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The Lord Yeshua is known for teaching in parables.
Why did He teach in parables?
Several reasons:
A parable is a short story that’s easy to understand. It’s used to explain things that are harder to understand, especially spiritual truths.
Parables are interesting.
They’re easy to remember.
Messiah taught in parables to make the truth clear to those who were willing to hear and obscure to those who lacked genuine spiritual interest.
Why did Messiah want to hide the truth from those who lacked interest?
For the same reasons He told us not to throw pearls before swine. Truth is a precious thing. It should be loved and respected. It should not be treated poorly.
And giving too much truth to someone who is not interested in the truth harms him. He hears the truth, rejects it, and digs himself deeper into a deadly hole.
And if he persists in rejecting the truth, since he knows more of the truth and has rejected it, his punishment will be more severe. So not giving too much truth is a mercy to him.
The Master, The Servants And The Wedding Banquet
Luke 12:35-38
Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.
The responsibility of servants is to serve their master. The master’s interests come before their interests. The master’s convenience comes before their convenience. Faithful servants are focused on their master, not themselves.
Servants must be available at all times to serve their master. If the master is away at a wedding banquet, the servants must be ready to serve the master as soon as he returns.
If they are to be ready, they must be dressed, so as soon as the master knocks on his door, they are available to serve him. If the servants are not dressed, there won’t be time to get dressed, and the master will be inconvenienced, and the servants will have failed their master.
If it’s night, servants must have their lamps burning, so they can provide light for the master as soon as he knocks on his door. If their lamps aren’t burning, there won’t be time to light their lamps, and the master will be inconvenienced, and the servants will have failed their master.
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
Servants serve their master. The master doesn’t serve his servants. Servants wait on their master who is reclining at the table. They bring him food and drink. The master doesn’t wait on his servants while they recline at the table. He doesn’t bring them food and drink.
Servants who are ready to serve their master the moment he returns will be served by their master. He will dress like a servant and serve them food and drink while they are reclining at the table. Faithful servants will be honored by their master.
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. It’s worth it for servants to be ready for the arrival of the master, even if it’s inconvenient or difficult for them, even if it means staying up into the middle of the night or all night. It will be good for those servants who are ready for their master’s return. Their hardships, their inconveniences, their sacrifices will be rewarded.
This is easy to understand. Now for the truths that are harder to understand: Messiah came into this world, lived a perfect life, died a horrible death – which enables those who have faith in Him to be reconciled to God and live forever.
Then King Messiah left this world. He ascended to Heaven, to the right hand of His Father, the High King of Heaven. There, right now, He is enjoying the glories of Heaven. From there, He will return.
King Yeshua Messiah is the master and we are His servants. We must live so that we are aware of Him and conscious of Him and His return. Even if it seems like He’s taking a long time to return, we are to live in a constant state of readiness for His return. If being ready for His return causes us inconveniences, difficulties or sacrifices, we are to accept them and endure them.
What does a life of watchfulness and readiness look like? It looks like focusing our thoughts on Yeshua – every day. It looks like holy living. It looks like serving Him now, today – not just when He returns. It looks like serving Him by proclaiming His gospel and building His Community.
The Owner Of The House And The Thief
Luke 12:39-40
But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
If the owner of the house knew when the thief was coming, he would have been ready for the thief. He would have been prepared to prevent the thief from stealing his valuables.
Not being ready for the thief results in loss.
Being ready for the thief results in no loss.
However, since thieves don’t let their intended victims know when they will be arriving, the wise homeowner will always be ready for the thief’s arrival. This is easy to understand.
Now for the truths that are harder to understand: Messiah came into this world, lived a perfect life, died a horrible death which enables those who have faith to be reconciled to God and have eternal life. Then He left this world by ascending to the right hand of His Father, the High King of Heaven. From there, King Messiah will return.
Like the thief who does not inform his victims when he is coming, Messiah will not inform us when He will return. We can understand the general time of His return, but not the exact time of His return. He will arrive at a time when we don’t expect Him to.
Therefore we must always be ready for Him to return. If we are, we will not experience loss. If we are not ready, we will experience loss.
What does being ready for Him look like? It looks like focusing our thoughts on Him – every day. It looks like holy living. It looks like being faithful servants now – not just when He returns. It looks like serving the Lord by proclaiming His gospel and building His Community.
The Wise And Foolish Managers
Luke 12:42-46
The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
This is a large estate. It has a master and managers and servants. The master gives the responsibility to feed the servants to a manager. The master leaves on a trip. If this manager is faithful to carry out his responsibilities while the master is away, he will be rewarded. He will be promoted. He will be put in charge of everything.
However, if the manager starts thinking that his master is away for a long time, and will be away for even longer; if he loses sight of the master’s return; if he loses his sense of accountability to the master; and if, instead of being faithful to carry out his responsibilities to feed the servants, he beats them and spends his time eating and drinking and getting drunk, the master will punish him when he returns. And the punishment will be very severe. This is easy to understand.
Now for the truths that are harder to understand: Yeshua is the master. The managers are spiritual leaders of Messiah’s Community – elders and pastors and rabbis. The servants are Messiah’s followers.
The Son of God gives leaders in His Community the responsibility to take care of His followers while He is away – that time between His first and second arrivals.
They teach the people. They train them so they can do the work of ministry. They help them find ways of serving the Lord.
The leaders who are faithful to fulfill their responsibility will be rewarded. Those who lose sight of Yeshua, and instead of taking care of the Lord’s followers, take advantage of them and become decadent and indulgent, will be severely punished.
I’ve known leaders who lost sight of the Son of God and took advantage of the Lord’s people. They became materialistic, greedy, sexually promiscuous. You’ve probably known some of those leaders too. Not good.
Pray for me, Rabbi Glenn, David and Michael, Rabbi Jerry, that we never lose sight of Yeshua – His reality, His nearness, His holiness; never lose the awareness that we are accountable to Him, and will be judged by Him. Pray that we are faithful to the Lord and our responsibilities.
Messiah’s Community was designed by God to be led by leaders. It’s true that leaders get more recognition. Therefore many want to be a leader. Messiah gave us important principles, that leaders, and those who want to be leaders, should think long and hard about.
To Whom Much Is Given …
Luke 12:47-48
The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
There are two servants: the servant who knows the master’s will and the servant who does not know the master’s will. Ignorance of the master’s will is no excuse. Both servants are beaten for failure to be ready or not doing what the master wants. The servant who does not know the master’s will should have known the master’s will. But the servant who knows more is beaten more severely. He gets many blows.
Every Yeshua-follower is to be in a state of readiness for the Lord’s return. Every follower of the Lord is to be doing what the Lord Yeshua wants. However, some know more than others and are given more responsibilities. Some know less and are given fewer responsibilities. All will be rewarded or punished according to the principle: to whom much is given, much is required. To whom much is entrusted, much more will be asked.
Those to whom much is given and who have been entrusted with more, are held to a higher standard. And their punishment for failure is worse.
But, don’t think that if you have been given less and have been entrusted with fewer responsibilities, and will be held to a lesser standard, you won’t be punished. You will be – but not as harshly.
You’ve heard of the carrot and the stick. The carrot is used as a reward to motivate. The stick is used as punishment to motivate. This is the stick.
I don’t want to be hit with the stick. Therefore I want to be to always ready for the Lord, using all the knowledge He’s given me, doing everything He has entrusted me to do. How about you?