by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
In Luke 12, Jesus stresses to His disciples their need for readiness in three parables. In the first, He tells of servants who await their master’s return from a wedding feast. The Lord says, “Be like them<\/em>” (Luke 12:36). In the second, He tells of a homeowner who is watchful for thieves who might break into his home. Finally, Jesus speaks of the “faithful and sensible steward<\/em>” who is busy doing his tasks although he doesn’t know when his absent master will return home. All of these share a couple of concepts – you can probably find more – that are helpful as we await the return of our Master.<\/p>\n There are lots of reasons why we have to wait. They usually have to do with someone else, whether a wife waiting for her husband to come home from work, a father waiting for his family in the car before church, or sitting in a doctor’s office until your name pierces the air telling you your wait in the waiting room is over. You can go to the exam room where you’ll wait longer.<\/p>\n I hate waiting, especially when there’s nothing to do. And even more so when I don’t necessarily look forward to what I’m waiting for. I hate waiting even more when I’m really anxious for the thing to happen!<\/p>\n The parables Jesus told stress the need for watchfulness, either explicitly or implicitly. The servants watch for their master’s return from the feast so they can be ready to let him in; the homeowner watches for thieves to protect his property; and the steward watches for his master so he’ll find everything in order and running well when he returns.<\/p>\n Also, there’s the faithfulness of the various men in the parables. Despite a master being gone, slaves and stewards are busy attending to their duties. No slackers here.<\/p>\n Those two principles – watchfulness and faithfulness – should mark the character of Christians as we busily anticipate the coming of the Master.<\/p>\n “You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect<\/em>” (Luke 12:40).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Zeke Flores In Luke 12, Jesus stresses to His disciples their need for readiness in three parables. In the first, He tells of servants who await their master’s return from a wedding feast. The Lord says, “Be like them” (Luke 12:36). In the second, He tells of a homeowner who is watchful for thieves…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[54,1621],"class_list":["post-85360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-obedience","tag-prepared"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34782,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/death-and-eternity\/","url_meta":{"origin":85360,"position":0},"title":"Death and Eternity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Royce Frederick What happens when a person dies? On day six of creation, \"the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being\" (Genesis 2:7). Death occurs when the \"soul\" or the \"spirit\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28807,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/parables-on-the-second-coming-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":85360,"position":1},"title":"Parables on the Second Coming of Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Thessalonians 5:1-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The early disciples longed for the return of Christ \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I Corinthians 16:19-24 - The term \u201cmaranatha\u201d is a transliteration of the Greek, which was in turn transliterated from two Aramaic words. It literally means, \u201cOur Lord come!\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0II Peter 3:10-12 -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39130,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-ecclesiastes-say-our-spirits-return-to-god-but-jesus-says-the-spirits-go-to-hades\/","url_meta":{"origin":85360,"position":2},"title":"Why does Ecclesiastes say our spirits return to God, but Jesus says the spirits go to hades?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why does the Bible say that when we die our spirit returns to God (in Ecclesiastes) and we read the story of the rich man and Lazarus that seems to be in a different location? Answer: \"Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3958,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-explain-the-parable-of-the-unjust-steward-in-luke-161-9\/","url_meta":{"origin":85360,"position":3},"title":"Can you explain the Parable of the Unjust Steward in Luke 16:1-9?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I was reading Luke 16 last night and am having some trouble comprehending what Jesus meant when He said in verse 8 and 9, \"For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20199,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-jesus-be-coming-quickly-when-it-has-been-2000-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":85360,"position":4},"title":"How can Jesus be coming quickly when it has been 2,000 years?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you explain to me what this verse means?\u00a0 \"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done\" (Revelation 22:12).\u00a0 I was asked how this would be quick if the promise was made nearly 2,000 years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13447,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-john-call-jesus-the-messiah-and-then-later-ask-if-he-was-the-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":85360,"position":5},"title":"Why did John call Jesus the Messiah and then later ask if he was the one?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Will you please help me understand these two confusing statements? In John 1:29-31 we read that John pointing out to Jesus tells his disciples that He (Jesus) was the promised Messiah `The Lamb of God`. But in Luke 7 - 19:20 we read that John while in prison sends\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}