“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men 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. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. 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. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
(verses 35-40)
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“Be ready.” That’s the urgent message in Jesus’ teaching.
Be like servants who are waiting for their master to return from a wedding celebration. There is no question whatsoever that he is going to arrive back home. But who knows when? It might be before midnight, it might be after, or it might not come about until the early hours of dawn. But it will happen. He will certainly return.
So, “be ready.”
Keep your lamps burning. Be expecting him to walk through the door at any moment. Be eager for his return. “Be ready.”
It strikes me that this phrase is similar to Jesus’ teaching earlier in this same chapter. He spoke about being “rich toward God” (verse 21) and providing “purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted” (verse 33). It all has to do with where we focus our primary attention.
The physical world around us is so pressing, full of concerns regarding present provisions, future security, housing, clothing, food, and all the other necessities of life. We need to attend to these issues. But they’re not meant to divert our attention from what’s most important. We’re meant to have eyes on Jesus. We’re meant to focus the primary energies of our lives on investing in the Kingdom. We’re to entrust these necessary concerns of life into his hands. We’re meant to use each moment to engage more deeply in relationship with him.
“Be ready.” Be focused.
Personally, I know this to be an ongoing issue. There are so many distractions. Some of them entirely justified. Some of them not. I need to hear this simple phrase moment by moment: “Be ready.”
There is encouragement in the process. The Apostle Paul tells us that every moment, no matter how mundane, can be activated as focused service for the Master. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men … It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24). Or, as Brother Lawrence put it, in each moment we can practice the presence of God. It’s all active engagement for being ready.
The other thing I note, with surprise, is that when the Master comes, he himself will serve his servants, giving them refreshment, and waiting on their needs. It seems our Lord, in urging us to be ready, is himself eager to return to us. How good.
I look forward, therefore, to that final day when my Lord returns. I long for his coming. I want to live in such a way that I am ready.
But I also rejoice that there is a further part to the story. He has not left us as orphans. He is present with us by his Spirit right now. He has said, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). So, as I ready myself for his coming – as I serve him, keeping eyes on him, being rich toward God, storing up treasure in heaven – it is also true that he meets me with his ongoing presence in the midst of it all. In this I rejoice.
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Lord Jesus, please speak the ongoing word into my ear, “Be ready.” Prompt me as I go through this day. Refocus my eyes when they get diverted from the main thing – you. Strengthen me by your Spirit to engage in the whole of my life as active service to you. I look forward to your return. I thank you, also, that you are with me now – and always. Amen.
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Reflect:
What steps can you take so that throughout your day you keep hearing Jesus’ command: “Be ready”?
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Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash
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