Be Dressed Ready for Service and Keep Your Lamps Burning, Like Servants Waiting for Their

BE READY Luke 12:35-53 Key Verses: 35-36

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 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.”

God’s redemptive work comprises of Jesus’ birth, messianic work, death, resurrection, ascension and second coming. The early Christians who eye-witnessed Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension boldly proclaimed his second coming wherever they went. Since then, years had gone by, and scoffers in different generations said, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation” (2 Pe 3:4). Today many people also laugh at Jesus’ return. But St. Peter says in 2 Peter 2:8-9, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Nobody enjoys waiting and so does God. God is never late. He is always on time. And we Christians are people waiting patiently for Jesus’ second coming. What does it mean by waiting for Jesus’ second coming? Today’s passage answers this question clearly. Particularly, in today’s passage, Jesus says, “You must be ready.” Jesus also teaches us how to be ready very clearly. Let us learn to be ready Christians who are vigilant in this dark times and keeping the lamps of God burning. 2

Let’s begin with verses 35-36. “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 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.” These verses are directly related to verse 40, which we read, “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Jesus compared his second coming with the master’s return from a wedding banquet. As aforementioned, Christians are those who believe and wait for Jesus’ second coming. People may question when he is coming. But the more important question is how we can prepare ourselves for his coming, isn’t it? Jesus commands us, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet.” In Jesus’ time, a wedding feast lasted several days. Servants whose master went to the wedding reception needed to stay alert to be ready for service so that upon their master’s return, they could serve him immediately. To be ready means to be prepared. All people live and prepare for the future. Students study hard to find a job in the future. Parents take care of their children to grow and thrive in the future. Yo Yo Ma, a world renowned cellist practices many hours everyday to prepared for future concert. Someone said, “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail. In A.D. 79, Mount Vesuvius spewed a deadly cloud of volcanic gas and ash and destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. But according to ancient historians, before its eruption, there were weeks of rumblings and shakings of the mountain and a plume of smoke visible from it. But people in the cities were at the market, luxurious baths and routine works. They were not prepared and ready. So they were buried alive by the eruption. Today we are here without Jesus’ return. So instead of doubting of his return, we must give thanks to him for still giving us a chance to be ready. We don’t know when Jesus will return and knock. But one thing is certain: he will return and we still have a chance to get ready. Jesus will come back at an unexpected hour. We 3 all know children’s Hide and Seek game. One kid who is called “it” counts down from 10 to 0 and everyone runs and hides. After finishing the counting, it shouts, “Ready or not, here I come!” Jesus will come one day ready or not. Now what does it mean to be ready practically? Surely it does not mean to sell everything and go up to the mountain and wait for him day and night. What then does it mean?

First, it means to love and honor Jesus with all our hearts (35-40). Verse 35 says, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning…” Here we can see that Jesus wants his servants (his people) to welcome him with hearty honor and reverence when he returns. Imagine, the master took a long journey back home and his servants were dressed and waiting for him with big smile, “Welcome back master! You must be tired and hungry. Please, come to the dining table that is prepared for you.” The master will be so happy and energized by their warm love and high admiration. To these servants what will the master do? Verse 37 says, “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.” So much moved and cheered by them, the master will dress himself to serve them at the table. What love and care and relationship between the master and his servants it is!

We remember Canadian soldiers who fought a military mission in Afghanistan returned home and were welcomed by their family members with tears, smiles, kisses and warm hugs. I heard a soldier’s wife in an interview, “I’ve been waiting on this day for a long time.” While her husband was away, her heart went out to him with a longing desire to see him all the time and welcomed him with tears. Her husband was so happy to see her warm welcome and love and hugged her for a few minutes. Our Lord Jesus wants us to love him and honor him as our bridegroom. We are to be dressed ready and 4 keep our lamps burning, not because it is our duty, but because we love and honor Jesus from our hearts. What Jesus wants most from us is our love, our heart, our heart hearty devotion. Just like the soldier’s wife who longed for meeting her husband home with love and devotion and welcomed him with tears and big smiles, we are to love him with hearty devotion. The Bible declares that the first and greatest commandment is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Mt 22:37) What God really wants from us is we ourselves, our love and our service from our hearts. The church in Ephesus in the Book of Revelation were hard workers for God. They had great perseverance and endured hardships for Jesus’ name. But Jesus was rebuking the church saying, “You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” (Rev 2:4-5) Our genuine love for Jesus enables us to be ready. Let us love Jesus, and honor him by repenting of our sins and getting dressed ready and keeping the lamps burning.

Second, to be ready means to do the master’s will (41-53). Peter out of blue asked Jesus, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” I don’t know why Peter asked this question. But the Lord answered him by giving him the stories of managers. Jesus’ answer begins with a counter-question: “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?” (42) Here the manager refers to the steward of a household who took care of the master’s property, his other servants and even his children. The master trusted the manager and put him in charge of all his servants, before leaving for the wedding. This manager was faithful and wise. He was very faithful. Whether the master was watching or not, he did his best. He got up early every morning and gave all the servants in the house their food allowance at the proper time in obedience to his master. Whenever certain difficult problems arose, he got God’s 5 wisdom through prayers and resolved them. He was just like Joseph in Genesis a faithful and wise manager who fed the Egyptians and people beyond Egypt giving their food allowance at the proper time during 7 years of severe famine in Egypt and sounding countries. The faithful and wise manager never missed a meal or left people hungry.

What happens to the faithful and wise manager when the master returned and saw him? Verses 43-44 says, “It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge for all his possessions.” Jesus spoke these words to Peter and wanted Peter to become a faithful and wise manager. Peter was not born faithful and wise. But Jesus had vision for him to be the shepherd manager who could take care of God’s flocks faithfully and wisely. Later, the risen Jesus asked Peter to feed Jesus’ sheep out of his love for Jesus. In John 21:15, the risen Jesus asked Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” Peter answered “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved Jesus more than other things. When Peter confessed to love Jesus, Jesus commanded him to feed his flock. Jesus wanted Peter to show his love for him by feeding his sheep. Through this encounter with the risen Jesus, Peter must have deeply recognized the Lord’s will that was to feed and take care of God’s flock. In fact, the Book of Acts recorded that Peter later fed many people with God’s words faithfully and wisely. He also urged Christians in 1 Peter 5:2, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve…” Therefore to be ready for Jesus’ return means to be faithful and wise shepherds for God’s flock. Dr. Joseph Chung served God’s flock in Chicago faithfully and wisely for 33 years as a medical doctor missionary. Even in his sixties, he went out witnessing on campus, saying, “Hi my name is Joe. What’s your name? May I share a few 6

Bible verses with you?” After his retirement, he then went to Uganda according to God’s calling as a missionary, instead of taking care of his grandchildren and reading books in the cool of the day as a senior citizen. In Uganda, he served many sick children and took care of 10 Bible students faithfully with Bible study each week. He was praying for world mission and for sending missionaries to the neighboring countries Rwanda, Southern Sudan, Congo republic and Burundi. He is a faithful and wise manager, who has given God’s flock their food allowance at the proper time.

Faithfulness is a very important quality for Jesus’ servants. Faithful people are trustworthy and reliable; they commit themselves to serve their master with single-hearted devotion. To be shepherds of Jesus’ flock, giving others their food allowance at the proper time, we are to to be faithful. John Wesley the founder of the Methodist church was once asked what he would do if he knew his Lord would return at that time the next day. He answered, “I would go to bed and go to sleep; wake up in the morning, and go on with my work, for I would want Him to find me doing what he had appointed.”

God’s servants and shepherds also need wisdom to have breakthroughs and to overcome limitations. More importantly, to serve God’s flock and to fight against sins and Satan, we need God’s wisdom. And God’s wisdom comes from God. Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Shepherds of God’s flock need God’s wisdom to help and serve God’s flock in God’s way. We can have God-given wisdom when we fear God.

There are so many people thirsty for God just like a psalmist who cried, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” (Ps 42:1) Jesus chose us as managers of God’s flock who can give their food allowance at the proper time. Many of us 7 have been teaching the Bible to young campus students faithfully, free of charge, sacrificing time, energy and money for many years. But the result was very little with many rejections, complaints and blames. But we should not give up and cannot give up. Rather, we renew our hearts remembering Jesus’ love for us and his calling purpose for us so as to be faithful and wise managers. Being ready for Jesus’ return practically means to serve God’s flock with God’s words faithfully. Let us not abuse our privileges like the wicked servants in verses 45-46. They assume that the master’s return will take a long time. They feel that a faithful life is boring. So they indulge in fleshly pleasures and abuse the other servants. They think they can repent just before the master comes. But he comes suddenly, and punishes them severely. They will be beaten with many blows for their intentional unfaithfulness (47). The unintentionally unfaithful will not avoid punishment, but they will be beaten with few blows (48). In verse 48b, Jesus explains his principle: “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.” We should not waste time comparing ourselves with others. We are accountable to God for what he has entrusted to us. According to the measure of his trust, we should prove faithful.

Today, Jesus commanded us to be ready for his return by loving and honoring Jesus with all our hearts and by becoming faithful and wise managers for Jesus’ flock. Let us be ready and do the will of our Lord waiting for Jesus’ second coming.