; 1Pe 1:13, Wherefore gird up the loins of your minds, be sober, and hope to the end. The other phrase, and your lights burning, is of the same import, relating to the Lord’s coming from the wedding, mentioned Luk 12:36; for in those countries their weddings were celebrated in the night. Christ’s coming to judgment, whether our particular or the more general judgment, is that which is here set out to us, under the notion of a man’s coming home late at night from a wedding. Nor improperly, for in this life souls are united to Christ, Eph 5:32. When Christ shall have done his work of that nature upon the earth, that all the elect shall be gathered, then shall he come to judge the world. He would have all his people be ready for that day, and waiting for their Lord, that his coming may be welcome to them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Luk_12:35-40

Men that wait for their Lord

Of the believers readiness for the coming of Christ

This readiness stands in watchfulness and fidelity.

I. WATCHFULNESS.

1. Its nature.

2. Its ground. The servants relation of dependence toward his

Lord.

3. The motive to it. The glorious reward.

4. The difficulty of it. The long delay.

5. Its necessity. The uncertainty of the time.

II. FIDELITY.

1. Motives to it.

(1) The confidence reposed in him by the Lord;

(2) who intrusts to him a large sphere of operation;

(3) in which much good may be done.

2. Its nature.

(1) That is, deals justly.

(2) And in proper season.

3. Its consequences.

(1) The internal joy of a good conscience.

(2) The Lords approval and recompense.

4. Exhortation to fidelity from the mournful consequences of the opposite.

1. Source of faithlessness. Security and unbelief.

2. Nature of faithlessness.

(1) Abuse of power.

(2) Ill use of means entrusted to it.

3. Mournful consequences of faithlessness.

(1) He finds himself surprised in his security.

(2) He is severely punished.

(3) And the punishment, whether more lenient or more severe, is perfectly just. (F. G. Lisco.)

Watching for the Master

I. CONSIDER OUR EXPECTATION.

1. We expect Christs second advent as King and Judge. Or--

2. We expect our own decease, which will take us into His presence, to give an account of ourselves.

II. OUR PRESENT POSITION.

1. We are His servants. We belong to Him, and are subject to Him; He has given us work to do in His absence--work which should occupy all our time, and engage all our powers. Specifically, there is the work of our own sanctification; and there is the work of Christian beneficence and labour in the world.

2. We are left to ourselves for a season. We have it in our power to refuse doing His work. We may use His property and gifts for our own pleasure or profit. We may be indolent, selfish, and sensual, and lull ourselves to sleep and carelessness.

3. But He will return, and call us to account. We expect a day of reckoning.

III. ITS ISSUES.

1. If found faithful, what joy and honour will be ours! (See Luk_12:37.)

2. If found unfaithful, what discomfiture and ruin! (See Luk_12:45, &c.)

IV. OUR TRUE INTEREST AND DUTY.

1. it is, to live wholly for eternity--for Christ.

2. It is, to be prepared for death and judgment every moment. (See Luk_12:35; Luk_12:40.)

3. It is, to stir up others to the same wakefulness and zeal! (The Congregational Pulpit.)

The nature of Christian watchfulness

1. Alertness.

2. Activity.

3. Circumspection. (Van Oosterzee.)

The motive of Christian watchfulness

1. Certainty.

2. Suddenness.

3. Decisiveness of the coming of the Lord. (Van Oosterzee.)

What does the Lord demand of His faithful servants?

1. An eye that is open for His light.

2. A hand that carries on His work.

3. A foot that is every instant ready to go to meet Him and to open to Him. (Van Oosterzee.)

What does the Lord promise to His faithful servants?

1. Honourable distinction.

2. Perfect contentment.

3. Beseeming elevation. (Van Oosterzee.)

Watchfulness in its true character

1. Its inner essence.

2. Its blessed consequences.

3. Its indispensable universality. (Arndt.)

Irresistible grace

I. THE REPRESENTATION WHICH IS HERE GIVEN OF GODS MODE OF DEALING WITH MEN. He cometh and knocketh. Where? At the door of our hearts. Then the door is by nature closed against God. And this applies equally to all. We allow all that can be asked of us, in regard to a vast difference between man and man; but only with reference to their characters and their conduct as members of society. When we try them by their love to God, by their willingness to submit to Him, by their desire to please Him, we contend that there is no difference whatever, but that all must be equally included under one emphatic description--Enemies in your minds by wicked works. This truth it is which we derive from the words of our text--the truth that the heart of every one amongst us is naturally barred against God, so that though it will be readily opened at the touch of friendship, or the call of distress, yet does it obstinately exclude that Creator and that Benefactor, who alone can fill its mighty capacities. And, if the text thus pourtray to you the natural condition of the human heart, it shows you, with equal accuracy, by what kind of manner Christ tries to gain the entrance which is wickedly denied. We speak not yet of the mode, in which it may be said, that Christ knocks at the door of the heart. We confine ourselves simply to the representation that no kind of violence is employed; there is nothing like forcing the door; but when Christ has knocked, it still rests with man to determine whether he will obey the summons, and let in the guest. You will all admit that there is nothing in the text which looks like what is called IRRESISTIBLE ONCE; nothing to favour the opinion that there is any inteference with the free will of man, in order that he may be compelled or induced to renounce what is evil, and embrace what is good. The representation is purely that of such an appeal to man as man is quite at liberty to withstand. There is a knocking at the door; perhaps a loud knocking, and a continued knocking, but still it is left with man to decide whether he will hear the voice and throw open the door. It is very clear from this, whatever we may hold as to human corruption and disability, that none of us can be excusable in being still unconverted and at enmity with God. If Christ have only knocked (and this can hardly be denied by any who have ever heard the sound of the gospel), the whole blame is chargeable on themselves, if He have not also entered, and taken possession of the heart. And how does Christ knock? We might almost say that He knocks by every object in creation, and by every provision in redemption. Every feature of the landscape, every tree of the forest; every flower of the garden, every joint and every muscle of my frame--all are gifted with the same energy, an energy in proclaiming that there is a Supreme Being, infinite in wisdom and goodness, as well as in might. And through each, therefore, this Being may be justly affirmed to knock at the door of the heart, demanding its love and its allegiance. And there are modes yet more personal than these, in which God may be said to come and knock at the human heart. Does He not often inflict fatherly chastisements--removing objects of deep love, and startling those who were sunk in lethargy, and living as though they had here an abiding city by sudden and distressing dispensations? And if God may be said to knock at the heart by the visitations of His providence, will you not allow the same in regard of all those actings on men, which are especially to be referred to the Second and Third Persons of the Trinity? We are bold to declare of every sermon that you hear, and every chapter which you read, that it knocks at the heart. The written word and the preached word are the exhibitions of what has been done for you by the Lord your Redeemer; and in resisting these, you resist the strongest possible appeal to every charity of the heart, to every susceptibility, to every hope, and to every fear. When Christ is evidently set forth crucified amongst you, the throes of His agony and passion; the instruments of shame and torture, the crown, the nail, the cross, the spear, the indignities endured without resentment, the griefs sustained without a murmur; the contumely poured on the Lord of Glory, the death submitted to by the Lord of Life, and all for us men and for our salvation;--each of these may emphatically be said to rush against the heart, pleading against its indifference, and worldliness, and pride, and soliciting admission for a Saviour who longs to enter it, only that He may purify and bless and fill it with lasting happiness. And to this must be added what must occur to every one of you, that the suggestions of conscience, and the strivings of the Spirit, are means through which Christ often knocks at the heart, and that too, with a violence which will scarcely permit inattention. Who is there of you who will presume to say that he never heard this knocking?

II. THE PROMISE MADE TO THOSE WHO YIELD TO HIS SOLICITATIONS, We will not insist upon that point of the representation which sets before us Christ as actually ministering--ministering as a servant to such as open when He knocks. We must not give too literal an interpretation to such sayings, though we may certainly understand our blessed Lord as affirming that He will graciously condescend to employ all His power and authority in advancing the honour and happiness of those who hearken to His call. Whilst waiving this, let us consider only the representation of sitting down to meat in association and company with the Lord our Redeemer. It has often been said, and we suppose with much truth, that heaven would be no scene of enjoyment to the wicked if they could be admitted within its gates without having the heart first changed by Divine grace. There cannot be happiness unless our faculties and desires have their counterpart objects. This is only saying that we must have our faculties rectified and receive a new set of desires ere we can possibly find happiness in the occupation and pleasures of the invisible world. And such a remark is specially in place with regard to the promise made by Christ in our text. It is not a promise which can wear much attractiveness to men who are wholly strangers to vital religion. There is not much in it to excite them, because it addresses itself to feelings which they do not yet possess and presupposes desires of which they are not conscious. They may see that the promise refers to close intimacy and rich communion between Christ and the soul, but they are disposed to resolve all such things into idealism and enthusiasm: they cannot profess to understand how they can be, nor if they be real, how they can also be valuable. But let us all add, that if unconverted men find no relish for the blessing to which the promise refers, this alone is sufficient to make them earnest in obeying Christs summons and opening the door. Certainly we do not know a more startling truth if we be impenitent and indifferent, than that heaven would be no heaven to us, even if we could gain entrance within its precincts; and it is going far beyond all ordinary descriptions, whether of mental or corporeal tyranny, to say that there is such a thorough unfitness for every pleasure which has God for its author, such a thorough incapacity for enjoying the blessings which God delighteth to secure to those whom He loves, that they would carry, as it were, hell into heaven, and be unspeakably miserable, even where there is to be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. That man indeed, must have wretchedness woven up with all the elements of his being, so that he must be his own tormentor, his own accuser, his own executioner, who could be translated from hell to heaven, and find the purities of the heavens a burden with the infirmities of earth. We will not, therefore, hear that there is no stirring motive to the unconverted amongst you in these words of the Saviour--he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. That you do not feel their force; that you do not see their beauty; this alone is argument enough why you should labour to fulfil the conditions and open immediately, upon hearing the knocking of Christ. To have no relish for what Christ has to bestow, proves such incapacity for happiness as is more formidable than the mere accumulation of misery. Therefore should the unconverted be as much roused by a promise whose worth they do not feel as by one which should actually address itself to their hopes and their wishes. If the door were to be opened that wealth might pour in, and that carnal pleasure might abound, what alacrity would there be in obeying the summons and withdrawing the bolt I But if the door is to be opened, that the Mediator may enter, and if this seem in no degree an inducement; why, this very fact ought to furnish the strongest possible inducement! for, unless I can learn to be happy in Gods way, how unspeakably wretched must I ever be in my own! But we may well believe that there are others in this assembly who have appreciated the worth of the promise in our text. To such we need not say that there is a communion and intercourse between Christ and the soul, which if not capable of being described to a stranger, is unspeakably precious to those by whom it is experienced. It is no dream of rye enthusiast; it is the statement of soberness and truth. The Redeemer so manifests Himself to those who believe in His name that He communicates to them such a sense of His presence, and brings them into such intimate companionship, that He may be said to enter in and make them sit down to meat. There is what I may venture to call a social and family intercourse; not indeed an intercourse in which the majesty and the dignity of the Mediator are ever forgotten, but nevertheless one which is as cordial and unreserved as it is actual, the soul opening all her capacities that she may be filled with all the fulness of the Saviour, and the Saviour deigning to impart himself in His various offices. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

The kind Master

First let us glance at the form of the parable. A certain Oriental gentleman, or lord, has gone to the wedding of a friend. The festivities connected with an Eastern marriage were spread over many days, a week at least, sometimes a month. All the friends of the family were expected to put in an appearance, but only a select few remained to the end. The rest might come and go at any hour, on any day, that suited their convenience or pleasure. So that when this Hebrew gentleman went to his friends wedding, his servants could not tell to an hour, or to a watch, or even to a day, when he would return. But, however long he delayed his coming, they kept a keen look-out for him. When night fell, instead of barring up the house and retiring to rest, they girt up their long outer robes, that they might be ready to run out at any instant to greet him; they kindled their lamps, that they might run safely, as well as swiftly, on his errands. They even prepared a table for him; for, though he was coming from a feast, he may have had to ride far and long, and, in any case, a little fruit and a cup of pure water or of generous wine might be very acceptable to him. In this posture, with these preparations, they await his coming. And when he comes, he is so pleased with their fidelity and thoughtfulness that, instead of sitting down to meat or hastening to his couch, he girds up his loins, bids his servants sit down to the very banquet they had prepared for him, and comes forth from his chamber to wait upon them.

I. THE WATCHFULNESS OF THE SERVANTS. As they waited for the coming of their master, so are we to wait for the coming of ours. If we take the great promise of the New Testament--the second advent of Christ--if we divest it of all mere accidents of form and date, and reduce it to its most simple and general terms, what does it come to? It comes at least to this: that, somewhere in the future, there is to be a better world than this--a world more wisely and happily ordered, a world in which all that is now wrong will be righted, a world of perfect beauty and growing righteousness; in a word, a world in which He who once suffered for and with all men will really reign in and over all men, His spirit dwelling in them, and raising them towards the true ideal of manhood. And is not that a reasonable hope? Does it not make a vital difference to us whether or not we entertain it? If in this world only we have hope, we are of all creatures most miserable. If the tragedy of human life be pregnant with no Divine purpose, if there be no better time coming, no golden age of righteousness and peace--if, in short, we can no longer believe in the advent and reign of Christ, then surely every thoughtful spectator of this vast tragedy must say, It were better for men that they had never been born! But if we believe in this great promise, if we cherish this great hope, then can we with patience wait for it. And this is the very posture which our Lord here enjoins.

II. THE FRIENDLY AND BOUNTIFUL KINDNESS OF THE MASTER. Whatever we have done for God, He will do for us; when He reckons with us, we shall receive our own again, and receive it with usury. It is but a metaphorical expression of that great law of retribution which pervades the whole Bible, but the happier face of which we are too apt to overlook--that whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap, that, and all that has come of it. The Divine reward will be at once equitable and bountiful. If in this present life we have shown some capacity for serving God in serving our fellows, we may be sure that in the life to come we shall receive the harvest of our service; we may be sure that God will do for us all that we have done for Him, and a great deal more. But what, after all, is the best part of a mans reward for a faithful and diligent use of any faculty here? It is that his faculty, whatever it may be, is invigorated, developed, refined by use. If, then, I have here used my faculty and opportunity for serving God in serving my fellows, I may hope and believe that hereafter my best reward will be an enlarged faculty of service and ampler opportunities for exercising it. If I love righteousness here, and pursue it, I find all righteous men and influences on my side, and so get my reward; but my best reward is that I myself am ever growing in righteousness, in the power of teaching and serving it. (S. Cox, D. D.)

Preparation for death

I. THE DESCRIPTION OF DEATH WHICH CHRIST HERE GIVES.

1. Death, you perceive, is here represented as the coming of Jesus Christ. In His capacity of Mediator, He comes at death, to terminate that space for repentance which He has allotted to each individual; He comes to demand an account of our stewardship.

2. But out text refers, with peculiar emphasis, to the uncertainty in which we are left, as to the time when our Lord will come. That He will come, we are distinctly and impressively assured: and the time, the place, and the manner of His coming, are all foreknown to Him, and appointed by Him. But they are all unknown to us; the year, the day, the hour are unknown; whether it shall be in the second watch, or in the third watch; whether it shall be in the morning, or in the evening, or at noonday; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.

II. THE PREPARATION FOR NEATH WHICH CHRIST ENJOINS.

1. Preparation for death is founded on a belief of the gospel of Christ.

2. It includes a devout anticipation of death, and a reference to it amidst the concerns and engagements of life.

3. Preparation for death includes also a holy and habitual perseverance in the service of Jesus Christ.

III. THE BLESSEDNESS WHICH CHRIST HERE ENSURES TO THOSE WHO DIE IN THIS STATE OF PREPARATION.

1. They are blessed with peace and hops in the prospect and in the act of dying.

2. They are blessed with an entrance into heaven immediately after death. (J. Alexander.)

Waiting for the Lord

Our dear friend, Mr. James Smith, whom some of you remember as preaching the Word at Park Street, and afterwards at Cheltenham, when I saw him, some little while before his departure, described himself thus: You have seen a passenger that has gone to the station, taken his ticket, all his luggage brought in, all packed up, strapped, directed; and you have seen him sitting with his ticket in his hand, waiting till the train comes up. That, said he, is exactly my condition. I am ready to go as soon as my Heavenly Father pleases to come for me. And is not that how we should always live--waiting for the Lords appearing? Mr. Whitefield used to say, of his well-known order and regularity, I like to go to bed feeling that if I were to die to-night, there is not so much as a pair of my gloves out of their proper place. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Always ready

When war was declared between France and Germany, Count yon Moltke, the strategist, was fully prepared for it. The news was brought to him late one night at Kreisau: he had already gone to bed. Very well, he said to the messenger, the third portfolio on the left, and went to sleep again until morning. (H. O. Mackay.)

Watching is essential

A general, after gaining a great victory, was encamping with his army for the night. He ordered watch to be kept all around the camp as usual. One of the sentinels, as he went to his station, grumbled to himself, and said, Why could not the general let us have a quiet nights rest for once, after beating the enemy? Im sure theres nothing to be afraid of. The man then went to his station and stood for some time looking about him. It was a bright night, with a harvest moon, but, as he could see no sign of danger anywhere, he said to himself, I am terribly tired, I shall sleep for just five minutes, out of the moonlight, under the shadow of this tree. So he lay down. Presently he started up, dreaming that some one had pushed a lantern before his eyes, and he found that the moon was shining brightly down on him through the branches of the tree above him. The next minute an arrow whizzed past his ear, and the whole field before him seemed alive with soldiers in dark green coats, who sprang up from the ground, where they had been silently creeping onward, and rushed toward him. Fortunately the arrow had missed him! so he shouted aloud to give the alarm, and ran back to some other sentinels. The army to which he belonged was thus saved, and the soldier said, I shall never forget, as long as I live, that when one is at war, one must watch. (Christian Age.)

Preparation for death

The Rev. Dr. Kidd was a Scotch minister of some prominence, and very eccentric, and one who had his own way of doing things. One of his parishioners says: I was busy in my shop, when, in the midst of my work, in stepped the doctor. Did you expect me? was his abrupt inquiry, without even waiting for a salutation. No, was my reply. What if I had been Death? he asked, when at once he stepped out as abruptly as he came, and was gone almost before I knew it. What a question! What a thought for every one of us! Does not Death come to most, if not to all, as unexpectedly as this? And does not the inquiry impress the lesson from our Saviours lips, Be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.

Be ready!

In the early part of 1875, a young minister, desirous to see the working of the railway signals, points, and telegraph, entered a signal box on a branch line (where the road crossed the metals) for that purpose. The man in charge was most affable, and willing to supplement his limited knowledge of it, by showing him the working of the various branches of trust committed to his charge, as the respective trains came through. Only a few moments elapsed when the sharp ring of the gong attracted both signalman and his visitor to the telegraphic instrument, and the signal Be ready was given for a fast through train. The answer returned, the signal lowered, the points righted, and, like the rushing of a mighty wind, on came the ponderous engine and its train of human life. Fast went that train, but the Be ready flew before it from station to station, preparing for it clear metals and a safe journey. A few days elapsed, and the same train was again due; the Be ready had been received and forwarded; the signals lowered, the points righted; but one of the gates had somehow got unlocked, and hung across the road. The signalman rushed to the gate hoping to fling it back, but was too late. The train dashed on, and the mangled corpse of the poor man told of his sudden exit from this world to the next. Have you not received the Be ready again and again? Look well to your signals, look well to your points, and see that you are ready. The Apostle Paul once got the signal Be ready, and his reply was this: I am now ready to be offered up, for the time of my departure is at hand. (Christian Age.)

Waiting and watching

Faith without works has no testifying and authenticating fruit. They are the two extremes of the one tree, viz., the root and the fruit; they are the two halves of the one whole--together they make up the complete Christian. In the text, this completeness is brought out and illustrated in a forcible manner, in the three aspects in which our Lord presents the Christian, viz., a servant, a light-bearer, and a watchman.

I. In the first direction which our Lord gives, Let your loins be girded about, we have before us the picture of A SERVANT GIRDED FOR DUTY. I need not tell you what the position and duties of a servant are; how it is expected of him that he should know his place, and humbly and faithfully discharge the duties of his station. He should, if possible, identify himself with his masters interest, and conduct himself in a manner which will sustain his masters honour. The servant of Christ has the noblest of all masters--the holiest of all services--the most honourable of all positions. The servant of a king ever bears about him the reflected honour of the king, and the amount of this honour is in proportion to his nearness or remoteness to the throne. So the servant of the King of kings borrows dignity from the Being whom he serves. He wears no outward insignia of that dignity, as earthly courtiers do in stars or ribbons; but it is a glory which reflects itself in his daily life, and evidences his relation to Jesus by the fidelity and zeal which he shows in His service. The fact that what he does, he does for Christ, lifts it out of the plane of menial duty, and places it in the higher region of holy privilege. Such a service ought to call out prompt obedience, loving devotion, unwearied effort, and thorough sympathy with the aim and purpose of God in the work of mans salvation.

II. But, secondly, the text tells us that the Christian is to BE A LIGHTBEARER as well as a servant. Not only must his loins be girded, but his lights must be burning, The Christian lives in the midst of moral darkness.

Sin is darkness, and he lives in a world of sin; a world in which men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Error also is darkness. If Christ is in you His light will shine out through you; and if none shines out through you, it will be because there is none in you. Where the light is, there will be the shining. The absence of light proves the absence of Christ; for you cannot cover up His light or smother His beams. The necessity for these lights being ever burning arises from the personal need of the believer himself; and from the necessity of showing forth to others the light and truth which he has found in Jesus. The personal security of the disciple, then, requires that he should let his lights be burning. His spiritual comfort also depends on this. St. John, after declaring that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all, immediately adds, If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. The holier the life, the brighter the light. The more the light shines for others, the greater is the inner glow of our own hearts, and the greater the outer glory given to God. The absence of light where we expect to find it, often produces most disastrous results.

III. Lastly, the text tells us that the Christian is to be a WATCHMAN: and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, The watchman-like character of the Christian is to show itself in two ways. First, by watching over himself; and secondly, by waiting for his returning Lord. Over himself he must watch, lest he become careless in duty, remiss in keeping his light burning, and be overtaken with drowsiness and indifference. Self-watchfulness is the necessary pre-requisite to spiritual peace and growth. Only the self-confident and the self-ignorant are unwatchful; and the unwatchful always become an easy prey to the spoiler. All that the great deceiver asks of us is; not that we should openly abandon our religion, but simply ungird our loins--let our light go out and cease to watch. He will finish the work which we thus by carelessness and unwatchfulness begin. In addition to this self-watchfulness there is the other position to be taken, viz., waiting for our returning Lord. This may imply that outlook which all true Christians like to take in reference to the Second Advent of Christ, when He shall come again to judge the world. (Bishop Stevens.)

The lamp of the soul ever burning

I. CONSIDER THE EMPTY, UNTRIMMED LAMP AS THE EMBLEM OF THE NOMINAL PROFESSOR. A lamp is a very serviceable thing, serviceable for lighting our stormy coast, and guarding against shipwrecks; serviceable for lighting our homes; but it is of little service unless it is trimmed, and unless it has oil in it. Now a hollow professor is like a lamp of this kind, a lamp with no oil in it, that cannot be lighted when you want it; as useless, though more dangerous. He lets not the lamp of his profession shine before men with the light of practice, with the light of good works, because the lamp of his profession is destitute of the oil of Divine grace. The oil is the emblem of Divine grace in the Christian profession. And as it is impossible to light a lamp without first putting oil into it; so is it impossible for a hollow professor to shed around on this dark world the beautiful and refreshing light of good works, unless, first, the oil of Divine grace is poured into the empty receptacle of his unconverted heart, by the unseen hand of the Holy Spirit.

II. CONSIDER THE LAMP, WITH OIL IN IT, RUT NOT LIGHTED, AS AN EMBLEM OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN, BUT NOT EXACTLY SO WELL PREPARED FOR THE SECOND COMING OF THE SON OF MAN AT AN HOUR UNEXPECTED. It is an easy thing for the lamp of the Christian to grow dim, or to go out. If the Christian is not watchful, the slightest blast from the insidious temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, will blow his lamp out. Want of prayer, irregularity in prayer, coldness in prayer, will put the Christians lamp out, or make it burn very dull. Neglect of the Scriptures, neglect either in not searching them, or in searching them in a self-righteous and careless spirit, will extinguish the bright light of the lamp. Or irregularity, or formality, in attending the Sacrament, and the other Divinely appointed means of grace, will cause the lamp to emit a dim and unhealthy light. Yielding to the besetting sin will put the lamp out; yielding to any wilful sin will put the lamp out. Remissness in self-examination will put the lamp out. Want of zeal for Christ will put the lamp out. Want of faith in Christ will put the lamp out. Want of hope in Christ will put the lamp out. Want of love for Christ will put the lamp out. Want of an abounding stedfastness in the work of the Lord, will put the lamp out.

III. CONSIDER THE LAMP BURNING, AS AN EMBLEM OF DUE PREPARATION FOR CHRISTS SUDDEN COMING. Brethren, it is a hard thing in a world like this, and with an old evil nature that clings to the new man, for the Christian to keep his lamp burning. There are few Christians, indeed, whom sudden death has found, or the second advent will find, not only with lamps, and the oil in the lamps, but the lamps themselves burning. Sudden death, sudden glory, has been the noble motto of a very distinguished minority, and death has not had power to make them retract. Absent from the body, present with the Lord; so said St. Paul in life, and so he felt in death. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, are among the last glorious words on record of St. John. They shed a burning and shining light upon this dark world of sin and woe to the very last. Their whole eventful lives were spent in being good, or doing good. To them to live is Christ, to die is gain. When their lamps grow dull, and seem threatening to go out, they immediately brighten them up, and make them burn again, by betaking themselves to the throne of grace.

IV. To each of these three classes of Christians, denoted by the lamp, WE WOULD OFFER A WORD OF EXHORTATION BY WAY OF WARNING OR ENCOURAGEMENT.

1. To the first we would say, yours is a sad case, indeed. You trust in the lamp of a hollow profession to save you in the great, and awful, and searching day of your Lords second coming. You trust to a lamp without oil to light it. If you put confidence in any refuge of lies of this description, what a miserable end yours will be when Christ cometh. The God that seeth not as man seeth, the God that searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins, is to be your Judge, and pronounce your final doom.

2. To the second class of Christians we would say, guard against all those things that tend to put the lamp out. Every Christian knows what has the influence of deadening the light of the Spirit in his soul, and such a course ought to be strenuously avoided.

3. To the third class of Christians here designated, let us offer the word of encouragement. Often seated amid nights of terrible darkness, on the rock that is higher than we, on the rock of ages, have you been looking patiently, and in faith, over Times troublous sea, for the glad day of Christs coming to arrive, watching for the day-star to rise. Let your lamps be thus burning, till He comes. It will not be long before He does come. Yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. Then your souls vigils will come to an end. (R. Jones, M. 4.)

What do you keep a lantern for?

A blind beggar sat by the side-walk on a dark night with a bright lantern by his side. Whereat a passer-by was so puzzled that he had to turn back with--What in the world do you keep a lantern burning for? You cant see! Sot folks wont stumble over me, was the reply. We should keep our lights brightly burning for others sakes, as well as for the good of being in the light ourselves.

Christian preparedness

A Christian must stand in a posture to receive every message which God shall send. He must be so prepared as to be like one who is called to set off on a sudden journey, and has nothing to do but to set out at a moments notice; or like a merchant who has goods to send abroad, and has them all packed up and in readiness for the first vessel that is to sail. (R. Cecil.)

Ready

We should always stand with our lamps burning, and our loins girt. A Christian should always be as a ship that has taken in its lading, and is prepared and furnished with all manner of tackling, ready to sail, only expecting the good winds to carry him out of the haven. So should we be ready to set sail for the ocean of eternity, and stand at heavens gate, be in a perpetual exercise of faith and love, and be fittingly prepared to meet our Saviour. (H. G. Salter.)

The expectant servant

I. WHY IS THERE SUCH A CONTRAST IN THE PRESENT STATE OF THE CHURCH AS COMPARED WITH THE CHURCH IN APOSTOLIC TIMES?

1. Christ predicted this apathy.

2. The narrow views prevalent as to the idea of judgment have much to do with this indifference. Christ is to establish a rule of equity, to establish righteousness in the earth, let us remember.

3. In saying It is expedient for you that I go away, the Lord did not say that it was expedient to stay away. We seem to act as if He said so. But He said, I will come again.

II. THE BLESSEDNESS OF WAITING FOR CHRIST.

1. It shows our real affection for Him.

2. It shows that we entertain right views of the work of Christ, and are in sympathy with that work.

3. This expectant attitude testifies to our supreme desire for spiritual blessings: those gifts of His grace which prepare us for His work here, and for the glorious vision of His face at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. (H. G.Weston, D. D.)

Christian watchfulness

Let the duty of watchfulness engage your most careful attention. How vigilant is he who is appointed to keep watch at seal The watchful mariner, says one, is ever on the look out. His eyes and ears are both open. Be the prevailing fear an enemys force, or a sunk rock, or concealed bank, or shelving coast, he discerns the smallest symptoms, observes the motion of the waves sounds with the line, and gives the alarm on the most minute alteration. Without such watchfulness, the most precious merchandise, and the lives of men, would be each hour in jeopardy. Much the same is the case in warfare by land. The sentinel on the outpost is heedful of the most inconsiderable object within his station; and in the darkness of the night, his ear listens to every noise, Nothing can divert his attention from fidelity to his charge. Such also is the case with the watchman in the besieged city. From the walls, as far as he has light, he marks each change and alteration in the posture of the enemy, draws a judgment from the nicest circumstances; and, in the night, discerns even the rustling of the leaf moved by the breath of heaven; and at every suspicious noise he gives the alarm to the guards of the city. Without this the cry of havoc would oft be heard in the town, when drowned in heaviness and slumber. Thus it is that you should watch for your own souls. Be watchful lest ye make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. Be watchful against your spiritual enemies. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Watch over your words and actions, and your very thoughts. Keep your hearts with all dilligence, for out of them are the issues of life. Beware of those things which are contrary to watchfulness, such as sloth, inconsideration, worldliness, and sensuality. And see that you join prayer to watchfulness. (James Foote, M. A.)

Found well employed

Philip Henry, the father of the commentator, called upon a tanner, who was so briskly employed in tanning a hide that he did not notice the ministers approach, and on looking round he apologized for being found thus employed. Philip Henry replied, Let Christ, when He comes, find me equally well employed in the duties of my calling. Many other ministers have made the same reply to similar excuses.

All watched

A story that I read when a boy, says one, made a great impression on me. At a lonely country house a pedlar asked permission to leave a large pack of goods. Some one looking at it in an out-of-the-way room, thought they saw it move. A man in the house fired at it: a groan was heard, and blood issued. Inside the pack was the accomplice of coming robbers, with food, and a wind-call. Neighbours were got in, guns were loaded, and all watched. In the night they sounded the call; the robbers came, were welcomed with a volley, and fled, taking their dead and wounded with them.

Waiting for the Lord

Two centuries ago, Andrew Gray, the MCheyne of his time, and who, like him, was early called home, once said at a communion season, Oh, when shall these blue heavens be rent, and we be admitted to the marriage supper of the Lamb? I long for the day when all the language of heaven and earth shall be, Come, come, Lord Jesus. But, in a more marked degree still, this was the theme in which Samuel Rutherford ever specially delighted. All is night that is here, he said; therefore sigh and long for the dawning of the morning, and the breaking of that day of the coming of the Son of Man! Persuade yourself the King is coming: read his letter sent before him, Behold, I come quickly. Wait with the wearied night watch for the breaking of the eastern sky, and think that ye have not a morrow. (J. H. Norton.)

The coming of Christ

I. THE PERSONS TO WHOM THE COMMAND WAS ADDRESSED WERE ORIGINALLY THE AUDIENCE TO WHICH OUR SAVIOUR WAS SPEAKING. These, as St. Luke informs us, were an innumerable multitude of people, gathered, as it would seem, to hear him preach the gospel. A part of them were His disciples, a part of them were His enemies, and a part, probably including the greatest number, could scarcely have known anything of Him, unless by report. To all these classes of men the command is addressed in the written gospel. To him who reads it, and to him who hears it, it is addressed alike; and that whether he be a Christian, or a sinner, acquainted with Christ, or unacquainted.

II. IN EXAMINING THE COMMAND ITSELF, I SHALL BRIEFLY MENTION--First, What that is for which we are to be ready; and--Secondly, What is included in being ready. First, We are required to be ready for the coming of Christ. There are several senses in which this phrase may be fairly understood, as used in the Scriptures.

(1) When it is applied to individuals it particularly denotes the day of death. Death to every man is the time in which Christ will come, which will terminate every mans probation, and put an end to the necessity and duty of watching, so solemnly enjoined in the text.

(2) We are also required to be ready for the judgment;

(3) and for eternity. Secondly, I will now proceed to inquire what is included in being ready.

1. Profaners of the Lords Day are not ready for the coming of Christ.

2. Prayerless persons are not ready for the coming of Christ.

3. Those who do not profess the religion of Christ, and enter into His covenant, are not not ready for His coming.

4. Those persons also are unprepared for the coming of Christ who prefer the world to Him.

5. All persons are unprepared for the coming of Christ who have hitherto put off their repentance to a future season.

6. All those persons also are unready for the coming of Christ who in their schemes of reformation reserve to themselves the indulgence of some sinful disposition, or the perpetration of some particular sin.

7. Those also are unready for the coming of Christ who do not continually and solemnly converse with death, judgment, and eternity.

8. Careless Christians are also unprepared for the coming of Christ.

III. I WILL NOW PROCEED TO THE CONSIDERATION OF THE REASON BY WHICH THE DUTY OF PREPARING OURSELVES FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST IS ENFORCED IN THE TEXT--For the Son of Man cometh in an hour when ye think not. How solemnly ought we to remember that death will not wait for our wishes, that the judgment is now hastening, that eternity is at the door? Disease, unperceived, may now be making progress in our veins, and may be preparing, without a suspicion on our part, to hurry us to the grave. How absurd, how deceitful, how fatal is our procrastination! (T. Dwight, D. D.)

Proper preparation for death

I. THE SOLEMN EVENT FOR WHICH WE ARE EXHORTED TO PREPARE, Death.

II. WHAT CONSTITUTES A PROPER PREPARATION FOR DEATH?

1. The justification of our persons by a true and lively faith in

Christ.

2. The sanctification of our souls by the effectual operation of the Holy Spirit.

III. WHY SUCH A PREPARATION BECOMES IMMEDIATELY NECESSARY.

1. Because the time of his coming, or (what is substantially the same thing to us) the time of our death is awfully uncertain.

2. Because delay may be fatal and irretrievable. (D. Ruell, M. A.)

Signs and preparations of the last judgment

I. REMOTE SIGNS.

1. The coming of Antichrist (2Th_2:3-4).

2. The coming of Enoch and Elias, and the spread of faith

Rev_11:3-12).

II. PROXIMATE SIGNS.

1. Tribulations on earth (Luk_21:9, &c.).

2. Signs in heaven (Mat_24:29).

3. The standard of the cross of Christ (Mat_24:30).

It shall appear--

(1) As token of Christs victory.

(2) As the key of heaven. It is the cross that re-opened heaven, and it is our cross carried after Jesus that will open heaven to us.

(3) As a measure of our works.

(4) As a reproach to all the enemies of Christ (Joh_19:37).

III. IMMEDIATE PREPARATIONS.

1. The bodies of the dead will rise.

2. All men must appear before the tribunal of Christ.

3. The wicked shall be separated from among the just. (J. Marchant.)

Ready, or not ready?

I. JESUS CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN.

1. Not in humble guise, but in His glorious majesty.

2. Not to procure salvation, but to inquire who among men have sought His salvation and accepted His offers, and to pronounce sentence accordingly.

II. CHRIST WILL COME WHEN WE DO NOT EXPECT HIM.

1. The world generally will be unprepared.

2. For each of us, death is the coming of the Son of Man.

III. THE NECESSITY OF BEING PREPARED TO MEET OUR GOD WHEN HE COMES.

1. Are you forgiven?

2. Are you growing in holiness? (A. Bibby.)

Ready!

Anxious thought misdirected only secures misery. Supreme efforts of thought, involving the greatest tension of heart-strings, should be spent on objects worthy of themselves. We were once shown a crossing-sweeper who had received a university training. What a waste! Men who spend their lives in seeking the daintiest food to eat, and the costliest dress to wear, waste time and talent, energy and substance, on the inferior parts of their being. Where, then, should anxious thought be exercised? But rather seek ye the kingdom of God. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning. Be ye therefore ready also. These are the objects worthy of our anxiety and prayer.

I. BE READY--BE RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. IT IS HERE THE PREPARATION BEGINS. No one is ready to die who is not justified by faith and has peace with God. We do not wish to limit the power of God to save, even at the last moment, but we must say that it is a hazardous practice. Life at the longest is but brief to prepare for a world which has no end. For a long journey, and for a long stay from home, more elaborate preparations are made than for a short stay. When one intends to quit his native land for ever to reside in some distant colony, every preparation possible is made for that event. Observe also that the preparation is made with a view to the future. We who are hastening towards the judgment-seat need remember the exhortation--Prepare, O Israel, to meet thy God. Our sins must be pardoned, and our hearts cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Without this we shall encounter the frown which will strike an eternal shudder through the soul. Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to God.

II. BE READY--BE ON YOUR GUARD AGAINST THE ALLUREMENTS OF THE WORLD. Let neither prosperity nor adversity steal our opportunities, but let our heart be fixed on heavenly things. The stag is swift of foot, but it is often caught by its own horns in the thicket of the forest. Men who pride themselves on their business capacities are drowned in the pleasures of wealth-getting. This world is full of enticements, and as Calypso would have detained the hero in her beautiful grotto, so these exert an influence prejudicial to the growth of heavenly desires. Let us cultivate the spirit of prayer, and commune often with the opposite shore. Every prayer reminds us that there is a happy land yonder where the saints stand in bright glory.

III. BE READY--BE IN CONSTANT EXPECTATION OF HIS COMING. Of all thoughts this is the sweetest. The Apostolic Church was fired daily with the hope that the Master was at hand. A lieutenant who had been mortally wounded was asked if he had a word he wished to be conveyed to his wife, replied, Tell my wife that there is not a cloud between me and Jesus. It was a triumphant death. Be ready to welcome the Saviour when He comes, that no earthly entanglements may detain you one moment. (The Weekly Pulpit.)

Preparation for death and judgment

To die! This is the sure end of earthly life. However long our life may be, it must terminate in death. We may struggle as we will, but the stream of time is carrying us onwards, and we must be swept away; strong swimmers though we be, we cannot contend against the flood, but onward we must go, each day bearing us upon its bosom to the boundless Sea of Eternity. Since then, death is so certain to each of us, what is it to die? To die is to stand in the presence of the King of kings. Is no preparation required to appear before the Majesty of Heaven? And to die is not only to appear before the King, but to stand before a Judge. Moreover, to die is to stamp our lot with eternity. Now if we look at death in this light, as appearing before a King, as standing before a Judge, and as the settling and consolidation of our future existence, what arguments might we draw from these facts that we should be ready also. Many men say, Oh! when I come to die I shall say, Lord, have mercy upon me; and will then get ready to go to heaven. Dressing for heaven, my friends, is not done quite so rapidly as that. Besides, how do you know that even five minutes will ever be given to you? I have heard of such a man, who often made it his boast that he would so prepare for heaven; but, alas I coming home one night, drunk, his horse leaped the parapet of a bridge, and he was heard cursing as he descended to his doom. Such may be your lot; sudden death may smite you, and there will be no time for preparation--there will be no time for you to prepare to meet your God. And now what is the preparation that we require to make? If death be what I have said it is, it is needful that we should be prepared for it; but what is- the preparation? My hearers, there are two things necessary before a man can face his God without fear. The first is, that his sins should be pardoned. When an unpardoned sinner shall come into the presence of God, he shall not stand in the Judgment, for the burning wrath of God shall consume him like stubble. Depart--says God--depart, ye cursed; ye have lived in sin against Me; go and reap the harvest ye have sowed; inherit the reward of your own works. Sin unpardoned clothes a man with rags; and shall a man stand in rags before the King of Heaven? Sin unpardoned defiles a man with filth and loathsomeness; and shall filth and loathsomeness appear before perfection, or blackness stand in the presence of light and purity? Sin unpardoned makes man an enemy of God, and God an enemy of man. Sinners, lay hold of Christ. Ye doves, ye who are timid, and fear the tempest of God, hide yourselves in the cleft of the Rock of Ages, so shall ye be sheltered in the day of the fierce anger of the Lord. Now, as I have said, the first thing necessary for salvation is pardon of sin, and that is to be had through faith in Christ. But, secondly, even if a mans sins are pardoned, he would not be prepared to die if his nature were not renewed. If you could blot out all your sins in a moment, and if it could be possible for you to go to heaven just as you are, you could not be happy there; because heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. An unconverted man in heaven would be like a fish out of water--he would be wholly out of his element. Holy Mr. Whitfield used to say, that if an ungodly man could go to heaven as he is, he would be so miserable there that he would ask to be allowed to run to hell for shelter! Ye who find our places of worship dreary prisons, and Sundays dull days, how could you bear everlasting worship? How could you bear to have eternal Sabbaths, and continual songs of praises morning, noon, and night? Why, you would say, Let me out; Gabriel, let me out; this is not the place for me; let me be gone; I am not happy here. Verily, verily I say unto you, ye must be born again. Well, cries one, I will change my nature. My dear friends, you cannot do it; you may alter your habits, but your nature you cannot; there is only One that can alter nature, and that is the Holy Spirit. Christ blots out sin, and the Holy Spirit renews the heart. You may reform, but that will not take you to heaven. It is not being reformed; it is being reborn; made new creatures in Christ Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Prepare at once

I was preaching in Essex but a few months ago, and the sermon was scarcely finished, when a Christian woman, who was hearing it, dropped dead in her pew. It was but a little while ago, in Kent, that during a sermon, a poor man who had bent forward, and listened with all his ears, fell forward on his face, and then and there appeared before his God. Sudden deaths are not such common things as perpetually to keep us in alarm, yet they are common enough, I hope, to make both young and old arise and hear the voice of God--Prepare, prepare, to meet your God. Oh! my hearers, it is but a short time with the very longest lived amongst us. I see here and there a hoary head. Is that grey hair yonder a crown of glory or a fools cap? It is either the one or the other. There are young persons here too, O let them look forward to the longest time that we may live, and how brief the period! Time--how short! Eternity--how long! Well, since die we must, I do beseech and intreat you to think of death. Why should all your time be spent in thinking of the things of this world, when there is another world beyond the present? Why, why, is this short life to have all your thoughts, and the life to come to have none of them? I have heard of a monarch who, having a fool in his court, gave him a walking-stick, with an injunction never to part with it, until he should meet with a bigger fool than himself. He kept it for many a day, until at last, the monarch dying, the fool (who was a wise man, after all) came, and said, Master, where are you going? Well, said he, I am going to die. Said the fool, How long are you going to be there? Oh! said the monarch, for ever and ever. And have you not made any preparation for the journey; have you no house to live in when you get there; have you nothing ready? said the fool. No, said the monarch, I never thought of it. There, said the fool, take the walkingstick; I play the fool in this world, but you have fooled away the next: you have entirely neglected the world to come, and are a fool in very deed. And is not that the English after all of what those men are who are so careless of the world to come? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Death a surprise

1. Death is a surprise in the time of its coming.

2. It is a surprise in the way of its coming.

3. It is a surprise, as it finds the sinner unprepared. He meant to be ready, but death was too quick for him.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. God has wisely hidden from us the day of death, that we may be always ready and watching for His coming.

2. There is never but a step, a breath, a heart-throb, between any man and death! While the citadel is guarded, and the walls and gates are watched day and night with sleepless vigilance, an unseen foe lurks within, and with noiseless tread, at the midnight hour, enters the chamber of the sleeper, and life is extinct. Be ready, O man! The Son of Man may come at any hour, in any place, by any agency, along any one of a thousand unseen avenues. (Homiletic Review.)

Danger of unwatchfulness

A great commander was engaged in besieging a strongly fortified city. After a while he concentrated his forces at a point where the fortifications were stronger than at any other, and at 2 p.m., under a bright sun and a clear sky, ordered an assault. When expostulated with by an under officer, the commander replied, At this point such a general is in command. At this hour of the day he is invariably accustomed to retire for a long sleep. When informed of our approach he will deny the fact, and send a messenger for information. Before the messenger returns we shall gain possession of the fortress. The facts turned out exactly as predicted. Yonder weak point, said the commander, is held by General--There is no use in attempting to surprise him; he is never for a moment off his guard.

A sudden call

The following story is by an Indian officer:--It was the height of summer, and a tropical sun had just set, and a cool, refreshing sea-breeze was blowing, which we were inhaling with delight. A fever peculiar to the climate had prostrated many of all ranks, and proved fatal in some instances; and among the convalescents was a young officer in whom I had taken a great personal interest. His strength, however, not recruiting as rapidly as could be wished, the medical authorities advised his return to England for a short furlough; and just as the mess bugle had sounded, and I was preparing to dress, he came in in high spirits, but with tottering steps, to tell me that, as that very evening a steamer was expected, he had obtained leave to embark, and he heartily wished me good-bye. His last words were: I am going home to-night, and perhaps the steamer will come in before you leave the mess; if not, see me off. It was midnight before we left the mess-room; and on walking to my quarters I found a lamp burning in my friends room. I looked in and found him sleeping soundly, but breathing very loudly. I went up to him, and found all my efforts to waken him unavailing. I immediately summoned the doctor, and to my horror he pronounced him to be dying. In three hours, and just as the signal-gun was fired to announce the arrival of the steamer in which he had engaged his passage, his spirit passed away. He was gone home. He had lived to Christ on earth, and by his bedside lay the Bible which he had just read before he slept that fatal sleep. Watch ye, therefore, for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 12:35-36. Let your loins, &c. — Our Lord, having recommended to his disciples disengagement of affection from the things of this world, and a due moderation as to their esteem for, and cares about, earthly possessions, proceeds now to exhort them to be in constant readiness for the proper discharge of their duty, for their final remove from earth, and for the awful solemnities of death, judgment, and eternity. That this is the purport of this paragraph, seems evident from every part of it. In the expression here, Let your loins be girded about, he alludes to the circumstance of the eastern people wearing long garments; in consequence of which it was necessary, when they had any thing to do which required them to exert their strength or agility, that they should tuck them up, and gird them close: a practice to which there are frequent references both in the Old and New Testaments. The entertainments in the East are also here alluded to, which were anciently made in the evening, so that night was commonly far spent before the guests were dismissed. On such occasions servants showed their faithfulness by watching, and keeping their lamps burning, that they might be ready to open the door to their master on the first knock; for to suffer them to be extinguished, as it would have been an inconvenient circumstance to the master, so it would also have been a demonstration of the servant’s idleness. The expressions, taken together, may intimate the care we should take to inform ourselves in our duty, and the resolution with which we should apply to the performance of it. And be ye like unto men — Unto good servants, attending to the work appointed them; that wait for their lord — That are continually prepared to receive him; when he will return from the wedding — That is, from a marriage-feast, or any other late entertainment; that they may open to him immediately — And not be surprised in any disorder. It does not appear that there is any particular mystery in the circumstance of a wedding, or marriage-feast, being here mentioned. Our Lord might probably instance in this entertainment, because marriage-feasts were generally the most splendid, and so prolonged to the latest hours.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

V. Gradually extending his address from the twelve to the multitudes, Jesus warns of his Second Coming, Luk_12:35-50.

The Saviour’s address so imperceptibly expands to take in all alike, that Peter is at last induced to ask his Lord which he means, the twelve or the myriads? How beautifully calculated was this passage to make the hesitater between Jesus and the hierarchy tremble! It is the Son of man, it is himself before whom these myriads, and even these scribes and pharisees, are to appear, (and how soon neither they nor he know; though with him it is a voluntary unknowing,) and receive their final doom! Before the stupendous importance of that day, sublunary suffering and enjoyment dwindle into nothing. In view of its uncertainty of approach, how entire the attitude of readiness required! And whether that uncertainty be for a year or myriads of years, preparedness is, from man’s transitory existence, equally suitable and important. Whatever may be the distance of that day to the whole earth, each man’s distance from it is a narrow and uncertain margin of his mortal life. The coming of the Son of man is not death; but death is the limit of our distance from it. Compare supplementary note on Matthew 25.

35. Let your loins be girded—The lord of a household of servants has gone late at night to a wedding. What hour he will return is utterly uncertain. If when he returns he finds them prepared, alert, watching, and dutiful, rich will be their reward. But woe be to them if the reverse.

Girded about you—Ready for action in doing the honours of his return. When a servant was about to engage in active service, he first drew tight around his waist the girdle which bound his loose and flowing dress, that its folds might not impede his work.

Your lights burning—As the lord returns, he must see from the distance that his house is in order. Your lamps must be, momentarily, ready for use and service.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Luk_12:35. Loins girded.—An allusion to the long robes of the East, which those who wear them must bind up before they engage in any active employment. Lights burning.—The same lesson as in the parable of the Ten Virgins.

Luk_12:36. Men that wait.—This is a different figure from the parable just named: servants waiting at home for their master’s return from the wedding. Wedding.—The word may mean a feast or entertainment of any kind. No stress, therefore, need be laid upon the kind of feast.

Luk_12:37. Gird himself, etc.—A prophetic view of this great act of self-abasing love is given in Joh_13:1 ff. In the Roman Saturnalia masters and servants exchanged places for the day; but on that occasion the boon was granted to all servants, good and bad. This which Christ speaks of is an honour to faithful and vigilant servants. In Rev_3:20-21, the figure is carried still further, and the promise is given of sharing His throne.

Luk_12:38. The second watch.—I.e., from nine to midnight. According to the Roman custom, adopted at this time by the Jews, the night was divided into four watches: from six till nine, from nine to midnight, from midnight to three, and from three to six. The first watch is not here mentioned, as return during it would be no test of the servants’ vigilance, and as probably the feast would then be in progress. The fourth watch is not mentioned, as by that time the feast at which the master was detained would have been long over, and the day would then be breaking.

Luk_12:39. And this know.—Rather, “this ye know” (R.V. margin). An appeal to commonsense. The figure is changed; the sudden and unexpected coming of the Son of Man is compared to the approach of a night-robber (cf. 1Th_5:2; 2Pe_3:10; Rev_16:15). Goodman.—An archaic phrase. The paterfamilias. R.V. “the master.” Broken through.—Lit. “dug through”; of mud walls.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_12:35-38

The Kind Master.—The parable of the Dutiful Servant (Luk_17:7-10) is the complement of this parable of the Kind Master. The one of these parables, without the other, is not perfect. For if the one teaches us how to think of ourselves, the other teaches us how God thinks of us, when we do that which it is our duty to do. While the one sets forth the diligence and lowliness of the servant, the other sets forth the friendliness and bounty of the Master. The form of the parable. A certain Oriental lord has gone to the wedding of a friend. The festivities on such occasions were spread over many days, a week at least, sometimes a mouth. Consequently his servants could not tell to an hour, or even to a day, when he would return. But however long he delayed his coming, they kept a keen look-out for him. When night fell, instead of barring up the house and retiring to rest, they girt up their long outer robes, that they might be ready to run out at any instant to greet him; they kindled their lamps, that they might run safely, as well as swiftly, on his errands; they even prepared a table for him, in case he were hungry and tired by his journey home. In this posture, with these preparations, they await his coming. And when he comes, he is so pleased with their fidelity and thoughtfulness that, instead of sitting down to meat or hastening to his couch, he girds up his loins, bids his servants sit down to the very banquet they had prepared for him, and comes forth from his chamber to wait upon them. The main points of the parable are—

I. The watchfulness of the servants.—What does this symbolise? As these servants waited for the coming of their master, so we are to wait for the coming of our Master. The second advent of Christ is the great and special promise of the New Testament, as His first advent was the great and distinctive promise of the Old Testament. The anticipation of the second advent of Christ has come under suspicion because of fanatical and morbid minds having cherished it in a carnal and literal form. But we may frame some such reasonable conception of the promise as well make it a real power and a potent factor in our lives. Strip it of all mere accidents of form and date, and reduce it to its more simple and general terms, and what does it come to? It comes at least to this: that, somewhere in the future, there is to be a better world than this—a world more wisely and happily ordered; a world in which all that is now wrong will be righted; a world of perfect beauty and growing righteousness;—in a word, a world in which He who once suffered for and with all men, will really reign in and over all men. His spirit dwelling in them, and raising them towards the true ideal of manhood. And is not that a reasonable hope? Is it not a great hope? Does it not make a vital difference to us whether or not we entertain it? But if we believe in this great promise, if we cherish this great hope, then can we with patience wait for it. And this is the very posture which our Lord here enjoins. He would have us to be like servants who watch for the coming of their Lord, that, when He comes, they may open to Him immediately. He would have us believe in, and look for, the advent of a better world, in which all the wrongs of time will be rectified. He would have us sustain ourselves under all the toils and sorrows of our individual lot, and under the still heavier oppressions of the world’s lot, by looking forward to that end and purpose of the Lord God Almighty which will vindicate all the ways in which we have been led, and all the painful discipline by which we have been tried and purified and refined.

II. The kindness of their Master.—What does it symbolise? It means that whatever we have done for God, He will do for us—that when He reckons with us, we shall receive our own again, and receive it “with usury.” It is but a metaphorical expression of that great law of retribution which pervades the whole Bible, but the happier face of which we are too apt to overlook—that whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap, that, and all that has come of it. The Divine reward will be at once equitable and bountiful. If in this present life we have shown some capacity for serving God in serving our fellows, we may be sure that in the life to come we shall receive the harvest of our service; we may be sure that God will do for us all that we have done for Him, and a great deal more. But what, after all, is the best part of a man’s reward for faithful and diligent use of any faculty here? It is that his faculty, whatever it may be, is invigorated, developed, refined, by use. If, then, I have here used my faculty and opportunity for serving God in serving my fellows, I may hope, I may believe, that hereafter my best reward will be an enlarged faculty of service and ampler opportunities for exercising it. If I have served the Master, He will serve me; but He will serve me best and most of all by making me a more skilful, faithful, and happy servant. Is there anything arbitrary in such a reward as this, or anything unreasonable, or selfish, or base, in my hope that I may receive it? On the contrary, is it not most reasonable, is it not in accordance with the most scientific interpretation of the facts of observation and experience, to believe that my capacity for service will grow by use? Is it not a very noble and unselfish reward for having in any measure done my duty here, that I should be able to do it more effectually and happily hereafter? Let us watch, then, for the coming and kingdom of Christ; let us cherish the pure, unselfish hope that, if we serve Him in this life, He will serve us in the life to come, and serve us most and best of all by making us more capable and accomplished servants.—Cox.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_12:35-38

Luk_12:35. Preparedness.—

1. “Loins girt about”—to run with speed and freedom to meet his Lord.

2. “Lights burning”—to run with safety.

Ready for the Road.

I. Christ enjoins the disciples to be ready and equipped for the journey, that they may pass rapidly through the world, and may seek no fixed abode or resting-place but in heaven.

II. As they are surrounded on all sides by darkness, so long as they remain in the world, He furnishes them with lamps, as persons who are to perform a journey during the night. The first recommendation is to run vigorously, and the next is to have clear information as to the road, that believers may not weary themselves to no purpose, by going astray.—Calvin.

Luk_12:36. “Watch.” The state of mind here commended consists

(1) of an ever-present thought of God and of our responsibility towards Him, and

(2) of an anticipation of the future coming of Him who is our Saviour and Judge.

“Open immediately.”—The watchful Christian is one who would not be over-agitated if he found that Christ was coming at once. Few will thus open immediately. They will have something to do first; they will have to get ready. They will need time to collect themselves, and summon about them their better thoughts and affections.—Newman.

“Wait for their Lord.”

I. With eager longing.

II. With joyous expectation. “Immediately.” At the first sound of His knock.

Christ’s Second Coming.—Christ returns to all from the heavenly wedding at the end of the world, when He has taken to Himself His Bride, the Church; to each individual He comes, when He stands suddenly before a man at the hour of death.—Theophylact.

Luk_12:37. Different Effects Produced by Christ’s Coming.—Among the professed servants of Christ, though all will be more or less be taken by surprise when He comes, some

(1) will be able to receive Him at once and with glad welcome; but some

(2) though faithful in the main, will be somewhat unprepared, and unable to greet Him with full cordiality; while some

(3) will be overwhelmed with confusion at their utter unfaithfulness being brought to light.

The Blessedness of the Faithful.

I. The momentary separation is closed, and they are admitted to closer fellowship with their Lord.

II. He transforms them from servants into honoured guests.

III. He bestows upon them the administration of all His possessions.

Luk_12:38. “Blessed are those servants.”—The more tardy His arrival, the greater is His satisfaction with those servants whom He finds watching. Christ here plainly teaches that His second coming will be very much more distant than the apostles themselves thought, and that the patience and faith of His servants who look for Him will be put to a severe test. The same fact of delay is alluded to in the parables of the Ten Virgins and of the Talents (Mat_25:5; Mat_25:19).

By the omission of the first and fourth watches, Christ seems to hint that His second coming will not be

(1) so soon as impatience expects, nor

(2) so late as carelessness supposes.

Luk_12:39-40. A Serious Crisis for Some.—The Parousia, that event so glorious and so welcome to the faithful servants of Jesus, is for the world a serious and dread crisis. He who returns is not only a Master well-beloved, who gives to each that which he has sacrificed for Him, but also a thief, who will then take away all that they have not been able to guard.—Godet.

The Prepared and the Unprepared.—Those ready find Him a friend: only those not ready find His coming as uncomfortable as that of a thief.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. The Vigilance and the Conflict of the Genuine Disciple of the Lord (Luk_12:35-59)

(Parallel to Mat_24:43-51.)

a. Luk_12:35-48

35Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 36And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that, when 37he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat [recline at table], and will come forth [approach] and serve them [wait on them]. 38And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants 39[they11]. And this know, that if the goodman [master] of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. 40Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. 41Then Peter said unto him,12 Lord, speakest thou this parable unto [for] us, or even to [also for] all? 42And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and13 wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household [body of servants, θεραπείας], to give them their portion of meat [allowance of food] in due season? 43Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 44Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath [he will 45set him over all his possessions]. But and [om., and] if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming: and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; 46The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers14 [the unfaithful]. 47And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did accordingto his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For [And] unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men [they] have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk_12:35. Let your loins be girt about.

Very fittingly does the admonition to watchfulness join in with the admonition given in the previous verses to confidence and freedom from care. It is true they could be free from anxiety as to whether it was the Father’s good pleasure to give them His kingdom (Luk_12:32), but they could only inherit if they expected, watching and working, the coming of the Lord. It is true that the now-following admonition alludes to the parable of the Ten Virgins (De Wette), but it contains, nevertheless, a number of peculiar traits which cause the method, as well as the blessing, of Christian watchfulness, to appear in an entirely new light. As well the form as the substance of the now-following parable in Luke is far more complete than the manner in which Matthew, Luk_24:42-51, has rendered it.

Your lights burning.—Two qualities of the servant who is to receive his returning Lord in fitting wise. The long garments of the Orientals had to be girt up if they were not to hinder them in walking and waiting. See Wetstein, ad loc. Comp. 1Pe_1:13, perhaps a reminiscence of this saying. Even so must the light be kindled when the Lord was about to return in the middle of the night. By the first image it is the activity, by the second the watchfulness, of the faithful servant which is especially indicated.

Luk_12:36. When He shall return from the wedding.—A trait of the parable somewhat deviating from the common form of the conception, according to which the heavenly γάμοι begin only after the Parusia of the Son of Man. See, e. g., Mat_25:1-13. Here the Messiah is represented as He, surrounded of course by guests and friends, celebrates His wedding in heaven, and now, after the wedding banquet is ended, returns to His dwelling, and crowns His faithful servants with honor and joy. That these after His return continue to celebrate the wedding with Him, is here not said. It is now, perhaps, considered as ended. (Otherwise Bengel, Stier.) The servants, however, who have faithfully awaited their Lord when celebrating the wedding, are now refreshed by Him with another feast, prepared in their honor, at which He appears, not as Bridegroom, but as servant. It is, of course, understood that it would be exceedingly forced to press dogmatically every trait of the parabolic representation, and that we must only have respect to the tertium comparationis.

Open immediately.—Because they have nothing to hide, and have not fallen asleep. “Vult suos esse expeditos.” Bengel.

Luk_12:37. Blessed are those servants.—By different images the blessedness of the faithful is now portrayed. First stage: The Lord will cause the momentary separation, which had hitherto been between them, to close, and will kindly approach nearer (παρελθών). Second stage: He girds His garment on, in order now, on His side also, to serve them. How literally the Saviour has fulfilled this feature of His picture appears from Joh_13:4. Third stage: He causes them to take their place at table, and sets before them His most exquisite viands. It is needless here to understand the viands which had been brought from the wedding-feast, or had been sent to His dwelling. (Kuinoel.) To this is added again, as a fourth feature, Luk_12:44, that the servants, to whom hitherto only a part of the estate had been committed, are now entrusted with the administration of all the possessions of their Lord. It is, however, not necessary to have in mind the Saturnalia of the Romans (Grotius), among whom it is well known that good and bad servants alike were served by their masters. We might rather call to mind the usage of the ancient Hebrews, of giving their servants a share in sacred feasts (Deu_12:18; Deu_16:11).

Luk_12:38. In the second watch … in the third watch.—The Romans divided the night into four night-watches, diei inclinatio, gallicinium, canticinium, diluculum, a division which the Jews had accepted from them. See particulars among others in Friedlieb, Archäologie der Leidensgeschichte, on Luk_22:60-62. The opinion is entirely without ground (Lisco, Olshausen), that the Saviour here followed another division into only three night-watches. He says nothing of the fourth, simply for the reason that the disciples, from that, should note that His return was, by no means, to be expected as late as possible, even as He does not name the first; because it would weaken the whole representation of the watchful servants. The Parusia does not come so quickly as impatience, nor yet so late as carelessness supposes, but in the very middle of the night, when the temptation to fall asleep is greatest, and therefore must be most vigorously combated. It may even tarry longer than the servants thought; but, grant that it should take place not till the third, or should come even in the second, watch of the night, whoever perseveres faithfully at his post shall in no wise lose his reward.

Luk_12:39. If the master of the house.—A modification of the figurative language, in which those who had hitherto been represented as servants, now, during the presupposed absence of their Lord, are compared with the master of the house, who has to take care that his goods be not stolen.

The thief.—Not the ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου (Olshausen) but the Son of Man, Luk_12:40, who will come quite as unexpectedly to His disciples. It is noticeable how this comparison of the Parusia with the coming of the thief has passed over, in all manner of forms, into the apostolic writings, and is afterwards heard from the mouth of the glorified Saviour. 1Th_5:2; 1Th_5:6-8; 2Pe_3:10; Rev_3:3; Rev_16:15. Of course the similitude of the thief is taken entirely from the point of view of those who are sunken in earthly enjoyment and inactive rest, and to whom therefore the Parusia of the Son of Man is no joyful but a terrible event.

Luk_12:40. Be ye therefore ready also.—See Lange on Mat_24:43-44.

Luk_12:41. Then Peter.—The doubt as to the originality of this question is without any ground. And just as little can it be regarded as an interpolation of Luke (against De Wette). It is, on the contrary, precisely accordant with the character of the apostle, and it is, from a psychological point of view, worthy of remark that this question is proposed by that very apostle who afterwards, Mat_26:41, most of all needed the admonition, and in so sad a manner forgot it. In view of the well-known earthly-mindedness of the disciples, it is much to be feared that this question was elicited even more by the first than the second part of the parable; by the holding up of the reward even more than by the exhortation to watchfulness, and that Peter wishes to know whether this high distinction (Luk_12:37) was only intended for him and his fellow-disciples, or also, besides these (ἤ καί), for others.

Luk_12:42. And the Lord said.—The Saviour is as far from affirming that the parable respects all (Friedlieb), as that it has a special reference to the apostles (Ewald); but He continues in a general sense His figurative discourse, and that in such a way, that Peter, by some reflection, can give himself the answer. This answer amounts to this, that according as a more extended circle of operation is entrusted to a servant of the Lord, his obligation to watchfulness increases, and if he forgets his vocation, he has so much the sharper chastisement to fear. An exceedingly weighty teaching for all the apostles, but, most, for the very Peter who had elicited it. Comp. Mat_16:18.

Who then is that faithful and wise steward.—The οἰκονόμος, comp. 1Co_4:2, was a middle person, between the lord and the slave, and, as Eleazer with Abraham and Joseph with Potiphar, was burdened with the care of the whole domestic establishment. It was in the fullest sense of the word a post of confidence, in which, therefore, faithfulness in every respect was required. As the οἰκονόμοι to the rest of the servants, so should also the apostles stand with reference to other believers, and be called to distribute them food. The reward of faithfulness consisted in this, that the circle of operation received important enlargement.

Luk_12:45. But if that servant, ἐκεῖνος. With emphasis the Saviour thereby alludes very definitely to the οἰκονόμος just portrayed. He represents him as misled by negligence to two great sins, to hardness and caprice towards others, to slothfulness and wantonness as respects himself. Still more strikingly is this last thought expressed in Matthew, Luk_12:49, by eating and drinking with the drunken. Precisely this is the peculiarity of the caprice of the unfaithful οἰκονόμος, that he oppresses his faithful but defenceless fellow-servants, and withholds from them that which is their right, but, on the other hand, peoples the dwelling committed to his administration with a vile rabble, and makes it a scene of dissoluteness. While we here behold the image of the unfaithful apostle, shepherd, and teacher, we may, at the same time, compare the admirable portraiture of the shepherds in Ezekiel, Luke 34, who, instead of the sheep, feed themselves. The whole history of the church shows us the image of such unworthy ones.

[Blind mouths, that scarce themselves know to hold

A sheep-hook, or aught else the least have learned

That to the faithful herdman’s art belongs.

What lists it them? what reck they? they are fed:

And when they list, their lean and flashy songs

Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw.

The hungry sheep look up and are not fed.

But, swollen with mist and the rank wind they draw,

Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread.

Milton, Lycidas.]

It is remarkable how the spirit of this whole warning pervades the epistles of Peter. See, e.g., 1Pe_5:3; 2Pe_3:3.

Luk_12:46. Διχοτομήσει αὐτόν.—For different views respecting this, see Lange on Mat_24:50. Undoubtedly there is much to be said for the view that we are not to understand the word in a milder sense, but that we must translate it literally: “He will split him into two pieces.” On the other hand, it must not be overlooked that it is after this punishment of the condemned that his part is appointed with the hypocrites, and he represented consequently as yet living. The word occurs only here and in Mat_24:51; comp. 2Sa_5:20; 2Sa_6:7-8; 1Ch_14:10-11. This image is so much the more fittingly chosen if we consider that this punishment is threatened against a villain who first appeared to be faithful but afterwards manifested himself as unfaithful, and therefore was most miserably divided in heart. Qui cor Divisum habet, Dividetur. Bengel.

With the unfaithful.—According to Matthew, among the hypocrites. Here the thought comes especially into prominence, that the Lord will judge His servants according to the condition in which He finds them, and that no earlier manifested faithfulness can deliver them if they afterwards, in view of the delay of the Parusia, shall fall into negligence and unfaithfulness. In another form we find the same thought expressed, Eze_18:24.

Luk_12:47. That servant.—The Saviour justified the judgment just passed against the possible suspicion of too great severity, by placing a general principle in the foreground, namely, that the more light there beams upon us the greater will be the punishableness of sin, and precisely in the difference of punishment is the impartiality and righteousness of the judge made known. All evil servants are punished, even those of whom it may be said in a certain sense that they have not known the will of their Lord, since in no case is the ignorance absolute, and entirely without their own fault. Some knowledge, how imperfect soever it might be, could be presupposed in them all, because on men there is bestowed not only the light of a special revelation, but also the light of conscience. Comp. the words of Calvin: Tenendum memoria est, qui regendœ Ecclesiœ prœfecti sunt, eos non ignorantia peccare, sed perverse et impie fraudare Dominum suum. Hinc tamen generalis doctrina colligi debet, frustra ad ignorantiœ patrocinium confugere homines, ut se a reatu liberent.—Comp. Jam_4:17.—Many stripes.—Although the fixed number of stripes, according to the Mosaic jurisprudence, amounted to forty, Deu_25:2-3, it is of course understood that such determining of the number in this case would be in conflict with the spirit of the parable. But the same principle which is expressed, Deu_25:2, namely, that a righteous relation must exist between the greatness of the offence and the punishment, is also emphasized here by the Saviour.

Luk_12:48. To whom much is given.—In temporal things as well as also in spiritual. The greatest prerogatives bring also the greatest responsibility with them. ’Εδόθη πολύ, not to be restricted precisely to the magna et accurata religionis scientia, but in general to be understood of the commission which is given to the high-placed οἰκονόμος, and so far also of the confidence reposed in him.—ΙΙολὺ ζητηθήσεται, in official activity (Meyer), of which strict account shall be required. Although παρέθεντο and αἰτήσουσιν are expressed impersonally, it is nevertheless in this connection scarcely possible to exclude the thought of the Lord of the servant, who has bestowed confidence on him, and will immediately judge his work.—The more, περισσότερον.—According to Meyer: “More than was deposited with him, he is therewith to win a surplus.” But where, in the foregoing parable, is the thought expressed that the faithful servant is to get interest with the property of his Lord? The connection appears in this passage much more to favor the interpretation of: plus quam ab aliis, which can appear weak and without meaning only in case it is forgotten that this whole expression bears a proverbial character; the parallelism moreover of the two sentences on this interpretation is better preserved.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. It must not surprise us that the Saviour represents His disciples so decidedly from the point of view of dependent servants, for only in the latter period of His intercourse with them does He address them as Friends and Children, and the high honor which He here promises the faithful servant shows plainly how high a rank His servants possessed in His eyes, and what love He had for His disciples. With the exception of perhaps the promise, Rev_3:21, we know no utterance of the Saviour which holds up before the life of the faithful so rich and ravishing a reward as this, Luk_12:37.

2. It is manifest that the parable of the Faithful and Unfaithful οἰκονόμος is for no one of so high importance as for the preachers of the gospel, who, because they stand upon a higher position than others, are also exposed to greater dangers. After such declarations of the Saviour we comprehend the better the holy fear of the apostle, 1Co_9:27 b.

3. We weaken the force of the parable if by the Unfaithful Servant we understand any particular person (Vitringa, e.g., understood the Pope). In the form of a concrete personality, on the other hand, there is a type delineated which is easily found again in all ecclesiastical despots and hierarchs, and verily not at Rome alone. In order to make manifest the inward unfaithfulness of all those who outwardly range themselves among His servants, and perhaps began with a guise of faithfulness and obedience, the Saviour needs to do nothing more than to make some delay. Then the old Adam, who for a while was covered and bedecked, comes spontaneously into manifestation again, and that not seldom in the most hideous forms. Even after the Middle Ages, boundless haughtiness and arrogance towards “the people that know not the law,” have often gone hand in hand with equal wantonness and sensuality. But the Saviour treasures up in His memory as much what is committed by an unholy clericalism in His name as what is practised by the spirit of anti-christianity against His defenceless servants.

4. The whole delineation of the terrific punishment just prepared for the unfaithful servant bears the character of the justitia retributiva. Those who believe that from the evangelical position one cannot properly speak of any punishment in the juridical sense, but only affectionate chastisements for the moral amendment of the misled, can hardly measure aright the fearful earnestness of declarations such as those of Luk_12:45-48. It is noteworthy also that the Saviour makes indeed a distinction in the grades, but not in the duration, of the decisive retribution of the future. That those also are threatened with this retributive judgment to whom the Lord’s will is less known than to others, admits of entire justification. For if even the heathen, according to Rom_2:15, have an ἕργον τοῦ νόμου γραπτὸν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὑτῶν, so that they are not to be excused, how much less can the servant of Christ reckon upon entire exemption from punishment if he in some particular case did not know the will of the Lord.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The life of the disciples of the Saviour must be a life of watchfulness.—The nature of Christian watchfulness: 1. Alertness, 2. activity, 3. circumspection.—The motive of Christian watchfulness: 1. Certainty, 2. suddenness, 3. decisiveness of the coming of the Lord.—What does the Lord demand of His faithful servants? 1. An eye that is open for His light, 2. a hand that carries on His work, 3. a foot that is every instant ready to go to meet Him and to open to Him.—What does the Lord promise to His faithful servants? 1. Honorable distinction, 2. perfect contentment, 3. beseeming elevation.—The connection between this representation and Luk_17:7-10.—Not on the long duration, but on the faithfulness of their working, depends the gracious reward of the servants of the kingdom of God.—According to the state in which the Lord finds us will He judge us.—The thief in the night: 1. How unexpectedly he comes, 2. how carefully his coming must be awaited.—Increasing negligence a sign that the coming of the Son of Man is no longer distant, but near by, even at the door.—The minister of the gospel an οἰκονόμος. By this image there is expressed: 1. His high rank, 2. his holy vocation, 3. his heavy responsibility: “Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful,” 1Co_4:2.—The οἰκονόμος in the kingdom of God no ruler over the men-servants and maidens, but just as little their slave.—Great temptation to negligence is connected with the tarrying of the coming of the Lord.—Injustice towards the least of His people which is committed by one of His messengers, is to the King of the kingdom of God utterly intolerable.—Excessive severity towards others and excessive laxness towards one’s self are not seldom united in hirelings without the shepherd’s heart.—The Jus Talionis in the theocratic sphere.—Different grades: 1. Of the pardonableness, 2. of the retribution of sin.—Even ignorance in relation to the will of the Lord may be a self-caused ignorance.—For the unfaithful οἰκονόμος it would be better on that day to have been the least of the servants.—He that is privileged above others may only rejoice with trembling, comp. Heb_2:3.—The higher one stands the deeper can he fall.

Starke:—When God knocks we are at once to open to Him the door of our hearts and receive Him as willingly as joyfully, Rev_3:20.—Brentius:—Masters must requite their servants’ love and faithfulness with love and faithfulness.—To be always found in the doing of good works is the best preparation for eternity, Rom_14:8.—With a blessed death the blessedness of believers begins, Rev_14:13.—Majus:—There is an instant on which eternity hangs; in an instant all may be squandered and lost; therefore must we ever watch.—All should watch, especially ministers, whose business it is to quicken others to watchfulness.—Cramer:—A true steward of God must be at once faithful and prudent.—It is the business of all the family to direct themselves according to the beck and will of such stewards.—The unthankful world esteems in general the faithfulness and the diligence of the stewards of God not sufficiently, but God will reward such the more richly.—Quesnel:—Two vices are common among ungodly preachers: to rule over their hearers with violence, and to live in idleness and voluptuousness.—Hedinger:—Unfaithfulness smites its own Lord.—Cramer:—When the people are the securest their destruction is the nearest.—Terrible sins are followed by terrible punishments.—Knowing and doing must never be separated in true religion.—Nov. Bibl. Tub.:—Let no one count him happy who has many gifts and acts not accordingly.—God’s grace and righteousness detract not from each other, but each establishes His holiness.

Lisco:—The different servants.—Of the readiness of the true citizens of the kingdom for the coming of Christ: 1. Watchfulness, 2. faithfulness.—Arndt:—Watchfulness in its true character: 1. Its inner essence, 2. its blessed consequences, 3. its indispensable universality.—The glory of the devout and the ignominy of the unfaithful servant.

Heubner:—God’s judgment takes account of all that can lessen or augment guilt.—All is given by God on credit; we are only stewards.—Krummacher:—The watching servant in our time, a missionary sermon. (Sabbath-Glocke, 5 p. 17 seq.)—Souchon:—Folly in the care for our eternal salvation: 1. Wherein this folly consists; 2. what can move us to remove from us and to keep far from us this folly.—Kliefoth:—The coming of the Lord.—Gerok:—The excellent day’s work of the laborer of God.—Thomasius:—Readiness for the day of the Lord.

Footnotes:

[11]Luk_12:38.—Since the words οἱ δοῦλοι are wanting in B., D., [Cod. Sin.,] L., Cant. Corb., and others, it is easy to suppose that they have been inserted here from Luk_12:37. We have therefore omitted them, with Tischendorf and Lachmann. [Meyer, Alford. Cod. Sin. omits ἐκεῖνοι also.—C. C. S.]

[12]Luk_12:41.—Perhaps an interpolation, perhaps also genuine, but omitted by B., D., [ins., Cod. Sin.,] L., [R.,] X., as it might appear superfluous.

[13]Luk_12:42.—Καί before φρόνιμος is of later origin.

[14][Luk_12:46.—Διχοτομήσει, which has literally the signification given it in our text, is regarded by most critics as used here in a tropical sense, equivalent to “he shall cruelly scourge him.” Van Oosterzee takes it so. But the assuming of this meaning is supported by no examples, and is merely inferred from the supposition that the servant is represented as alive after the punishment, in καὶ τὸ μέρος, κ.τ.λ. But this, as Meyer remarks, is simply epexegetical of the preceding, indicating what the punishment is meant to express.—C. C. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luke

THE EQUIPMENT OF THE SERVANTS

Luk 12:35 - Luk 12:36.

These words ought to stir us like the sound of a trumpet. But, by long familiarity, they drop upon dull ears, and scarcely produce any effect. The picture that they suggest, as an emblem of the Christian state, is a striking one. It is midnight, a great house is without its master, the lord of the palace is absent, but expected back, the servants are busy in preparation, each man with his robe tucked about his middle, in order that it may not interfere with his work, his lamp in his hand that he may see to go about his business and his eye ever turned to the entrance to catch the first sign of the coming of his master. Is that like your Christian life? If we are His servants that is what we ought to be, having three things-girded loins, lighted lamps, waiting hearts. These are sharp tests, solemn commandments, but great privileges, for blessedness as well as strength, and calm peace whatever happens, belong to those who obey these injunctions and have these things.

I. The girded loins.

Every child knows the long Eastern dress; and that the first sign that a man is in earnest about any work would be that he should gather his skirts around him and brace himself together.

The Christian service demands concentration. It needs the fixing of all a man’s powers upon the one thing, the gathering together of all the strength of one’s nature, and binding it with cords until its softest and loosest particles are knit together, and become strong. Why! you can take a handful of cotton-down, and if you will squeeze it tight enough, it will be as hard and as heavy as a bullet and will go as far, and have as much penetrating power and force of impact. The reason why some men hit and make no dint is because they are not gathered together and braced up by a vigorous concentration.

The difference between men that succeed and men that fail in ordinary pursuits is by no means so much intellectual as moral; and there is nothing which more certainly commands any kind of success than giving yourselves with your whole concentrated power to the task in hand. If we succeed in anything we must focus all our power on it. Only by so doing, as a burning-glass does the sun’s rays, shall we set anything on fire.

And can a vigorous Christian life be grown upon other conditions than those which a vigorous life of an ordinary sort demands? Why should it be easier to be a prosperous Christian than to be a prosperous tradesman? Why should there not be the very same law in operation in the realm of the higher riches and possessions that rules in the realm of the lower? ‘Gird up the loins of your mind,’ says the Apostle, echoing the Master’s word here. The first condition of true service is that you shall do it with concentrated power.

There is another requirement, or perhaps rather another side of the same, expressed in the figure. One reason why a man tucked up his robe around his waist, when he had anything to do that needed all his might, was that it might not catch upon the things that protruded, and so keep him back. Concentration, and what I may call detachment, go together. In order that there shall be the one, there must be the other. They require each other, and are, in effect, but the two sides of the same thing contemplated in regard to hindrances without, or contemplated in regard to the relation of the several parts of a man’s nature to each other.

Observe that Luke immediately precedes the text with:-’Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about.’ That is to say, do not let your affections go straggling anywhere and everywhere, but gather them together, and that you may gather them together tear away the robe from the briars and thorns which catch you as you pass, and gird the long flowing skirts close to yourselves in order that they may not be caught by these hindrances. There is no Christian life worth living except upon condition of wrenching oneself away from dependence upon idolatry of, or longing for, perishable things. The lesson of my text is the same as the solemn lesson which the beloved Apostle sharpened his gentle lips to pronounce when he said, ‘If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’ ‘Gird up your loins,’ detach heart, desire, effort from perishable things, and lift them above the fleeting treasures and hollow delusive sparkles of earth’s preciousness, and set them on the realities and eternities at God’s right hand. ‘For where the treasure is, there will the heart be also,’ and only that heart can never be stabbed by disappointment, nor bled to death by losses, whose treasure is as sure as God and eternal as Himself. ‘Let your loins be girded about.’

And then there is another thing suggested, which is the consequence of these two. The girding up of the loins is not only the symbol of concentration and detachment, but of that for which the concentration and the detachment are needful-viz. alert readiness for service. The servant who stands before his lord with his belt buckled tight indicates thereby that he is ready to run whenever and wherever he is bid. Our girded loins are not merely in order to give strength to our frame, but in order that, having strength given to our frame, we may be ready for all work. That which is needful for any faithful discharge of any servant’s duty is most of all needful for the discharge of the highest duty and the noblest service to the Master who has the right to command all our service.

There are three emblems in Scripture to all of which this metaphor applies. The soldier, before he flings himself into the fight, takes in another hole in his leather belt in order that there may be strength given to his spine, and he may feel himself all gathered together for the deadly struggle, and the Christian soldier has to do the same thing. ‘Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.’

The traveller, before he starts upon his long road, girds himself, and gathers his robes round him; and we have to ‘run with perseverance the race set before us’; and shall never do it if our garments, however delicately embroidered, are flapping about our feet and getting in our way when we try to run.

The servant has to be succinct, girded together for his work, even as the Master, when He took upon Him the form of a servant, ‘took a towel and girded Himself.’ His servants have to follow His example, to put aside the needless vesture and brace themselves with the symbol of service. So as soldiers, pilgrims, servants, the condition of doing our work is, girding up the loins.

II. Further, there are to be the burning lamps.

If we follow the analogy of Scripture symbolism, significance belongs to that emblem, making it quite worthy to stand by the side of the former one. You remember Christ’s first exhortation in the Sermon on the Mount immediately following the Beatitudes: ‘Ye are the salt of the earth, ye are the light of the world. Men do not light a candle, and put it under a bushel. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds.’ If we apply that key to decipher the hieroglyphics, the burning lamps which the girded servants are to bear in the darkness are the whole sum of the visible acts of Christian people, from which there may flash the radiance of purity and kindness, ‘So shines a good deed in a naughty world.’ The lamp which the Christian servant is to bear is a character illuminated from above {for it is a kindled lamp, and the light is derived}, and streaming out a brilliance into the encircling murky midnight which speaks of hospitable welcome and of good cheer in the lighted hall within.

Now, what is the connection between that exhibition of a lustrous and pure Christian character and the former exhortation? Why this, if you do not gird your loins your lamp will go out. Without the concentrated effort and the continually repeated detachment and the daily renewed ‘Lord! here am I, send me,’ of the alert and ready servant, there will be no shining of the life, no beauty of the character, but dimness will steal over the exhibition of Christian graces. Just as, often, in the wintry nights, a star becomes suddenly obscured, and we know not why, but some thin vaporous cloud has come between us and it, invisible in itself but enough to blur its brightness, so obscuration will befall the Christian character unless there be continual concentration and detachment. Do you want your lights to blaze? You trim them-though it is a strange mixture of metaphor-you trim them when you gird your loins.

III. Lastly, the waiting hearts.

An attitude of expectancy does not depend upon theories about the chronology of prophecy. It is Christ’s will that, till He comes, we know ‘neither the day nor the hour.’ We may, as I suppose most of us do, believe that we shall die before He comes. Be it so. That need not affect the attitude of expectance, for it comes to substantially the same thing whether Christ comes to us or we go to Him. And the certain uncertainty of the end of our individual connection with this fleeting world stands in the same relation to our hopes as the coming of the Master does, and should have an analogous effect on our lives. Whatever may be our expectation as to the literal coming of the Lord, that future should be very solid, very real, very near us in our thoughts, a habitual subject of contemplation, and ever operative upon our hearts and conduct.

Ah! if we never, or seldom, and then sorrowfully, look forward to the future, and contemplate our meeting with our Master, I do not think there is much chance of our having either our loins girt, or our lamps burning.

One great motive for concentration, detachment, and alertness of service, as well as for exhibiting the bright graces of the Christian character, is to be found in the contemplation of the two comings of the Lord. We should be ever looking back to the Cross, forward to the Throne, and upwards to the Christ, the same on them both. If we have our gathering together with Him ever in view, then we shall be willing to yield all for Him, to withdraw ourselves from everything besides for the excellency of His knowledge; and whatsoever He commands, joyfully and cheerfully to do.

The reason why such an immense and miserable proportion of professing Christians are all unbraced and loose-girt, and their lamps giving such smoky and foul-smelling and coarse radiance, is because they look little back to the Cross, and less forward to the Great White Throne. But these two solemn and sister sights are far more real than the vulgar and intrusive illusions of what we call the present. That is a shadow, they are the realities; that is but a transitory scenic display, like the flashing of the Aurora Borealis for a night in the wintry sky, these are the fixed, unsetting stars that guide our course. Therefore let us turn away from the lying present, with its smallnesses and its falsities, and look backwards to Him that died, forward to Him that is coming. And, as we nourish our faith on the twofold fact, a history and a hope, that Christ has come, and that Christ shall come, we shall find that all devotion will be quickened, and all earnestness stirred to zeal, and the dim light will flame into radiance and glory.

He comes in one of two characters which lie side by side here, as they do in fact. To the waiting servants He comes as the Master who shall gird Himself and go forth and serve them; to those who wait not, He comes as a thief, not only in the suddenness nor the unwelcomeness of His coming, but as robbing them of what they would fain keep, and dragging from them much that they ought never to have had. And it depends upon ourselves whether, we waiting and watching and serving and witnessing for Him, He shall come to us as our Joy, or as our Terror and our Judge.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12:35-48 Jesus compared 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.

12:35 keep your lamps burning: This is a picture of readiness and vigilance (Exod 27:20-21; Lev 24:2; Ps 18:28; Matt 25:1-13).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 12:35. Ἔστωσαν, Let-be) What goes before and what follows, and the connection between them, applies most exactly to those times which followed after Christ’s ascension. As to selling comp. Act 4:34. He wishes that His people should be free from encumbrances.—ὀσφύες, loins) So afterwards Peter enjoins, 1 Ep. ch. Luk 1:13, and Paul, Eph 6:14.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_12:35-36. Only echoes of the following references to the Parousia occur at Mat_24:42 ff. All the less is the originality to be attributed only to Luke (Olshausen) or to Matthew (Kuinoel). In Luke the exhortations to preparedness for the Parousia are readily accounted for by the previous promise of the Messiahs kingdom (Luk_12:32) and the requirement associated therewith (Luk_12:33).

ἔστωσαν … καιόμενοι] The meaning stripped of figure is: Be in readiness, upright and faithful to your calling be prepared to receive the coming Messiah. The nimble movement that was necessary to the servant made requisite the girding up of the outer garment round the loins (1Pe_1:13, and see Wetstein), and slaves must naturally have had burning lamps for the reception of the master when he returned home at night. The ὑμῶν emphatically placed first, as ὑμεῖς at Luk_12:36, corresponds to the special duty of disciples; that your loins should be girded, … and that ye like men, etc.

ἀνθρώποις] i.e. according to the context: slaves, as it is frequently used in the classical writers, Mar_14:12.

ἐκ τῶν γάμων] not: from his marriage, but from the marriage, at which he (as a guest) has been present. For his marriage is after the Parousia (see on Mat_22:2; Mat_25:1). The detail of the figure is not to be pressed into interpretation further than to imply the blessed condition (τὴν ἄνω εὐφροσύνην κ. ἀγαλλίασιν, Euthymius Zigabenus) from which the Messiah returns.

ἐλθόντος … ἀνοίξ. αὐτῷ] a well-known construction, Winer, p. 186 [E. T. 258 f.]. On the direct πότε, see Buttmann, Neut. Gr. p. 215 f. [E. T. 251].

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 12:35-38 . Loins girt, lamps burning . Connection with what goes before is not apparent, but there is a latent affinity which makes the introduction of this logion here by Lk. or his source intelligible. The kingdom the summum bonum ; all to be sacrificed for it; its coming (or the King’s) to be eagerly waited for.

Luk 12:35-36 contain the germ of the parable of the Ten Virgins (Mat 25:1 f.). So De Wette, J. Weiss, Holtzmann, Schanz, etc. ὀσφύες περιεζωσμέναι , loins girt, for service. λύχνοι καιόμενοι , lamps burning, for reception of the master expected to return during the night . In the spiritual sphere the loins girt point to a noble purpose in life, and the burning lamp to the spirit of hope.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 35-38. The Parable of the Master returning to his House.—“Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 36. And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. 37. Blessed are those servants whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. 38. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.”

Ver. 35. The long oriental robe requires to be taken up, and the skirt fastened under the girdle, to allow freedom in walking (Luk 17:8). If it is night, it is further required that one have a lighted lamp in his hand, to walk quickly and surely to his destination. Those two figures are so thoroughly in keeping with the position of the servant spoken of in the following verses, that we have no doubt about Luk 12:35 forming part of the parable, Luk 12:36-38. The faithful believer is described as a servant waiting over night for the arrival of his master, who is returning from a journey. That there may be no delay in opening the door when he shall knock, he keeps himself awake, up and ready to run. The lighted lamp is at his hand; he has even food ready against the time of his return. And it matters not though the return is delayed, delayed even to the morning; he does not yield to fatigue, but persists in his waiting attitude.—῾Υμεῖς, ye (Luk 12:36), your whole person, in opposition to the lighted lamps and girded loins. The word γάμοι, marriage, might here have the sense of banquet, which it sometimes has (Est 2:18; Est 9:22; and perhaps Luk 14:8). It is more natural to keep the ordinary sense, only observing that the marriage in question is not that of the master himself, but a friend’s, in which he is taking part. What does the master do when received in this way? Moved by such fidelity, instead of seating himself at the table prepared, he causes his devoted servants to seat themselves, and, girding himself as they were girded, he approaches them (παρελθών) to serve them, and presents them with the food which they have prepared for him. And the longer delayed his arrival is, the livelier is his gratitude, the greater are the marks of his satisfaction. Among the ancient Jews, the night had only three divisions (Jdg 7:19); later, probably after the Roman subjugation, four were admitted: from 6 to 9, from 9 to midnight, from midnight to 3, and from 3 to 6 o’clock. If, as cannot be doubted, the master’s return represents the Parousia, this parable teaches that that event may be long delayed,—much longer than any one even of the disciples imagined,—and that this delay will be the means of testing their fidelity. The same thought reappears in the parable of the ten virgins (Mat 25:5), “While the bridegroom tarried;” and again in that of the talents (Mat 25:19), “After a long time, the lord of those servants cometh.” Jesus thus proclaimed His return, but not the immediateness of that return.

One hardly dares to apply the promise included in this parable: The Lord in His glory serving him who has faithfully waited for and served Him here below! There is an apparent contradiction of Luk 17:7-9. But in the latter passage Jesus is expressing the feeling which should animate the servant: “I am, after all that I have done, but an unprofitable servant.” Jesus wishes, in opposition to pharisaism, to sweep away the legal idea of merit. Here He is describing the feeling of the master himself; we are in the sphere of love both on the side of the servant and of the master.

The variations of Luk 12:38 do not affect its general meaning.

The Parousia is a sweet and glorious event to the servants of Jesus (Luk 12:35-38). But at the same time it is solemn and awful: for He who returns is not only a well-beloved Master, who comes to requite everything which has been given for Him; He is also a thief who takes away everything which should not have been kept.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The life of the faithful servants of God, in this world is a certain watchful peregrination, having the light of the word going before it.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

loins . . . girded--to fasten up the long outer garment, always done before travel and work (Kg2 4:29; Act 12:8). The meaning is, Be in readiness.

lights, &c.--(See on Mat 25:1).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 35. Let your loins] Be active, diligent, determined ready; let all hinderances be removed out of the way; and let the candle of the Lord be always found burning brightly in your hand. See Clarke on Lu 12:37.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(35) Let your loins be girded . . .—To “gird up the loins” was, in Eastern habits and with Eastern garments, the received symbol of readiness for active service (Luk_12:37; Luk_17:8; 1Ki_18:46; 2Ki_1:8; Joh_13:4; 1Pe_1:13). The “lights” are the lamps (as in Mat_5:15) which the watchful hold in their hands. What follows has the interest of presenting the germ of the thought which was afterwards developed into the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. (See Notes on Mat_25:1-13.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35. Let your loins be girded] Without which active service is impossible in the loose flowing dress of the East (Exo_12:11; 1Ki_18:46); and spiritually, for the Christian amid worldly entanglements, 1Pe_1:13; Eph_6:14.

your lights burning] The germ of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Mat_25:1

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord,.... Who either was at a wedding, or was the bridegroom himself; so be ye in a readiness, waiting for the coming of Christ, the bridegroom of the church:

when he will return from the wedding, The Syriac version renders it, "from the house of feasting"; from any entertainment, or from the marriage feast, or rather the marriage itself, to the bride chamber: so when Christ has, by the preaching of the Gospel, and the power of his grace, espoused all his elect, he will descend from heaven, and take them to himself; they shall then be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and enter with him into the nuptial chamber, and be for ever with him:

that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately; and let him in without any delay, as soon as ever he comes to the door; and at the first knock, open it to him at once, having light, and being in a posture of readiness, and in constant expectation of him: so such who have believed in Christ, and have been faithful to his cause and interest, and have held fast the profession of their faith without wavering, when Christ shall either come and knock at their doors by death, or shall come to judgment, and sound the alarm of it, they shall be ready to obey the summons with the greatest cheerfulness, and meet him with the utmost pleasure.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;

Ver. 35. Let your loins be girded] It implies, 1. readiness; 2. nimbleness, handiness, and handsomeness. A loose, discinct, and diffluent mind is unfit to serve God. Here it is ungirt, unblest.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let your loins ... - This alludes to the ancient manner of dress. They wore a long flowing robe as their outer garment. See the notes at Mat 5:38-41. When they labored, or walked, or ran, it was necessary to “gird” or tie this up by a “sash” or girdle about the body, that it might not impede their progress. Hence, to gird up the loins means to be “ready,” to be active, to be diligent. Compare 2Ki 4:29; 2Ki 9:1; Jer 1:17; Act 12:8.

Your lights burning - This expresses the same meaning. Be ready at all times to leave the world and enter into rest, when your Lord shall call you. Let every obstacle be out of the way; let every earthly care be removed, and be prepared to follow him into his rest. Servants were expected to be ready for the coming of their lord. If in the night, they were expected to keep their lights trimmed and burning. When their master was away in attendance on a wedding, as they knew not the hour when he would return, they were to be continually ready. So we, as we know not the hour when God shall call us, should be “always” ready to die. Compare the notes at Mat 25:1-13.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Let your loins be girded; i.e. be prepared to walk in the way of virtue; a comparison taken from the custom of the eastern people, who girded up their long garments, when they went about any business. (Witham) --- After our divine Saviour had given his disciples such excellent instructions, he wishes to lead them still farther in the path of perfection, by telling them to keep their loins girt, and to be prepared to obey the orders of their divine Master. By lamps burning in their hands he wished to insinuate, that they were not to pass their lives in obscurity, but to let their lights shine before men. (Theophylactus)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Vers. 35, 36. Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. The Master goes on with his teaching on the subject of covetousness, still addressing himself primarily to the disciples. "There is another reason why my chosen followers should treat the amassing of earthly goods with indifference; no man knows when the end of this state of things may come; their hearts must be fixed on something else than perishable things. They must act as servants on the watch for the r eturn of their lord. See now, my own," Jesus proceeds to say; "your attitude in life must be that of servants, at once loyal and devoted, whom their employer has left in his house while he is absent at a great wedding-feast. The day of his absence passes into evening, and evening shades into night; and even the night wears slowly and tediously away, and still the master of the house comes not back from his festival." But the faithful servants all this while never slumber, or even lie down to rest. All the time of his absence, with their loose flowing Eastern robes taken up, and the skirt fastened under the girdle, with their lamps all trimmed and burning, these watchers wait the coming of their lord, though he tarry long, that they may be ready to receive him and serve him the moment he arrives. All kinds of busy house service, too, carried on during the long night of watching, is implied by the girt-up robes and the lit lamps of the tireless watchers.

Vers. 35-40. Death a Divine visitation.

To us the coming of the Son of mart means the hour of death; that is the practical view and therefore the wise view of the subject And we may well regard our departure from this world as a coming of God to us.

I DEATH AS A DIVINE VISITATION.

1. At death God comes to us all in judgment. Death is the appointed penalty of sin. It is true that the burden of that penalty is spiritual rather than material, and that God grants us a kind reprieve before he executes it; but still, in conformity with it, the accidents of death have to occur to us; that ancient sentence has to be fulfilled; the shadows of the last hour must fall around us; and whenever and however that may happen, with whatever mitigations, God will come to us then in solemn penalty, saying, "My child, thou hast sinned, and thou must die.

2. At death God comes to us in providence.

(1) God has given to us a perishable frame, one that is only constructed to last for a term of years, that after a certain point begins to waste and wane

(2) He suffers, if he does not send, the special circumstances which lead up to death; at the least, he withholds the interposing act or suggestion which would prolong the life that is taken Man never "goes to his long home" but we may say, "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men." On each such occasion the Son of man comes and says, "Put off thy tabernacle, and come within the veil.

3. At death Christ comes to us in sacred summons In life God"s voice should be daily heard saying, "Put out those powers; use those opportunities; cultivate that spiritual nature I have entrusted to thee; serve thy brethren; glorify my Name." But at death Christ comes to us and summons us to his presence; then we hear him say, "Give account of thy stewardship;" "Reap what thou hast sown.

II READINESS FOR DEATH A PART OF HUMAN WISDOM. "Let your loins be girded about... be like men that wait for their Lord... the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

1. It is true that there is usually less suddenness than there seems in cases of sudden death; on inquiry, it is nearly always found that there were premonitory signs of danger, kindly warnings from the Author of our nature, that the end was not far off it. But it is also and equally true that death is unexpected when it does arrive

(1) So do we cling to life, that we are not willing to acknowledge concerning ourselves the fact which is obvious to every one else respecting us.

(2) It is our mental habit to expect continuance where we ought to look for severance and cessation. The oftener we have crossed the decaying and breaking bridge, the more confidently we do cross it, though we know well that it is nearer than ever to its fall. We may be almost sure that, in whatever form and at whatever hour the Son of man comes to us, we shall be surprised at his appearance.

1. It will be a terrible thing to be unready; to have to do, if we can, in a few brief hours that for which a long life is not a day too long.

2. It will be a blessed thing to be ready for this vision of our Lord; not merely, nor chiefly, because we shall thus be enabled to cross, with calm hopefulness, into the other country, but because we shall then be ready for those high services and celestial honors which our gracious and generous Master intends to confer upon us (ver. 37). C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let your loins be girt - An allusion to the long garments, worn by the eastern nations, which they girded or tucked up about their loins, when they journeyed or were employed in any labour: as also to the lights that servants used to carry at weddings, which were generally in the night.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Christian alertness:

v. 35. Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning;

v. 36. and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord when he will return from the wedding, that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.

v. 37. Blessed are those servants whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching; verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

v. 38. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

v. 39. And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.

v. 40. Be ye therefore ready also; for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

A state of watchful waiting is that which is expected of the Christians of the last days. They shall be like servants whose master has gone to his wedding-feast and expects to return home with his bride. Their loins will be girt, for ’immediate service, without delay or dallying; the lights will be burning, to avoid all confusion. Every servant will be in his exact place and occupied with his own duty. Just as soon as the master comes, and at the moment of his knocking, they will be ready to open the door and to be of service to him, with joyful alertness. Such faithfulness is a rare virtue, but happy are they that have learned this virtue, for theirs will also be a rare reward of grace. Solemnly Jesus declares that the master will exchange roles with the servants, urging them to recline at the table, while he himself would gird up his undergarments and "help them to portions of the marriage-feast he has brought home with him. " And should the coming of the lord be delayed to the second watch, just before midnight, or to the third, just after midnight, and the same conditions obtain, those servants would find themselves rewarded for their faithfulness far beyond their deserts. Thus the disciples of Christ will be found ready at all times to receive their Lord Jesus Christ, when He returns to judge the quick and the dead. And although they are merely fulfilling their duty in living lives of constant, prayerful watchfulness, yet He will give them a reward of mercy far surpassing their fondest hopes and expectations.

The lesson of alertness is emphasized by another parable. Just as a thief may come at any hour of the night, and just when he is least expected, and just as the householder therefore will be watchful at all times, lest the thief make his way into the house and carry out his intentions, thus the disciples of the Lord should be on their guard lest the last day come upon them while they are unprepared. To be ready and alert always, that is their duty, always to look forward to the coming of the last day; for the Son of Man, as the great Judge, comes at an hour when He is least expected.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The next duty Christ exhorts his disciples to, is that of watchfulness with reference to his second coming: Let your loins be girded, and your lights burning. The words may be understood two ways, spoken either in a martial phrase, as to soldiers; or in a domestic, as to servants; if as to soldiers, then let your loins be girded, and your lights burning in as much as that we should be always ready for a march, having our armor on, and our match lighted, ready to give fire at the alarm of temptation. If the words are spoken as to servants, then our Master bids us carefully expect his second coming, like a lord’s returning from a wedding supper (which used to be celebrated in the night) that they should not put on their clothes, nor put out their lights, but stand ready to open, though he comes at midnight. When Christ comes, that soul only shall have his blessing whom he finds watching.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35–46. Let your loins be girded. The long Oriental robe had to be taken up and girded before one was ready to travel. See notes on Matt. 24:42–51. Lights burning. See Matt. 25:3–8.

May open unto him immediately. Be ready when the Lord's summons come.

In the second watch. The Jews divided the night into four watches. The second and third covered the midnight hours.

The thief would come. See notes on Matt. 24:43, 44.

Who then is the faithful and wise steward? See notes on Matt. 24:45–51.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

Jesus begins to tell a parable. (See: Parables)

Let your long clothing be tucked in at your belt

People wore long flowing robes. They would tuck them into their belt to keep the robes out of the way while they worked. AT: "Tuck your clothing into your belt so you are ready to serve" or "Be dressed and ready to serve" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Active or Passive)

let your lamps be kept burning

This can be stated in active form. AT: "keep your lamps burning" (See: Active or Passive)

be like people looking for their master

Jesus commands the disciples to be ready for him to return the same way servants should be ready for their master to return. (See: Simile)

returns from the marriage feast

"returns home from a marriage feast"

open the door for him

This refers to the door of the master's house. It was the responsibility of his servants to open it for him. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

lamp

lord

feast

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

35. ἔστωσαν ὑμῶν αἱ ὀσφύες περιεζωσμέναι. Without a girdle active service is impossible in the loose flowing dress of the East (Exo 12:11; 1Ki 18:46); and spiritually, for the Christian amid worldly entanglements, 1Pe 1:13; Eph 6:14. Comp. the Latin praecincti, and Milton’s “His habit fit for speed succinct.” Par. Lost, III. 643.

οἱ λύχνοι καιόμενοι. The germ of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Mat 25:1.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35-48.] Exhortations to watchfulness. The attitude and employment of the μικρὸν ποίμνιον is carried on, even to their duty of continual readiness for their Lord’s coming. These verses are connected with ver. 32—‘since your Father hath seen fit to give you the kingdom, be that kingdom, and preparation for it, your chief care.’ There are continual points of similarity, in this part of the discourse, to Mat 24:42 ff., but no more: and the close connexion quite forbids us to imagine that the sayings have been collected merely by the Evangelist.

35.] There is a slight reference to, or rather another presentation of the truth set forth in, the parable of the virgins, Mat 25:1 ff. But the image here is of servants waiting for their Lord to return from the wedding;—left at home and bound to be in readiness to receive him. There is only a hint at the cause of his absence—he is gone to a wedding: γάμοι may mean almost any feast or entertainment—and the main thought here only is that he is away at a feast, and will return. But in the background lies the wedding in all its truth—not brought out here, but elsewhere, Mat 22:1 ff.; Mat 25:1 ff.

αἱ ὀσφ. περ.] See reff., and Joh 13:4.

οἱ λύχνοι] See note on Mat 25:1.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35-48. The Duty of Loyal Vigilance. From ver, 35 to ver. 38 this section has no parallel in Mt. The interpellation of Peter (ver. 41) is also peculiar to Lk. But vv. 39, 40 and 42-46 are parallel to Mat 24:43-51. The discourse once more takes a parabolic turn, watchfulness being inculcated by the parables of the Master’s Return (35-38, 42-48) and of the Thief’s Attack (39, 40).

35. Ἔστωσαν ὑμῶν αἱ ὀσφύες περιεζωσμέαι. The long garments of the East are a fatal hindrance to activity. Comp. 17:8; Act 12:8; 1Ki 18:46; 2Ki 4:29, 2Ki 4:9:1; Job 38:3, Job 38:40:7; Jer 1:17 Tristram, Eastern Customs in Bible Lands, p. 158. Note the emphatic position of ὑμῶν and ὑμεῖς. “Whatever others may do, this is to be your condition.”

οἱ λύχνοι καιόμενοι, κ.τ.λ. This is the parable of the Ten Virgins condensed (Mat 25:1).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.