Parable of the Watchful Servants

The Parable of the Watchful Servants is found in Luke 12:35-14. This parable is told after the Parable of the Rich Fool. Below is the parable in its entirety, then I will get into my interpretation. In this interpretation, I consider what the coming of Jesus could mean (and I look at this in three ways). Then, I go into more detail, comparing the wise servants with those who are “drunken.”

³⁵ Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;

³⁶ And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.

³⁷ Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

³⁸ And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

³⁹ And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.

⁴⁰ Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

⁴¹ Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?

⁴² And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?

⁴³ Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

⁴⁴ Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.

⁴⁵ But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;

⁴⁶ The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

⁴⁷ And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

⁴⁸ But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more (Luke 12:35-48).

Meaning of the Parable of the Watchful Servants

The parable opens with instruction to have our lights burning. We could compare this to the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins because the theme is similar. As Christians, we are waiting for Jesus to return, and we want to be prepared to meet Him when this time comes.

We can see the coming of Christ a few ways. We can think of this as the second coming of Jesus when He overthrows the false prophet anti-Christ. We can think of this as being the end of our life, because after we die we will stand before Jesus and give an account of ourselves to Him. We can also think of this as encounters with Christ while we are yet alive. With these three ideas of the coming of Christ in mind, let’s see what we can say about the rest of this parable.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ

The topic of the coming of Jesus Christ is one that we are all familiar with. There have been many predictions, but Jesus said that we “do not know the day or the hour” when He will return. We are also told that Jesus will not come at just anytime, and we should not be fooled by false claims of His arrival.

Jesus says that “false Christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to lead many astray, even the chosen if it were possible.” He tells us that He will not come until there is a great “falling away” of the church, and the Son of Perdition or Destruction is revealed (he who exalts himself above all that is worshiped, so that he as God, sits in the temple of God, making a show of himself as God).

If we are not kept by Jesus, then we might mistake this false Christ for God. This is speculation on my part, but I wonder if many will think that this false god is Jesus. It concerns me to hear about many who think that Jesus will return anytime. I’ve read comments to the effect of, “for the Jews, they will be welcoming their Messiah, but for us, it is the second coming.”

What a terrible deception this could be, and it saddens me to think that many are primed and ready for such a deception.

When Jesus returns, the dead will rise, and there will be none opposing Him. When the false Christ comes, many will oppose him, and the dead will remain in their graves. These are some ways that we can know that this is not Jesus. Plus, if we are as “wise virgins” who have experiential knowledge of the Lord gained by the grace of God given of the Holy Spirit, then we will recognize the corrupted and inverted ways of this false Christ.

The Coming of Jesus at the End of Our Life

When we die, the next thing that we will experience is the judgement seat of Christ. We will have to stand before Him, and we are then held accountable for what we did with the faith that was given to us. How sad it would be if we are counted among those who were unfaithful, hearing those dreadful words, “depart from me, you who work iniquity, I never knew you.”

If we have a real relationship with Jesus, then this relationship is going to be transformative as we are being healed from our sins in this present life. We will not hear these words because He knows us. He knows us through our prayers, our repentance, and by the Holy Spirit given to us that enables us to overcome sin and live in a way that brings us into a greater relationship with Him overtime. Caring for this relationship with Jesus is critical to the Christian life and should never be rejected or neglected.

Encounters with Christ in the Present Life

As Christians, there are going to be times when we encounter the Lord, and these encounters will reveal to us our areas of weakness that need to be repented of. These encounters should be frequent through prayer and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that leads us to repentance and empowers us to “walk even as He walked” in this present life. We grow in this ability over time, if we do not resist His correction.

The coming of the Lord in this present life can also take the form of encounters with fellow servants of God who are vessels of the Holy Spirit. These encounters can help us find correction, guidance, and comfort. We might also “entertain angels unawares.” Sometimes we are tested by His angels, and we do not even know it.

Encounters with Christ as “a Thief”

Jesus says that He comes “as a thief,” and if we were watchful, then we would not allow our house to be broken into. What does this mean? If we are not always looking for Jesus and preparing for His coming—in any meaning of this coming we might consider as above—then when He does come, we will not be prepared for it.

When Jesus came to this earth, many were not prepared for Him. In-fact, many rejected Him, and as a result, they “lost what they seemed to have.” The religious leaders in those days thought that they had authority from God and considered themselves to be His favored servants. They did not really have this favor, and what they seemed to have was taken from them and given to those who were more worthy.

How might this apply to us today? If we are not truly living a life in Christ, then our fate will be very similar. We should never take our Christian heritage for granted, thereby corrupting our Covenant of Christ, or else we might find that we too “lose what we seemed to have.” In this way, Jesus comes as a thief, taking what many think that they have and giving it to others who are more worthy of Him.

Whether we are thinking about the second coming, the end of our life, or encounters with Christ in this present life, we want to be found faithful. As for the latter, there are times when we are found lacking, but thank God that these instances are times of correction that make us stronger if we remain in Christ through sincere faith, repentance, and grace-given determination and strength to meet future encounters more faithfully.

Blessed is The Wise Servant

When the Lord finds us watchful, which means we are living our lives in expectation of His coming in all of the forms mentioned here, then we are blessed. Jesus will make us ruler over many things. As the scriptures say, “he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful in much.” If we strive to be faithful according to what we have, then when Jesus comes, He will give us even more. However, if we are not faithful, then Jesus will come when we are not aware. Sometimes, this means chastisement.

This chastisement is proportional to what we have received. If we knew what Jesus wanted us to do, and we did not do it, then we will be chastened more severely than those who were blind to His will. As Christians, we have greater responsibility therefore to take great care for all that Jesus commands us to do.

For this reason, it is always best for us to be mindful of our own sin, because when we sin, we are greater sinners than those who sin without Jesus because they are ignorant of Him. If we are not humbled by this mindset, then we might be deceived into being among those who are found in the worst state of all: “beating the menservants and maidens, and eating and drinking with the drunken.”

Those Found Drunken and Smiting Their Fellow Servants

If we are not watchful, which means we are actively caring for our own state in Christ as those who expect to encounter Jesus, then we can fall into many forms of sin. It seems that the greatest of all these is to be found “drunken and smiting our fellow servants.” What does this mean?

There are many ways that we can apply this. For example, there are many ways that Christians begin to falsely accuse and condemn one another because of their failure to fall in line with our favored Christian denomination and their legalistic practices.

We can also think about the way we treat people in general. Jesus says that vengeance is His. If we lose our patience with others and become “drunken” with ungodly, self-righteous indignation and thereby excuse ourselves for hating and condemning others, then we are not in a state that is pleasing to Jesus.

We can also think about all the temptations in our world to join various movements that justify that actual slaughter of many. We have to remember to wait on Jesus who will judge all things and set all things right. Mankind will never be able to achieve this. No matter how righteous a cause seems to be, we should be very careful about our allegiances, remembering that our first allegiance is to Jesus Christ and to our fellow servants who are scatted all around the world, even in countries that are at war with our own. We need to be on guard against hating those who hate us also, remembering what Jesus teaches about blessing our enemies and overcoming evil with good.

I believe that the temptation to being “drunken and smiting your fellow servants” is one of the greatest temptations of our time, and one that will only get worse—especially when the false Christ comes.

We need to be watchful so that we are not overtaken by any false Christ, and there are many.

There is the false Christ of the self, which we strive to crucify daily so that we can live in obedience to Jesus. There are false Christs in the faith that cause us to deal with other Christians in accusatory, slanderous, and destructive ways, and there are false Christs in the faith that cause us to neglect living a faithful, transformative Christian life. There are false Christs in politics, social movements, and among all forms of the elite who claim to have the solutions for all the world’s problems.

There will one day be an ultimate false Christ, and we prepare ourselves for resisting him then by resisting him now as we form a true relationship with Jesus that enables us to stand against all the ways of the Enemy—without and within—by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Those who Watch for God Find Him

Jesus is not some God that is far away. He is always with us, and He showed this expressly when He became a man and lived among us and died for us. The Holy Spirit moves throughout all the world, watching and testifying faithfully about all things. The Holy Spirit also lives within us, teaching us about Jesus and empowering us to live for Him. Look for Him, and you will find Him.

Be watchful. Prepare your heart for meeting our God because everyone will meet Him one day. Our God is a “consuming fire”, and no unrighteousness can stand His presence. So, we prepare ourselves by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus for the forgiveness and healing of our sins. We prepare ourselves through prayer, repentance, and learning what it means to live a Christian life. We should always be looking for Jesus, because His coming is always just around the corner, and often He comes in ways that we least expect.

NOTE: Just after publishing, I remembered something Jesus said about His return to the earth. “Just as the lightning comes forth from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” He says this so that when many say, “Lo here is Christ, or Lo, he is there” we will not believe them. When I say, “He comes in ways that we least expect,” I mean in this present life experientially. I say this as exortation to be watchful always.

This is part of a series of articles discussing the Parables of Jesus. You can visit the link for quick access to more articles within this series.

Previous Article Within This Series: The Parable of the Rich Fool

More about the idea of being “drunken and smiting your fellow servants” can be found in the online book, These Things Saith He.

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