CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 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.
Luke 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.
Luke 12:37. Gird himself, etc.—A prophetic view of this great act of self-abasing love is given in John 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 Revelation 3:20-21, the figure is carried still further, and the promise is given of sharing His throne.
Luke 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.
Luke 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. 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 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.— Luke 12:35-38
The Kind Master.—The parable of the Dutiful Servant (Luke 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 Luke 12:35-38
Luke 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.
Luke 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.
Luke 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.
Luke 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 (Matthew 25:5; Matthew 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.
Luke 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.