Day 10- The Watchful Servants
Read it: Luke 12:35-40
Live it:
(dressed for service) as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks.
Luke 12:36 NLT
If you’ve ever watched any TV shows dramatizing 17th-century life in England or Northern Europe, you may have observed the protocol when the lord of the manor returned home. All the servants would line up on both sides of the ‘roadway,” the most senior servant being the one to open the carriage door.
As soon as the call “Master’s home!” rang out, all of the servants came running from their assigned duties to line up to greet the master of the house. This etiquette was observed whether it was midday or midnight, especially for the senior servants. Not being in the reception line was not only a breach of protocol but a sign of disrespect for the master.
I imagine that much the same protocol was in place at the time of Christ, especially in those areas with Roman influence. But here, Jesus “flips the script”; instead of accepting His due, the Master rewards the servants with a banquet/feast like the one he had just returned from: “I want to share my blessings with you!”
Midnight does not imply that they never slept. It indicates that when they retired for bed, they were prepared for a swift reaction, like firefighters who prepare their clothes for a quick response.
Ps. Gary