Parable · Luke 12:35-40

The Watchful Servants

Servants keep their lamps burning, waiting for a master who returns at an unknown hour.

Also called The Waiting Servants, Dressed and Ready

The point

The master, when he comes, puts on an apron and serves them. That is not how this works.

35Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning.

36Then you will be like servants waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once.

37Blessed are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the table, and he himself will come and wait on them.

38Even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night and finds them alert, those servants will be blessed.

39But understand this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

40You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.”

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Read the whole chapter

Using this at church

Read in church on

Lectionary 19 Year CGospel, Luke 12:32-40

For a newsletter or sermon notes

The parable of the Watchful Servants, explained in plain words. Servants keep their lamps lit, waiting for their master. https://freescripture.org/parables/watchful-servants/

Lines for the next eight Sundays, on Digital Lutheran Church