35 “Be dressed, ready for service, and have your lamps shining. 36 Be like servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party. When he comes and knocks, the servants immediately open the door for him. 37 They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that they were watching for him. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them. 38 Those servants will be blessed when he comes in and finds them still waiting, even if it is midnight or later.
39 “Remember this: If the owner of the house knew what time a thief was coming, he would not allow the thief to enter his house. 40 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at a time when you don’t expect him!”
41 Peter said, “Lord, did you tell this story to us or to all people?”
42 The Lord said, “Who is the wise and trusted servant that the master trusts to give the other servants their food at the right time? 43 When the master comes and finds the servant doing his work, the servant will be blessed. 44 I tell you the truth, the master will choose that servant to take care of everything he owns. 45 But suppose the servant thinks to himself, ‘My master will not come back soon,’ and he begins to beat the other servants, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master will come when that servant is not ready and is not expecting him. Then the master will cut him in pieces and send him away to be with the others who don’t obey.
47 “The servant who knows what his master wants but is not ready, or who does not do what the master wants, will be beaten with many blows! 48 But the servant who does not know what his master wants and does things that should be punished will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. And from the one trusted with much, much more will be expected.
49 “I came to set fire to the world, and I wish it were already burning! 50 I have a baptism to suffer through, and I feel very troubled until it is over. 51 Do you think I came to give peace to the earth? No, I tell you, I came to divide it. 52 From now on, a family with five people will be divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 They will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
54 Then Jesus said to the people, “When you see clouds coming up in the west, you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it happens. 55 When you feel the wind begin to blow from the south, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it happens. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to understand the appearance of the earth and sky. Why don’t you understand what is happening now?
57 “Why can’t you decide for yourselves what is right? 58 If your enemy is taking you to court, try hard to settle it on the way. If you don’t, your enemy might take you to the judge, and the judge might turn you over to the officer, and the officer might throw you into jail. 59 I tell you, you will not get out of there until you have paid everything you owe.”
Read Luke 12:35-59 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
While teaching His followers and the crowd at large, Jesus turns the spotlight onto where the people living that day were placing their focus – and what Jesus shares is very relevant for us living today.
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells those in His audience, “When you see clouds coming up in the west, you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it happens. When you feel the wind begin to blow from the south, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it happens. Hypocrites! You know how to understand the appearance of the earth and sky. Why don’t you understand what is happening now?” (v. 54-56)
These short few verses point our attention to how it is very easy to create a rut in our lives that make us experts in certain areas, but completely ignorant in others. As technology advances and the scientific community collectively learns more, it is true that no one can know everything about everything, and because of this, we all must specialize and focus on certain areas.
In this passage, Jesus does not say that we must strive to know as much as we possibly can. Instead, in this passage, Jesus challenges those present that they had become excellent observers of weather patterns, but had failed to focus equivalent energy on observing the patterns of world events as they relate to God’s moving within the world. This was most directed at those whose job description was to pay attention to what God was doing in the world and draw people’s attention to it. Jesus’ challenge includes not only the religious and spiritual leaders living in the first century, but also religious and spiritual leaders living at any point in history.
The challenge Jesus shares is that everyone who calls themselves a follower of God should devote some energy to spending time with Him and also be actively looking for how He is moving in the world around them. God is far from absent in the world today, but it is up to us to open our eyes to the subtle ways He is moving – because only when we pay attention to the signs do we have ample evidence that He is still in control.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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