IT WILL BE GOOD
Opening Prayer
Christ, may the truth of Your death, resurrection, and return be the truths I cling to today.
Read Luke 12:35–48
Watchfulness
35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
41 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”
42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
47 “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Are you ready for Christ’s return?This is a strange and disturbing passage. Two parables using similar imagery, connected by the same theme. Jesus is warning of an impending crisis and is challenging his hearers to be ready for its coming. Both stories are set in affluent homes where slaves serve an absent master. And the crisis is the master’s return. His return is sudden and unheralded but when he comes he expects to find his slaves at their work. Serving faithfully is a sign of their preparedness for his arrival, although some have given up hope and behave accordingly (45). In both scenarios, the faithful servants are commended and it will be good for them (37, 43).
Jesus is speaking of the crisis of his return and the upheaval this will cause. Are we ready and do we live our lives in the expectation of his sudden return?
Apply
Have you been putting off opportunities to share the gospel with someone? What if Christ were to return today? Don’t put it off any longer.
Closing prayer
“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Luke 11:2).
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