Readiness Parables (Luke 12:35-48)
If we are not supposed to put our trust and focus on material means, and if we are not supposed to worry and fret about the future, on what are we supposed to focus? As followers of Jesus, we have been told to seek His Kingdom. What does that look like?
Jesus proceeds to give a string of very brief parables illustrating the life and concern of His followers. They are to be prepared. As servants awaiting the return of a master, we are to be on watch. As homeowners being on guard against a thief, again, we are to be on watch.
However, this is hardly a call to sit around doing nothing, being on alert waiting for Jesus’s return. It is more about a life lived focused on behaving as we should. Jesus’s next examples show this. When Peter asks if this call to be on watch applies to them, Jesus describes the life of a faithful (and an unfaithful) servant. We are to live as if Jesus and His Kingdom is eminent. We know how to live a life pleasing to God, and we should do so. If we begin to think that the Kingdom is far off, we may be tempted to live for our own pleasures and benefit and behave evilly toward others. This is the danger of not being on watch.
Unlike the ignorant, this is the unfaithfulness of the religious hypocrite. They know what God wants but ignore it thinking that there will be time for good right before the end. The end is unannounced, though. None of us are guaranteed another day. Live today as if it were your last!
Jesus proceeds to give a string of very brief parables illustrating the life and concern of His followers. They are to be prepared. As servants awaiting the return of a master, we are to be on watch. As homeowners being on guard against a thief, again, we are to be on watch.
However, this is hardly a call to sit around doing nothing, being on alert waiting for Jesus’s return. It is more about a life lived focused on behaving as we should. Jesus’s next examples show this. When Peter asks if this call to be on watch applies to them, Jesus describes the life of a faithful (and an unfaithful) servant. We are to live as if Jesus and His Kingdom is eminent. We know how to live a life pleasing to God, and we should do so. If we begin to think that the Kingdom is far off, we may be tempted to live for our own pleasures and benefit and behave evilly toward others. This is the danger of not being on watch.
Unlike the ignorant, this is the unfaithfulness of the religious hypocrite. They know what God wants but ignore it thinking that there will be time for good right before the end. The end is unannounced, though. None of us are guaranteed another day. Live today as if it were your last!
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