Mark 13:34

Mar_13:34-36

And to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.

Christian watchfulness

I. A certain event referred to. That He should go away was necessary.

1. It was impossible that His state of humiliation should be continued.

2. The work He had to do in heaven required His presence there.

3. His removal was necessary in order that the Holy Spirit might be bestowed.

II. A responsible trust committed.

1. What He left in charge of His servants was His house. The church is frequently set forth under this designation.

2. Those whom He left behind were invested with the powers necessary for the transaction of affairs during His absence.

3. While peculiar authority was granted to some, none of the servants were permitted to remain idle.

III. An important duty enjoined.

1. To no subject is our attention more frequently directed than that of watchfulness.

2. The consideration by which it is enforced. It is the uncertainty as to when the master of the house might return; whether at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning.

3. Whatever limits may belong to other obligations, this is universal in its claims. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. (Expository Outlines.)

Christs second coming

I. The Churchs authority. He gave authority to His servants. The more we serve the more authority is given. For, what is authority? Not position, not office; but a certain moral power: the power of truth, the power of affections, the power of virtue over vice, the power of faith over sight. There are degrees of authority in the Church. There is authority which belongs to the Church collectively, essential for her wholesome discipline. But we have to do only with what is personal to ourselves, it is your authority to go to every single man under heaven and tell the glorious things of the gospel. It is your authority to go to the throne of God Himself.

II. The work. Authority is never given in the Church of Christ for any other end but work. The work is specific, to every man his work. Each Christian should pray till he finds out the work God has assigned him in this present life. There is work active and passive in the Masters house; the childlike reception of the grace of God, to evangelise mankind.

III. Watching. There are two ways of watching. There is a watching against a thing we fear; and or a thing we love. Watch for the second advent, and you will be vigilant against sloth and sin. Will you not keep every trespasser out of the Masters house, when you feel that that Master Himself stands almost at the door? He is worth watching for. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Watching for the Master

In all, therefore, you do, brethren, and in all you suffer, you are to be in the spirit of a man who, expecting a dear friend, has taken his stand at the gate, to meet him when he arrives,-a porter. Oh, it is such a pleasant thing to watch,-pleasant to go up on the high door of prophecy, and turn the telescope of inspiration down the road where He will come: pleasant, in every trouble to feel,-in a moment He may come, and cut this trouble very short: pleasant, in every fear, however deep, to think Christs coming may be nearer than we might fear: pleasant, to feel,-when the world knocks at your door, to say, I am keeping place for Jesus, and I cannot let you in: pleasant, in some work to have conscience say, I think my dear Master would like to find me here: pleasant when all is happy, to double the happiness with the thought, And He, too, will soon be here: and pleasant to wake up every morning and think, What can I do today to prepare the way for my Saviour. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

The Master cometh

I. The house.

II. The householder.

III. The journey.

IV. The servants.

V. The charge.

VI. The individual work.

VII. The command to the porter.

1. Watch against thieves and robbers.

2. Watch for the Master. (H. Bonar, D. D.)

Our absent Lord

The parable in Mar_13:34-36 cannot be discharged of its meaning by a reference to the ordinary risks of human mortality. Its theme is not mans dying, but Christs coming.

I. The Son of Man is represented as a householder away on a journey (Mar_13:34).

1. It is not fair to look upon Jesus as a mere absentee lord of the soil. For. He made this world; He has suffered wonderfully to save souls; and He owns what He has purchased.

2. It must be remembered that He went away for a most gracious purpose. He would send the Comforter (Joh_16:7). He has gone to prepare a place for those whom He died to redeem (Joh_14:2-3).

3. It is better to urge His coming back with eagerness of prayer. There is fitness in the passionate words of Richard Baxter: Haste, O my Saviour, the time of Thy return: send forth Thy angels, let the last trumpet sound! Delay not, lest the living give up hope. Oh, hasten that great resurrection day when the seed Thou sowedst corruptible shall come forth incorruptible, and the graves that retain but dust shall return their glorious ones, Thy destined bride!

II. To everyone our absent Lord has given his own work to do (Mar_13:35).

1. There is a work to be wrought on ourselves. Our bodies are to be exercised and skilled for service (Rom_12:1). Our minds are to be developed and embellished for Gods praise. One of our Lords parables spoken on this very occasion has actually added to our language the new word talents, as signifying intellectual gifts (Mat_25:15). Our souls are to be sanctified wholly (1Th_5:23).

2. There is also a work to be wrought upon others and for others. The poor are to be succoured, the weak to be strengthened, the ignorant to be taught, the sorrowful to be comforted.

3. There is another work to be wrought for Gods glory. Mans chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Our whole life is to be consecrated to this, even down to the particulars of eating and drinking (1Co_10:31).

III. Our absent Lord is surely coming back again to this world (Mar_13:26).

1. He predicted His second advent (Joh_14:28). The language Jesus used in this remembered declaration is not at all figurative; it all goes together as a statement of fact. He said, literally, He would send the Comforter, and the Holy Spirit came in person on the Day of Pentecost. And just as literally did He say He would Himself return at the appointed time.

2. He asseverated the certainty and solemnity of His own promise, as if He foresaw some would deny or doubt it (Mar_13:31). This was endorsing the covenant engagement by a new oath; because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself.

3. He left behind Him vivid descriptions of the momentous day on which He should arrive (Mar_13:24-26). In these, however, He does little more than repeat the vigorous language of the Old Testament prophet (Dan_7:9-14).

4. He even sent back word from heaven by an angel (Act_1:11). It should be this same Jesus who should come back, and He should come in like manner as they had seen Him depart.

IV. The exact hour in which our absent Lord will arrive is not announced (Mat_24:42).

1. Jesus asserted that He did not know it Himself (Mar_13:32). The disciples once asked Him about this (Mat_24:3). He told them that God the Father had kept this one secret in His own solemn reserve (Act_1:6-7).

2. But our Saviour declares that His coming might be expected at any moment, morning or midnight, evening or cock crowing (Mar_13:35). It would assuredly be sudden. The figure is employed more than once in the Scriptures of a thief in the night (2Pe_3:10). Peter in his Epistle only quotes our Lords own language (Luk_12:39-40).

3. Moreover, Christ told His disciples that there would be tokens of the nearness of this great day, by which it might be recognized when it should be close at hand (Mar_13:28-29). These signs would be as clearly discerned as shoots on fig trees in the opening summer. He mentioned some of them explicitly (Luk_21:25-28). We may admit that wars and rumours of wars, earthquakes, famines, falling stars, and pestilences (Mat_24:6-8), together with great signs in heaven and earth, are alarming disclosures; but will any one doubt that such phenomena are conspicuous at least? (Luk_17:24).

4. So Jesus insisted that men were bound to be wise in noting these signs, and be ready (Luk_12:54-56).

V. The greatest peril is that, when our absent Lord comes, men will be taken unawares (Mar_13:36).

1. The instinctive tendency of the human heart is to procrastinate in the performance of religious work.

2. Time glides mysteriously on with no reference to daring delay. The grave, like the horseleachs daughter, cries Give (Pro_30:15-16), and damnation slumbereth not (2Pe_2:3), but men sleep clear up to the edge of divine judgment. They did in Noahs time, and in Lots, when a less catastrophe was at hand; and so it will be when the Son of Man is revealed (Luk_18:26-30).

3. Christians ought to hold in memory the repeated admonitions they have received. Walter Scott wrote on his dial plate the two Greek words which mean the night cometh, so that he might keep eternity in mind whenever he saw the hours of time flitting by. Evidently the Apostle Paul feels that he has the right to press peculiarly pertinent and solemn appeals upon those who had enjoyed the advantage of such long instruction (1Th_5:1-7).

4. There is no second chance offered after the first is lost. When Christ comes, foolish virgins will have no time to run for oil to pour into their lightless lamps. A forfeited life cannot be allowed any opportunity for retrieval. Where the tree falls, north or south, there it must lie, whether the full fruit has been ripened upon its branches or not (Ecc_11:3).

VI. The final counsel left behind him by our absent Lord is for all to watch (Mar_13:37).

1. Christs coming would seem to be the highest anticipation for true believers. When He appears, saints will appear with Him in glory (Col_3:4). This is the blessed hope of the Church along the ages (Tit_2:13).

2. It might clear an inquirers experience to think of this coming of Jesus. Does one love to watch for Him? In the autobiography of Frances Ridley Havergal we are told of the years during which she sought sadly for peace at the cross. At last one of her teachers put this question to her: Why cannot you trust yourself to your Saviour at once? Supposing that now, at this moment, Christ were to come in the clouds of heaven, and take up His redeemed, could you not trust Him? Would not His call, His promise, be enough for you? Could you not commit your soul to Him, to your Saviour, Jesus? This lifted the cloud; she tells the story herself: Then came a flash of hope across me, which made me feel literally breathless. I remember how my heart beat. I could surely, was my response; and I left her suddenly and ran away upstairs to think it out. I flung myself on my knees in my room, and strove to realize the sudden hope. I was very happy at last. I could commit my soul to Jesus. I did not, and need not, fear His coming. I could trust Him with my all for eternity. It was so utterly new to have any bright thoughts about religion that I could hardly believe it could be so, that I had really gained such a step. Then and there, I committed my soul to the Saviour, I do not mean to say without any trembling or fear, but I did-and earth and heaven seemed bright from that moment-I did trust the Lord Jesus. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

Work for God

The sentence which must have seemed to Adam a curse, In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread, has been turned by God into a blessing. The elements of Adams doom are the materials of human happiness. Heaven is made out of the ruins of the fall. What a world this would be without work! What a weariness! What a hot bed of every bad passion! What a torment!

I. Every living creature has its own proper work. It matches with each mans natural endowment and his spiritual attainment. It is what suits him: neither too little nor too much. Enough to engage, and occupy, and draw out all his powers; and yet not so much as to injure or distress them. Take pains to ascertain whether the work you are engaged in is really yours-the work God would have you to do. To settle that satisfactorily, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

1. There must be the vocation of the heart-conscience and spiritual conviction telling you, after prayer and thought, that you are called to it.

2. The vocation of circumstances-your position and means being suited, and your education and habit of mind accommodated to it.

3. The vocation of the Church-the advice and judgment of pious friends who are in a position to offer an unprejudiced opinion on the subject. If these three things unite, you may be sure that, though you are directed to it by human agencies, the work is really allotted to you by God.

II. You are responsible only for doing the work, not for the results. The work is yours, but the issue is Gods. Leave that to Him. Do you work with faith-for faith is confidence, and confidence is calmness, and calmness is power, and power is success, and success is Gods glory. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Wakeful work

Unless we work, we shall not keep spiritually awake and lively: unless we are awake, we shall not work. The last thing that would please a master would be the idle curiosity which would make the servants neglect their work to stand outside the door gazing to catch a glimpse of his return. What the Master desires is wakeful work. He desires-

I. Work.

1. Work of mercy.

2. Work of uprightness.

3. Work of struggling against evil within us.

4. Work of witnessing for Christ.

5. Work of helping others in various ways.

6. Work of comforting the sad, of supporting the weak.

7. Work of reclaiming the erring.

8. Work of saving the lost.

II. He wants this to be done wakefully; in that fresh and earnest way which men take

(1) when their faculties are on the alert;

(2) when they are on the watch for opportunities of doing good, and against seductions to neglect it;

(3) when they are wakeful enough to see a living Saviour, and feel His inspiration;

(4) when they watch lest they lose the things they have wrought;

(5) when they are awake to the immense needs and the awful dangers of their fellow men;

(6) when they are awake to the littleness of time and the greatness of eternity the nearness and sufficiency of the Spirits help, and the certainty and value of the Saviours reward. When there is this working and this watching mutually aiding each other, then the desire of the Master is fulfilled, and whenever He appears we are ready to receive Him with exceeding joy. (R. Glover.)

Work and watching

I. The work of the servants.

1. Work is the common duty of all in Christs house. The calm stars are in ceaseless motion, and every leaf is a world, with its busy inhabitants and the sap coursing through its veins as the life blood through our own. It would be strange then if the Christian Church, which was intended to be the beating heart to all this worlds activity, were exempted from a law so universal. Such a thing would be against our highest nature. Work is not only a duty, but a blessing. Every right deed is a step upward. Instead of praying that God would grant us less work, our request should be that he would give us a greater heart and growing strength to meet all its claims.

2. This work is varied to different individuals. In one respect there is something common in the work of all, as there is a common salvation-to believe in Christ and to grow in grace; but even here there may be a variety in the form. There is a different colour of beauty in different stones that are all of them precious. One man may be burnishing to the sparkle of the diamond, while another is deepening to the glow of the ruby; and each is equally useful and necessary. The cornerstone and the cope stone have both their due place in the palace house of Christ. To see how this may be, is to perceive that an end can be put to all jealousies and heart burnings, and may help us even now to take our position calmly and unenviously, working in our department, assured that our labour will be found to contribute to the full proportion of the whole.

3. Each individual has means for ascertaining his own work. Not a special revelation, or an irresistible impression. Still Christ does guide men into their sphere of work by the finger of His providence and by the enlightenment of His Word in the hand of His Spirit. If it be thought it would be simpler and more satisfactory to have our place directly pointed out to us, let us remember the trouble and care necessary to ascertain it are part of our training.

There are these rules to guide us.

1. Our aptitudes.

2. Our opportunities.

3. The opinion of our fellow men when fairly expressed.

II. The watch of the porter. The porter is that one of the servants whose station is at the door to look out for those who approach, and open to them if they have right to enter. It would be wrong, however, to suppose that the body of the servants are exempted from watching, while one takes the duty for them (Mar_13:37). In saying the workmen are many and the watchman one, our Lord indicated that, while the mode of labour in the house may vary, the duty of watchfulness is common to all who are in it. The porter must stand at the door of every heart, while that heart pursues its work. What, then, is this watching? It is to do all our work with the thought of Christs eye measuring it, as of a friend who is ever present to our soul, gone from us in outward form, sure to return, and meanwhile near in spirit; to subject our plans and acts to His approval, asking ourselves at every step how this would please Him, shrinking from what would cloud His face, rejoicing with great joy in all that would meet His smile. This is a more difficult task than to have our hands busy with the work of the house. But, if attended to, it will bring its proportionate benefit.

1. It will keep us wakeful.

2. It will preserve purity.

3. It will maintain the soul in calmness.

4. It will rise increasingly to the fervour of prayer-that prayer which is the strength of the soul and the life of all work.

III. The bearing of these two duties upon each other.

1. Work cannot be rightly performed without watching; for then it would be

(1) blind and without a purpose;

(2) discouraging and tedious;

(3) formal and dead.

2. Watching will not suffice without work; or it would be

(1) solitary;

(2) subject to many temptations, such as empty speculations, vanity, pride;

(3) unready for Christ.

The solitary watcher can have no works of faith nor labours of love to present, no saved souls to offer for the Redeemers crown, and no crown of righteousness to receive from Him. He is saved, but alone, as on a board or a broken piece of the ship; not as they who have many voices of blessing around, and many welcomes before, and to whom an entrance is ministered abundantly into the kingdom of heaven. Happy is the man who can combine these two duties in perfect harmony-who has Stephens life of labour and Stephens vision in the end. In every soul there should be the sisters of Bethany, active effort and quiet thought, and both agreeing in mutual love and help. (John Ker, D. D.)

The discipline of work

Consider what an amount of drudgery must be performed-how much humdrum and prosaic labour goes to any work of the least value. There are so many layers of mere white lime in every shell to that inner one so beautifully tinted. Let not the shellfish think to build his house of that alone; and pray what are its tints to him? Is it not his smooth close-fitting shirt merely, whose tints are not to him, being in the dark, but only when he is gone or dead, and his shell is heaved up to light, a wreck upon the beach, do they appear. With him, too, it is a song of the shirt-Work-work-work! And the work is not merely a policy in the gross sense, but, in the higher sense, a discipline. If it is surely the means to the highest end we know, can any work be humble or disgusting? Will it not rather be elevating, as a ladder, the means by which we are translated? (Thoreau.)

Christs service delightful

A beautiful incident in reference to Mr. Townsend is mentioned in the life of John Campbell. Finding him on Tuesday morning, shortly before his last illness, leaning on the balustrade of the staircase that led to the committee room of the Tract Society, and scarcely able to breathe, I remarked, Mr. Townsend, is this you? Why should you come in this state of body to our meetings? You have now attended them for a long time, and you should leave the work to younger men. The reply of Mr. Townsend was worthy of his character. Looking at his friend with a countenance brightened and elevated by the thoughts that were struggling for utterance, his words were: Oh! Johnny, Johnny, man, it is hard to give up working in the service of such a Master! (Biblical Treasury.)

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

Mark

AUTHORITY AND WORK

Mar 13:34.

Church order is not directly touched on in the Gospels, but the principles which underlie all Church order are distinctly laid down. The whole community of Christian people is a family or household, being brethren because possessors of a new life through Christ. In that household there is one ‘Master,’ and all its members are ‘servants.’ That name suggests the purpose for which they exist; the meaning of all their offices, dignities, etc.

I. The authority with which the servants are invested.

We hear a great deal about the authority of the Church in these days, as a determiner of truth and as a prescriber of Christian action. It means generally official authority, the power of guidance and definition of the Church’s action, etc., which some people think is lodged in the hands of preachers, pastors, priests, either individually or collectively. There is nothing of that sort meant here. Whatever this authority is, it belongs to the whole body of the servants, not to individuals among them. It is the prerogative of the whole ecclesia, not of some handful of them. ‘This honour,’ whatever it be, ‘have all the saints.’

Explain by reference to ‘the kings of the earth exercise lordship over them’; ‘the greatest shall be your servant.’ It is then but another name for capacity for service, power to bless, etc.

And this idea is still further borne out if we go back to the parable of our text. A man leaves his house in charge of his servants. To them is committed the responsibility for his goods. His honour and interests are in their hands. They have control over his possessions. This is the analogy which our Lord suggests as presenting a vivid likeness to our position in the world.

Christ has committed the care of His kingdom, the glory of His name, the growth of His cause in the world to His Church, and has endowed it with all ‘talents,’ i.e. gifts needful for that work. Or, to put it in other words, they are His representatives in the world. They have to defend His honour. His name is scandalised or glorified by their actions. They have to see to His interests. They are charged with the carrying out of His mind and purposes.

The foundation of all is laid. Henceforth building on it is all, and that is to be done by men. Human lips and Christian effort-not without the divine Spirit in the word-are to be the means.

It is as when some commander plans his battle, and from an eminence overlooks the current of the fight, and marks the plunging legions as they struggle through the smoke. He holds all the tremendous machinery in his hands. The plan and the glory are his, but the execution of the plan lies with the troops.

In a still more true sense all the glory of the Christian conquest of the world is His, but still the instruments are ourselves. The whole counsel of God is on our side. We ‘go not a warfare at our own charges.’ Note the perfect consistency of this with all that we hold of the necessity of divine influence, etc.

His servants are intrusted with all His ‘goods.’ They have authority over the gifts which He has given them, i.e. Christian men are stewards of Christ’s riches for others.

They have access to the free use of them all for themselves.

Thus the ‘authority’ is all derived. It is all given for the sake of others. It is all capacity for service. Hence-

II. The authority with which the servants are invested binds every one of them to hard work for Christ.

‘To every man his work’

{1} Gifts involve duties. That is the first great thought. To have received binds us to impart. ‘Freely ye have received, freely give.’

All selfish possession of the gifts which Christ bestows is grave sin.

The price at which they were procured, that miracle and mystery of self-sacrifice, is the great pattern as well as the great motive for our service.

The purpose for which we have received them is plainly set forth: in the existence of the solidarity in which we are all bound; in the definite utterances of Scripture.

The need for their exercise is only too palpable in the condition of things around us.

{2} In this multitude of servants every one has his own task.

The universality of the great gift leads to a corresponding universality of obligation. All Christians have their gifts. Each of us has his special work marked out for him by character, relationships, circumstances, natural tastes, etc.

How solemn a divine call there is in these individual peculiarities which we so often think of as unimportant accidents, or regard mainly in their bearing on our own ease and comfort! How reverently we should regard the diversities which are thus revelations of God’s will concerning our tasks! How earnestly we should seek to know what it is that we are fitted for! The importance of all protests against priestly assumption lies here, that they strengthen the force with which we proclaim that every man has his ‘work.’

Ponder the variety of characters and gifts which Christ gives and desires His servants to use, and the indispensable need for them all. The ideal Church is the ‘body’ of Christ, in which each member has its place and function.

Our fault in this matter.

{3} The duties are to be done in the spirit of hard toil.

The servant has ‘his work’ allotted him, and the word implies that the work calls for effort. The race is not to be run without dust and sweat. Our Christian service is not to be regarded as a ‘bye-product’ or parergon. It is, so to speak, a vocation, not an avocation. It deserves and demands all the energy that we can put forth, continuity and constancy, plan and system. Nothing is to be done for God, any more than for ourselves, without toil. ‘In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread and give it to others.’

III, To do this work, watchfulness is needed.

The division of tasks between ‘servant’ and ‘porter’ is only part of the drapery of the parable. To show that watchfulness belongs to all, see the two following verses.

What is this watchfulness? Not constant fidgety curiosity about the coming of the Lord; not hunting after apocalyptic dates. The modern impression seems to be that such study is ‘watchfulness.’ Christ says that the time of His coming is hidden {see previous verses}. Ignorance of that is the very reason why we are to watch. Watchfulness, then, is just a profound and constant feeling of the transiency of this present. The mind is to be kept detached from it; the eye and heart are to be going out to things ‘unseen and eternal’; we are to be familiarising ourselves with the thought that the world is passing away.

This watchfulness is an indispensable part of our ‘work.’ The true Christian thought of the transiency of the world sets us to work the more vigorously in it, and increases, not diminishes, our sense of the importance of time and of earthly things, and braces us to our tasks by the thought of the brevity of opportunity, as well as by guarding us against tastes and habits which eat all earnestness out of the soul.

Thus ‘working and watching,’ happy will be the servant whom his Lord will find ‘so doing,’ i.e. at work, not idly looking for Him. Our common duties are the best preparation for our Lord’s coming.

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

13:34-35 The point of the story is not that the return of the Lord is uncertain or unexpected (see Matt 24:45-51; 25:1-30; Luke 12:36-38; 19:12-27), but that there will be no sign or warning of his coming. The parable is allegorical in at least two respects, with the master (Greek kurios) understood as the Lord [kurios] Jesus Christ and the slaves or household servants as the Christian community. But to allegorize the gatekeeper as the apostles or Peter was a post–New Testament development. • in the evening, at midnight, before dawn (literally the cock’s crowing), or at daybreak: The four periods of the night correspond to the Roman division of the night into four watches of three hours each and simply mean that the master can return at any time during the night.

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

Mar 13:34 . Enforcement of the exhortation to watch by a brief parable. At this point each of the synoptical evangelists goes his own way. In Mt. Jesus presses home the lesson by historical and prophetical pictures of the surprises brought by unexpected crises; in Lk. by general statements; in Mk. y a comparison which seems to be the germ of the parable in Mat 25:14-23 . ἄνθρωπος ἀπόδημος (here only), a travelling man, cf. ἄνθ . ἔμπορος , a merchant man, in Mat 13:45 . ἀφεὶς , τοὺς : these participles specify the circumstances under which the command to the porter, the main point, was given; it was when the master was leaving, and when he gave to all his servants his parting instructions. τὴν ἐξουσίαν , his (the master’s) authority, distributed among the servants when he could no longer exercise it himself. τὸ ἔργον α ., to each one his work , in apposition with ἐξουσίαν . In the master’s absence each man became his own master; put upon his honour, the seat of the ἐξουσία , and prescribing careful performance of the ἔργον entrusted to each. καὶ τ . θυρωρῷ , also, among the rest, and very specially, to the porter (he gave instructions). The καὶ here is emphatic, as if it had been καὶ δὴ καὶ . ἵνα γρηγορῇ , that he should watch: note that in this parable the function of watching becomes the business of one the porter. Each servant has his appropriate task; the porter’s is to watch. Yet in the moral sphere watching is the common duty of all, the temper in which all are to discharge their functions. All have to be porters , waiting at the gate, ready to open it to the returning master. Hence the closing exhortation in Mar 13:37 . What I say to you, the four disciples (Mar 13:3 ), I say to all: watch. This had to be added, because it was not said or suggested by the parable; a defect which makes it doubtful whether we have here a logion of Jesus in authentic form, and which may account for its omission by Lk.

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

Verse 34. Left his house] οικιαν, family. Our blessed Lord and Master, when he ascended to heaven, commanded his servants to be faithful and watchful. This fidelity to which he exhorts his servants consists in doing every thing well which is to be done, in the heart or in the family, according to the full extent of the duty. The watchfulness consists in suffering no stranger nor enemy to enter in by the senses, which are the gates of the soul; in permitting nothing which belongs to the Master to go out without his consent; and in carefully observing all commerce and correspondence which the heart may have abroad in the world, to the prejudice of the Master's service. See Quesnel.

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

(34) For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey.—The italics indicate, as usual, that the words are not found in the Greek. Their absence, seeming, as they do, essential to the meaning of the sentence, is singular. A possible explanation is, that we have an imperfect fragmentary report, as from a note taken at the time, of that which appears, in a developed form, as the parable of the Talents in Mat_25:14-30.

And commanded the porter to watch.—This feature is unique in our Lord’s parables, and, as such, seems to call for a special interpretation. The “servants” we accept at once as the disciples, and we understand generally what was the authority and the work assigned to them. But who was specifically the “gate-keeper” or “porter”? The answer appears to be found in the promise of the keys of the kingdom that had been made to St. Peter (Mat_16:19). It was his work to open the door of that kingdom wide, to be ready for his Lord’s coming in any of those manifold senses which experience would unfold to him. We may accordingly venture to trace in St. Mark’s record, here as elsewhere, the influence of the Apostle. That word “the porter” was, he felt, meant for him, and this he remembered when much that had been recorded by others had faded from his recollection. If we adopt this application of the word here, it throws light on the somewhat difficult reference to the “porter” of the sheep-fold in Joh_10:3.

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

34. For the Son of man is] These words do not occur in the original.

taking a far journey] Literally, one who is absent from his people, who goes on foreign travel. “Which gon fer in pilgrimage,” Wyclif. The verb formed from it occurs in chap. Mar_12:1, “A certain man planted a vineyard … and went into a far country.” Even so our Lord left His Church, gave authority to His servants the Apostles, and to those who should come after them, and to every man his work, and is now waiting for the consummation of all things.

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.

Lest coming suddenly,.... Unthought of, and unexpected, at an unawares:

he find you sleeping; inactive in the exercise of grace, and negligent in the performance of duty; unprepared for his coming, and unfit for service.

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

31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.

Ver. 34. The porter to watch] That the rest did their work.

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.

Who left his house - The word “house” often means family. Our Saviour here represents himself as going away, leaving his household the church, assigning to the apostles and all his servants their duty, and leaving it uncertain when he would return. Since his return was a matter of vast consequence, and as the affairs of his kingdom were entrusted to them, just as the affairs of a house are to servants when the master is absent, so it was of vast importance that they should be faithful at their post, that they should defend the house from danger, and be ready for his return.

The porter - The doorkeeper. To the janitor or doorkeeper was entrusted particularly the care of the house, whose duty it was to attend faithfully on those who came and those who left the house.

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

In the Greek, those words, For the Son of man is, are not, but those, or some such like, are necessarily to be understood to make up the sense. The watching here again twice called for is the same with that before mentioned. The sense of these verses is the same as before; the uncertainty of the time when Christ cometh to judgment should oblige all men to be diligent and industrious to keep themselves from sinning, that they may be ready at what time soever he cometh. He mentions only the four parts of the night, having spoken of sin under the notion of sleeping, and holiness under the notion of watching.

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

HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND Ver. 34. "To every man his work.

The circumstances under which these words were uttered imparted to them peculiar solemnity. Our Lord had left the temple for the last time, and in the waning light was walking home to Bethany, when he sat himself down to gaze with lingering love on Jerusalem. The evening sun was still glorifying her palaces; but the light was fading, darkness was coming; and he talked with his disciples of darker shadows about to fall, which would leave her bereft of the light of God. But he looked beyond that to the time when he would return from the "far country," and, gathering his servants around him, would give each one recompense according as his work should be. During his absence he has given "to every man his work." This clause suggests several thoughts concerning Christian service.

I THE UNIVERSALITY OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE. It is appointed for every man" who is in the Lord"s household. God works in us in order that we may will and do of his good pleasure. He gives us love to others, and understanding of his Word, an experience of his faithfulness, mental and spiritual faculties, in order to fit us for serving him. Science teaches us that natural agents are so closely related that they are mutually convertible. Motion passes into heat, heat into electricity, electricity into magnetism, magnetism into animal force, and so on in an endless circle. In the sphere of nature God arouses no force which does not arouse another; and though the primal energy passes on into many manifestations, it does not return to him void. So is it in the spiritual realm. He excites in your heart love to Christ, and that arouses thought about him, speech concerning him, activity for him; and these go forth like advancing waves of influence into the lives of others, and none can foresee the end. The Church is not meant to be like the phantom ship of which the poet sings, manned by a dead crew; but is likened to a living "household," in which all the servants are eager, watchful, and diligent; for their Lord has given "to every man his work." (Show the variety of capacities distributed amongst the old and young, the rich and poor, and the diverse forms of Christian service to which these point.)

II QUALIFICATIONS FOR CHRISTIAN SERVICE.

1. Earnestness. Too often this is fitful. It passes from us uselessly when in contact with the worldly, just as electricity passes off when insulation has been neglected. We want insulation of spiritual force. A modern Christian, surrounded by symbols of idolatry, would not always have "his spirit stirred" within him as Paul did at Athens. The present age is enlightened rather than enthusiastic; self-complacent rather than self-sacrificing.

2. Love to Christ and love to souls is the true inspiration of successful Christian service. It is gained at the foot of the cross. "A life of self-renouncing love Is a life of liberty.

3. Constancy. Such as Paul had, who, amid temptations to indolence, and amid persecutions which might have made him falter, pressed forward steadfastly. "This thing I do" was the motto of his life. Is it ours?

4. Watchfulness. A special exhortation to this lies in the passage before us. Let us watch

a. for opportunities of service,

b. for results of work, and

c. for the coming of the Lord.

III THE RECOMPENSE OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE.

1. There is blessing to be found in doing it. On the inactive mind and irresolute will doubts will gather, as limpets do on a motionless rock. Powers fairly exercised, whether they be physical, mental, or spiritual, develop by use.

2. There is blessing awaiting us when we have done it. It was not without reason that our Lord spoke (ver. 28) of the signs of his coming as being like the indications that summer is nigh." His advent will be to his people not a winter, but a summer, from which gloom and death will be banished, and in which there will be fruit-gathering after toil, and manifestation of beauty and glory arising from the discipline of the past. That summer the faithful! The world is ripening for it. Our work is preparing for it. Then shall the faithful reap fruit unto life eternal. A.R.

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

The Son of man is as a man taking a far journey - Being about to leave this world and go to the Father, he appoints the services that are to be performed by all his servants, in their several stations. This seems chiefly to respect ministers at the day of judgment: but it may be applied to all men, and to the time of death. Matt. xxv, 14; Luke xix, 12.

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

[34. Ὡς ἄνθρωπος) D. Hauber has ably proved that this passage is parallel, not to Mat 25:14, but to Mat 24:45.—Harm., p. 484].—τὴν ἐξουσίαν, authority) This He gave to His servants conjointly, as is evident from the antithesis, and to every man) καὶ ἑκάστῳ. The authority so assigned was a great authority: Mat 21:33.—καὶ) also [even].—τῷ θυρωρῷ, to the porter) [He gave charge], inasmuch as the porter is one who keeps watch even for others, and whose duty it is to rouse them up.

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

34. ὡς ἄνθρωπος. Again a characteristic asyndeton (Mt. inserts γάρ), and a characteristically unskilful constr. There is no apodosis to ὡς (Blass § 78. 1), and forgetting that he has used no finite verb Mk inserts καί before τῷ θυρ. ἐνετείλατο. It is possible that we here have a Hebraism; “It is as when a man”; but to make ὡς look back to ἀγρυπνεῖτε is a forced constr., unlike Mk.

ἀπόδημος. “Gone abroad”; nowhere else in Bibl. Grk. Cf. ἀποδημέω (Mar 12:1; Mat 21:33; Mat 25:14; etc.).

ἀφεὶς τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ. Superfluous after ἀπόδημος and omitted by Mt. See on Mar 1:32, Mar 6:25. For the combination of participles see on Mar 1:15.

τοῖς δούλοις … τὴν ἐξουσίαν. To the whole body of his slaves he gave the necessary authority to act during his absence.

ἑκάστῳ τὸ ἔργον. To each individual slave he assigned his proper work.

καὶ τῷ θυρωρῷ. R.V. saves the constr. by rendering καί “also”; but confused constructions are so common in Mk that this refinement is less probable. Cf. Mar 3:16-18, Mar 4:15; Mar 4:26; Mar 4:31, Mar 6:8-9, Mar 7:2-5; Mar 7:11-12, etc. See on Joh 10:3. Neither there nor here is it necessary to give any definite meaning to the door-keeper (Joh 18:16). Euthymius makes him to be τὸν ἑκάστου νοῦν, τὸν ἐπιστατοῦντα ταῖς θυρίσι τῆς ψυχῆς. The general lesson of the parable is that all are to watch. Pastors and rulers of the Church may be meant; but the οἰκονόμος (Luk 12:42; Luk 16:1-8) would seem to represent them (1Co 4:1; Tit 1:7). Does θυρωρός look back to ἐπὶ θυραῖς (Mar 13:29)?

γρηγορῇ. A late verb, formed from ἐγρήγορα.

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.

34. ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἀπόδημος … καὶ τῷ θυρωρῷ ἐνετείλατο ἵνα γρηγορῇ, γρηγορεῖτε—There is nothing to be supplied before ὡς like ἐστίν, but the correlative of ὡς is γρηγορεῖτε. It reads—As a man away from home, having left his house, and having given the charge to his servants, also gave orders to the porter to watch, watch ye therefore. The full statement of the comparison would be, so I say to you, watch. The abruptness of the statement in its present form makes it more forcible.

Omit καὶ before ἑκάστῳ, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BC* DL 238, 248, mss. Lat. Vet.

ἢ ὀψέ, ἢ μεσονύκτιον, ἢ ἀλεκτοροφωνίας,1 ἢ πρωΐ—either in the evening, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning. These words denote the four watches of the night, from six to six.2

Insert ἢ before ὀψέ, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BCL Δ one ms. Lat. Vet. Memph. Harcl. marg. μεσονύκτιον,3 instead of -τίου, Tisch. Treg. WH. א BCL Δ.

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

A man taking a far journey [ανθρωπος αποδημος] . The A. V. is incorrect, since the idea is not that of a man about to go, as Mt 25:14; but of one already gone. So Wyc., gone far in pilgrimage; and Tynd., which is gone into a strange country. The two words form one notion - a man abroad. Rev., sojourning in another country.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.