Bible Study series: Luke 12:35-40. Watch for his return. Behave righteously, and do his will while you wait.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click here:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 12:35-40
35 “Tighten your belt around your waist [Exod. 12:11, 2 Kings 18:46] and keep your lamps burning. 36 Indeed, you are like people waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that when he comes and knocks, they might open the door to him immediately. 37 Those servants are blessed, when the master comes and finds them watching. I tell you the truth: he will tighten his belt and have them recline at table and come and serve them! 38 If he should come either in the second hour or third hour of the watch and find them doing thus, those servants are blessed.
39 Know this: if the master of the house knew which hour the thief would come, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40 You also be prepared because you don’t know which hour the Son of Man comes.” (Luke 12:35-40)
Comments:
There are two parables here in the section: vv. 35-38 and 39-40. Both are about watchfulness. The third parable is in vv. 41-48., which are also about watchfulness and right leadership. Many translations bunch them together in one long pericope (pronounced puh-RIH-coh-pea) or section, from vv. 35-48.
35:
This verse is a quick version of a parable, which can often be translated as an illustration. (See v. 16 for a working definition of a parable.) We are now supposed to see ourselves tightening our belt and lighting an oil lamp. Are you willing to do that?
This pericope is about God’s people generally. The next pericope (vv. 41-48) is about leaders in the kingdom.
“Tighten your belt” could literally be translated your loins “must be girded up.” In those days, men wore robes, and to move quickly, running, they had to pull up their hem. Then they could attach a belt and wrap it around.
A “burning lamp” speaks of being ready in your soul, which must be brightly lit. Picture a good and wise servant who is alertly waiting for his master’s return by staying awake and keeping the light on. Your porchlight is always on, for your master’s return.
Fire can sometimes symbolize or even accompany the Spirit (Luke 3:16; Acts 2:1-4), so we could say that we must be continually filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). That’s the best way to stay alert.
36:
“like”: this introduces a simile: this is like that. It is yet another version of a parable. (See v. 16 for a working definition of a parable). It could be translated as “be like.” We are supposed to see ourselves in it. Are we alertly waiting for our master’s (the Lord’s) return, or are we unprepared and sleepy and lazy?
This wedding feast, which could last seven days in Jewish culture, may symbolize the master’s existence in heaven, and he is about to return to us, as we live in his earthly kingdom. Or it could be just a feature of the story. But then why a wedding feast, and not just a journey? Therefore, I believe the phrase symbolizes his existence in heaven.
Here Jesus knocks on the door to his own household. The door must be open to him. Are we the ones who will usher in his return? Will he whisk us away to another home, or will we greet him at the door and usher him into his house where we live right now? Many—perhaps most—interpreters of the Bible teach that when the Lord returns, he will rapture us away, back into heaven. But here Jesus teaches that he will not rapture away his servants, but instead enter his house and live with his servants. He will live in his “kingdom house,” which is located where the servants are. His kingdom has fully come. It is realized eschatology (“eschatology” is a big word for “end times” or “final things.”)
Incidentally there is no two-stage return in this pericope: (a) a secret rapture and (b) his visible second coming. Let’s explore this a bit more.
1 Thess. 4:13-18 says that Jesus will whisk or rapture or catch or snatch us away (v. 17), and we will meet him in the air, and so shall we be with him forever. In v. 15 the Greek word parousia (pronounced pah-roo-see-ah), and it means presence as distinct from absence. In its cultural context, it meant a visit from a dignitary, like a proconsul, to a Roman colony. Then the local dignitaries would go out to greet and meet him and usher him back into their city. The city leaders would not get in the Roman ship and be taken off to who-knows-where. No, they escorted him into their city. It means arrival. Here in Luke 12:35-40 the word parousia is not used, but the idea is the same. The master’s servants greet him at the master’s own house (kingdom) and welcome him in. He does not take them away to another place.
37:
“I tell you the truth”: It expresses the authority of the one who utters it. The Hebrew root ’mn means faithfulness, reliability and certainty. It could be translated as “truly I tell you” or I tell you with certainty.” Jesus’s faith in his own words is remarkable and points to his unique calling. In the OT and later Jewish writings is indicates a solemn pronouncement. It means we must pay attention to it, for it is authoritative. He is about to declare an important and solemn message or statement. The clause appears only on the lips of Jesus.
“blessed”: it is an adjective or descriptor of who we are in Christ. Luke begins this verse with the word “blessed” for emphasis. The more common adjective, which appears here and in vv. 38 and 43, It has an extensive meaning: “happy” or “fortunate” or “privileged” (Mounce, pp. 67-71).
Let’s look more deeply at “blessed.”
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and the main word for blessing is the verb barak, used 327 times throughout the Hebrew Bible: Genesis 76 times, Deuteronomy 40 times, and Psalms 76 times. Each time it is people-related. The noun is beraka, used 71 times, and “denotes the pronouncement of good things on the recipient or the collection of good things” (Mounce, p. 70).
The New Testament was written in Greek, and the verb for bless is used 41 times and means to “bless, thank, or praise.” The adjective eulogētos (pronounced yew-loh-gay-toss, and the “g” is hard), which is used 8 times, means “blessed, praised.”
The servants are supposed to be watching. The Greek word for watching here is gregoreō (pronounced greh-gohr-eh-oh, and the boy’s name Gregory comes from it), and it literally means “keep awake” but figuratively “be on the alert, be watchful, be alive.” Every option fits except possibly “be alive,” unless we make even this clause extra-figurative.
“I tell you firmly”: “firmly” comes from the Hebrew word amen, which is also imported into Greek. It means, “Let it be (so)!” One translation says, “I assure you.” What Jesus says next is startling, so he needs to introduce the idea with an amen or firm assurance. In other words, believe what he’s about to tell you.
He actually says that when he returns and finds his servants keeping awake and watching for his return and immediately opens the door for him, then the Lord himself, King Jesus, will invite the watchful servants to recline at the table (in those days they lay down at a low table to eat, with the feet sticking out away from the table), he will tighten his belt, and he will serve them! This speaks of rewards for watching for his return. Keeping awake, then, is more than the opposite of sleeping. It means being productive while watching. It may also speak of eating the victory supper with the King in his fully realized kingdom on earth. He will serve his servants. Amazing!
“servants”: in Jewish culture a Hebrew man who sold himself into servitude to his fellow Jew was like an indentured servant whose term of service had a limit; he was freed in the seventh year. But then the indentured servant could stay with his family, if he liked his owner (Exod. 21:2-6; Lev. 25:38-46; Deut. 15:12-18). So there was a lot of liberty even in servitude, in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).
Slavery and Freedom in the Bible
38:
This verse builds on the previous one, for emphasis. We are supposed to pay attention. Whether in the second or third watch, if the master comes and finds them “doing thus” or keeping awake and ready to serve when he returns, then those specific servants are blessed.
“second or third watch”: on the Roman schedule, which is three watches, it is between 9:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. (21:00 to 3:00); or on the Jewish schedule, which is four watches, it is between 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. (22:00 to 6:00). Luke uses the Roman schedule in Acts 12:4, so this may be what he has in mind here (see NET translation and commentary). But either way, the timing is unknown, so watch for it even at night.
39-40:
“know”:
And so begins the second parable in this pericope. It changes the subject matter a little bit. Jesus return is unknown—so much unknown—that it is compared to the coming of a thief, which is also unpredictable. No, Jesus is not a thief, but his surprise coming parallels the surprise coming of the thief.
Then the truism is stated. If the master of the house or head of household knew when the thief planned to burgle, then the head of household would not have allowed his house to be broken into. He would have been on guard or appointed his servant to be watchful.
Warning! The parable is not teaching that Jesus = a thief; rather, “the image is of a thief-like surprise (1 Thess. 5:1-2; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 3:3; 16:15)” (Garland, comment on 12:36-39).
As I noted at Luke 9:26, in these two verses Jesus teaches us about his Second Coming. He is here now, and this is first coming. No one should be ashamed of him. If someone is, then Jesus will be ashamed of him at his coming with glory and with the Father’s glory and angels. This verse does not teach a secret rapture before his coming a second time.
When Jesus came the first time and was in the process of inaugurating the kingdom of God, the kingdom came subtly and mysteriously. When he comes a second time, his inaugurated kingdom will be fully accomplished or realized.
3 The Kingdom Is in the Future
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
Before the kingdom is fully realized at his Second Coming (Parousia), the kingdom is announced and ushered in by Jesus at the launch of his ministry. So there is overlap between This Age and the Kingdom Age.
A little more expansion, adding in the final judgment.
The Second Coming (Parousia) stops This Age. Then there is one big judgment, in which the righteous and wicked are judged together. One can even say that the final judgment happens during the Messianic Age / Kingdom Age / The Age to Come. All three terms mean the same thing. Finally, the Kingdom which Jesus inaugurated at his first coming will have been fully realized and accomplished at his Second Coming, after judgment. And so after God sweeps aside the wicked and Satan and demons, the New Messianic or Kingdom Age can begin in true and pure and undisrupted rulership.
What about the Church? The Father and the resurrected and ascended Son and the outpoured Spirit, by means of the inaugurated kingdom, created the church at Pentecost (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:1-4). It exists in This Age and preaches the gospel of the kingdom. It will be snatched up or raptured at the Second Coming, meet Jesus in the air, descend with him, go through judgment, and then finally will last forever in the Fully Realized Kingdom Age.
Let’s look more deeply at the overlapping This Age and the Kingdom of God. Until and before the Second Coming, we now live in the conflict and battle between This Age and the Inaugurated Kingdom, proclaimed by Jesus during his ministry. (They are not the same things but are at war with each other!) We are in the process of binding Satan and his demonic hordes, by expelling demons from people’s lives but mainly by preaching the gospel, so people surrender to the Son’s Lordship, and then Satan is pushed back and people experience victory in their lives. The gospel and life in the Spirit, coming after Jesus’s ascension in This Age, though happening during the inaugurated Kingdom, are so powerful that saved and redeemed kingdom citizens can experience victory over the power of sin in their lives in This Age. The presence of sin in their lives is not removed until they get their new resurrected and transformed bodies and minds in The Age to Come. The Second Coming stops This Age, which is replaced and displaced with the fully realized Messianic or Kingdom Age or The Age to Come.
The bottom line for these two verses: we must also be likewise prepared. Why? Because we don’t know when the Son of Man is returning to realize and implement his kingdom in its fullness. Will he find us awake and productive? Then he will reward us, by inviting us to recline at table and his serving us.
This parable teaches a delay about his Second Coming or parousia. However, the point is not to speculate about signs, but mainly to repent. Be watchful on a moral and spiritual level.
I covered this pericope in a long post (scroll down to Unit 25):
Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 and 17 in Parallel Columns Are Finally Clear
But in these eschatological (end-time) discussions:
“In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity (love).”
We should not break fellowship with those with whom we differ in eschatological matters.
Now let’s move on.
GrowApp for Luke 12:35-40
1. How do you tighten your belt and keep your lamp burning?
2. What is the best way for you to watch for the return of the Lord?
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BIBLIOGRAPHY AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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