Slices
Prepare
‘Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.’ These words form part of an ancient liturgy and are repeated daily in many churches across the world. Affirm your belief as you prepare to meet Jesus in today’s reading.
Bible passage
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 make 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 towards 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.
Explore
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 (v 45). In both scenarios, the faithful servants are commended and it will be good for them (vs 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?
Respond
After more than two thousand years of church history, it’s easy to get blunted and lose sight of Jesus’ return as King of all creation. And so we pray, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’
Deeper Bible study
‘I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking.’1
Televisions have a standby facility. Although they are not functioning, they are always ready to respond instantaneously at the press of a switch. So it can be with us. It is possible to live on two levels: to be getting on with the things that have to be done, while at the same time being alert and alive to the call of the kingdom, ready to respond to the Lord at any moment.
It is this quality of alertness that Jesus has in mind. Today’s parables deal with the master-servant relationship, according to which disciples live to serve the will of their master. Let us make no mistake: democrats though we may be at the human, political level, when it comes to Jesus, he definitely has the right to rule. For this reason we call him Lord. He may well be our brother,2 but he is our elder brother and we do what he says. We live with a sense of expectancy and imminence, that he could come at any time. There is an anticipation here that Jesus would go away and then return at an unknown time: so we remain alert, not misusing our privileges or slacking off in our stewardship of what God has given to us, but staying focused, with our priorities in place.
In an egalitarian age we might bridle at the idea that anybody can be our master, but we are not talking about just anybody. Jesus is a specific somebody, one who has the exclusive right to rule: we should take note of what kind of master he is. Though there are the hyperbolic warnings of verses 46 and 47, there is also the remarkable prospect of verse 37, in which the master takes the form of a servant and honours those who honour him.
‘Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.’3
1 Song 5:2 2 Heb 2:11 3 1 Pet 4:10
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Isaiah 65,66; John 1
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for all the volunteer leaders of Guardians of Ancora clubs, especially those starting in schools this term. Thank God for the growth and impact of this form of mission and pray for the effectiveness of the revamped Guardians of Ancora clubs resources. across the country.
