Scripture: Luke 12:35-38
Video Link: https://youtu.be/buo39MSYm6M
Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 1 Mar 2026 – The Master and Servants by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud
Structure:
- Introduction
- The servants prepare
- The master serves
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
Complete this phrase: Ready… Set… What comes next? [Wait] Yes, that’s right Go. Ready, set, go. Or at least that’s what we would normally expect.
Today we continue our series on the parables of Jesus. Last week we heard about the gracious employer, a parable of how God’s kingdom operates by grace. This week our focus is the parable of the master and servants, in Luke 12. This parable is short, but it takes us by surprise. We are expecting “ready, set, go”. But our expectations are reversed. From Luke 12, verse 35 we read…
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 Blessed are 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. 38 Blessed are those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
What we expect with this parable is: ready, set, go to work. But what we get is: ready, set, recline and receive.
There are two main characters in today’s reading: the servants and the master. The servants are those who follow Jesus, his disciples throughout history. That includes us if we call Jesus, ‘Lord’. The master is Jesus himself.
Let’s start with the servants. We, the servants, need to be prepared for when Jesus, our master, comes.
The servants prepare:
Apparently, Wellington has between 50 to 80 earthquakes each day. Thankfully, only 100 to 150 are strong enough to be felt each year.
The last significant earthquake in Wellington, of 6 or more on the ricker scale, was back in October 2023.
Wellington has dodged a few earthquake bullets in recent times. No one thought Christchurch would be hit as badly as it was. That’s the thing about earthquakes; we can’t predict when they will happen. We know they will happen, that is certain. We just can’t say when, so we need to be ready all the time.
Being ready all the time does not mean living in a constant state of anxiety, always on edge. That would not be helpful. Being prepared means having stores of canned food and water. Keeping a grab bag and first aid kit handy. We don’t know when a really damaging earthquake might hit, but we prepare by having emergency supplies ready to go.
In the parable we just read, from Luke 12, Jesus tells his disciples to…
35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet…
Jesus sometimes used the image of a wedding banquet to paint a picture of our future hope, when God’s kingdom is realised in its fullness. Centuries before Christ, the prophet Isaiah also used the image of a banquet to illustrate our future hope. From Isaiah 25, verse 6, we read…
6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
This prophecy came to be known as the Messianic banquet, for it pictures the salvation created by the Messiah. Christians believe Jesus fulfils this prophecy. After his death and resurrection, Jesus (the Messiah) ascended to heaven.
One day he will return in glory and when he returns the picture of Isaiah 25 will be realised. That’s our future hope.
Like an earthquake, we don’t know when Jesus will return but his second coming is certain, and so we (his disciples) need to be prepared. Unlike an earthquake though, which causes death and destruction, the Lord will swallow up death forever and wipe away the tears from all faces.
Although most Bible commentators agree Jesus’ parable in Luke 12:35-38 is referring to the Lord’s second coming, we need not limit the Lord’s activity to some unknown future date. The risen Jesus is active by his Spirit now. Jesus may come to us personally at any time before the conclusion of human history. We, the servants of Jesus, need to be ready to obey Jesus at every moment.
So how do we prepare for Jesus’ return? Well, being ready for Jesus does not mean having supplies of water and baked beans handy. We make ourselves ready by being faithful. Being faithful means living our lives now (today) in a way that anticipates Jesus’ return in the future.
Imagine someone lets you stay in their house rent free while they are away. It’s a really nice house with a pool and a garden and plenty of rooms. You are thankful for the accommodation because you don’t have a place of your own. They are doing you a favour.
You don’t know how long the owner will be gone for. Maybe a few days, maybe a few years. In the meantime, you take care of the house. You don’t throw wild parties or trash the place. You mow the lawns regularly. You feed the pets, take the rubbish out and respect the neighbours.
Looking after the place is how you look after your relationship with the owner. That’s what it means to be faithful. In verse 35 Jesus uses two images to help us see what it looks like to be prepared for the master’s return.
First, he says, be dressed and ready for service. This is a bit of a paraphrase. The original text literally says, ‘gird up your loins’. The phrase, ‘gird up your loins’ comes from the Old Testament. Men and women at that time and in that culture usually wore long robes. It was cooler in a hot climate.
However, when you needed to get somewhere in a hurry or do any sort of physical labour, the robe got in the way. ‘To gird up your loins’ meant tying a belt around your waist and tucking the robe up into the belt, allowing you to move more freely and get the job done. Basically, to gird up your loins is to be work ready. It’s like saying, ‘roll up your sleeves’.
Most famously, the Lord God told the people of Israel to gird up their loins on the night of the first Passover. The people needed to be ready to leave Egypt quickly. When Jesus comes knocking on the door of your life, it is like an exodus from the slavery of sin and death. You need to be ready to move.
Okay, so that’s what gird up your lions meant 2000 years ago. What does it mean for us today? Well, if you work on a building site, then girding up your loins means having your work boots on and wearing your hi-viz gear.
Or if you are a teacher, then the equivalent of girding up your loins is having your lesson plan ready for when the bell rings and the students turn up.
Or if you are a cricketer waiting to bat, then girding up your loins means having your pads and box on.
Or if you are a surgeon, then girding up your loins is like scrubbing your hands and putting on gloves and a surgical gown.
But what if you are Christian? What does it mean to ‘gird up your loins’ then?
Robyn and I have lived in the same house for over 20 years. During that time, we have accumulated a lot of stuff. After Christmas last year, we had a clear out. We decluttered the garage and our cupboards. Quite a bit of stuff went to the tip or was given away. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. In fact, it felt quite good and now our house is that much easier to keep tidy.
Girding up your loins is not about adding anything. Girding up your loins is about decluttering your life. To gird up your lions is to free yourself from those things which hinder your obedience to Christ.
The things that hinder our obedience to Christ may include unhelpful excesses, like spending too much time on the internet or drinking too much or taking on too much debt or whatever.
But the things that hinder our obedience to Christ can also include good things. Things that may benefit others but don’t really fulfil God’s call on our life.
Jesus called his disciples to bear witness to his death and resurrection and then to proclaim the gospel. That’s what Jesus wanted them to do.
But what if Peter, James and John went back to fishing fulltime, after Jesus ascended to heaven? What if they decided not to be apostles? I mean fishing is a good occupation. It feeds people, right?
Yes, fishing can be a good thing, but to spend your life fishing when Jesus wants you to preach the gospel, is to disobey the Lord. For Peter, James and John, girding up their loins meant leaving the family fishing business behind so they could make sharing the gospel their fulltime gig.
What is getting in the way of you obeying Jesus? What is it (good or bad) that makes you too busy to pay attention to Christ? Girding up your loins is about decluttering your life, freeing yourself to be more responsive to Jesus.
As well as being dressed and ready for service, Jesus also says (in verse 35) to keep your lamps burning. They didn’t have electricity in the first century. Lamps, at that time, were fuelled by oil. To keep your lamp burning meant keeping the oil topped up and the wick trimmed.
Lamps of course provide light. Without a lamp the servants would not be able to see. They would be walking around in the dark, blind. To keep your lamp burning is to ensure you can see clearly, to keep your perspective. But lamps also enable you to be seen by others. Lamps help to identify you.
When I was younger and fitter and lived in Hamilton, where the roads are wider, I used to ride a bike everywhere. When riding at night I always had my lights on, back and front. My bike lights helped me see where I was going but more importantly, they helped me to be seen by other traffic. My lights identified me as a cyclist so cars could avoid hitting me. I always kept a spare set of batteries handy, for my bike lights.
As I understand it, the lamp in Jesus’ parable symbolises our faith as servants of Jesus. It is the light of our faith that enables us to see in the darkness of this world, so we can do the work Jesus has for us to do. More than this, it is the light of our faith that identifies us as followers of Jesus.
To ‘keep your lamp burning’ is to keep the light of your faith going. We do this by maintaining regular rhythms of prayer, Bible reading, rest, gathered worship and fellowship with other believers. As we keep these sacred rhythms, we make room for the oil of God’s Spirit to fill us.
We must not miss the fact that Jesus compares his followers to servants.
The Greek word, doulos, can mean servant or slave. The servants in view here are men and women of low status.
Humility is required to be a follower of Jesus. The work of a Christian disciple is not glamorous. It is often menial and tiring. Our time is not our own. Nevertheless, there is a certain dignity in being a servant (or slave) of Jesus, for we are serving the King of heaven and earth. We are serving God’s good purpose. We belong to Jesus.
The master serves:
Okay, so we have heard how the servants prepare. What about the master?
In verse 36 we read that, when the master returns, he comes and knocks on the door. What a curious thing. Why does the master knock on the door of his own house? I mean, when I come home, I don’t knock on the front door of my own house. No. I just let myself in.
But as I thought about this, I remembered that when the kids still lived at home, I would knock on their bedroom doors before entering. It’s respectful, it’s good manners. You knock on internal doors because you don’t want to scare people or barge in on them.
The master of the house in Jesus’ parable is probably not knocking on his front door. He is more likely knocking on an internal door, to the servants’ quarters perhaps.
The point is: Jesus, our master, is respectful. He does not force his way into our lives. In his grace Jesus allows us to invite him in. The question is, will we open the door and let Jesus in immediately? Or will we make him wait?
In verse 37, Jesus says: Blessed are those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. He says it again in verse 38: Blessed are those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.
The servants here do not put their pyjamas on, turn out the light and go to bed. No, they keep their work clothes on and leave their lamp burning, ready to receive their master at a moment’s notice. They are not passively waiting. They are eagerly expecting their boss. The slaves don’t have their own agenda. The only agenda they serve is their master’s agenda.
The Greek word for blessed here is Makarios. It’s the same word Jesus uses for the beatitudes in Matthew 5. You know, ‘blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the pure in heart’, and so on.
Makarios is a state of spiritual wellbeing. To be Makarios is to be fortunate, happy, well off, in a relationship of favour with God. It’s not just that the servants will be blessed in the future. They are blessed now. They are in a fortunate position now.
Jesus reverses our understanding of what it means to be blessed or well off. We think we are fortunate or blessed if we win Lotto or if we enjoy good health and live in a nice neighbourhood. But that is not how Jesus sees it.
By the values of this world, a lowly slave who is always walking around with their loins girded ready to work, is not considered well off. Indeed, staying up all night losing sleep is not considered a blessed or fortunate state of being.
Just like being poor in spirit or grieving is not considered a fortunate state.
But, according to Jesus, those who strip off all that hinders them from obeying him, are blessed, they are fortunate. Those who set aside their own agenda and eagerly await Jesus’ return are blessed now. They are not doing this to earn a blessing or to curry favour. They love their master and long for his presence. Their reward is intrinsic; the joy of seeing their master again.
The real surprise (both for us the listener and for the servants in the parable) comes in the second part of verse 37 where Jesus says: Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
We were expecting; ready, set, go to work. But what we get is; ready, set, recline and receive. The idea of the master of the house girding up his loins to serve his servants was unthinkable for a first century middle eastern audience. That would never happen.
These servants were near the bottom of the heap and the master was at the top. What master would humiliate himself by serving his slaves like this?
It is a complete role reversal.
By the master’s actions the slaves cease being slaves and become beloved friends and guests. Because that’s what you do for your friends, you serve them. They are changed by the self-emptying love (the undeserved grace) of their boss.
The master in this parable reminds us of Jesus. Because that’s what Jesus did in going to the cross. He humiliated himself. He served us. He fed us with his very body.
In his letter to the Philippians the apostle Paul gives this picture of Christ, saying…
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mind-set as Christ Jesus: 6 who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!
Even though Jesus is the supreme master (the master of all masters) he comes to those who faithfully wait in expectation for him and he serves them.
He serves us, turning us from slaves into beloved friends.
Conclusion:
On the night before his crucifixion and death, Jesus acted out this parable as a foretaste of the Messianic banquet to come. During the last supper, Jesus girded up his loins and served his disciples by washing their feet.
Peter didn’t want a bar of it at first. But Jesus told Peter he must let him do this or Peter would have no part in him. As much as it goes against the grain, we must allow Jesus (our master) to serve us – we must receive his grace – for only then will we be transformed from slaves to beloved friends.
The right response to the Lord’s grace is faithfulness. Being faithful means serving Jesus’ agenda, not cluttering our lives with of our own agenda.
What then is Jesus’ agenda? The night before he died Jesus impressed upon his disciples three things:
The importance of loving one another. The importance of service over position. And the importance of unity in the body. Love, service and unity, they go together and they are what we do in preparation for the return of Jesus, our master.
Let us pray…
Lord Jesus, you are our master, we belong to you. Thank you for serving us by going to the cross in obedience to God the Father. May you go on filling us with the oil of your Spirit that the lamp of our faith would not go out. Amen.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
- What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- Discuss / reflect on Jesus’ parable in Luke 12:35-38. Why did Jesus tell this parable? How might Jesus’ original audience have been surprised by this parable? In what ways is Jesus like the master?
- How can we prepare for Jesus’ return? What does it mean to gird up your loins? What is getting in the way of you obeying Jesus? What takes your attention away from Christ?
- What does it mean to ‘keep your lamp burning’? How do you (personally) do this? What (or who) fills your lamp with oil?
- Why does the master knock on a door in his own house? What might this suggest about the master? What does it look like to open the door of our lives to let Jesus in?
- What does it mean to be blessed (Makarios)? Why are the servants in the parable blessed?
- What change occurs for the servants as a consequence of the master serving them? Have you received Jesus’ grace / service for yourself?
Bibliography:
- William Barclay, ‘The Gospel of Matthew’, 1967.
- R.V.G. Tasker, ‘Tyndale Commentaries: St Matthew’, 1963.
- Michael Green, ‘BST: The Message of Matthew’, 2000.
- Craig S. Keener, ‘The Gospel of Matthew’, 2009.
- R.T. France, ‘New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Matthew’, 2007.
- Kenneth Bailey, ‘Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes’, 2008.
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