Luke 12:35-40 ESV

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

When we were all younger, we have all had to wait for something that we really wanted, whether it was saving up money, or standing in a really long line. Waiting is sometimes really hard for people, especially when they have to prepare something prior to what they are waiting for, but in the end, it’s all worth it because you finally get what you were waiting for.

In our text, Jesus talks about keeping our lamps burning and staying dressed for action. In Jesus’s day, the people wore heavy cloaks that fell around their ankles. Whenever they got ready to work or serve, they would lift up the heavy cloaks. When Jesus is talking about staying dressed for action, he wants us to stay ready for his coming.

Next, Jesus talks about two feasts. The first feast is where the servants wait for the groom to come home from the marriage feast. In Jesus’s day, marriage feasts were often long, but they weren’t on a schedule so the servants wouldn’t know when the master would return. Jesus also talks about the coming of the son of man will be like a thief in the night. Jesus is going to come at a time that we won’t expect, so we need to stay ready, and be prepared.

Lots of times in our busy lives we worry about forgetting things, or we just worry in general. Jesus is trying to say, don’t be afraid I will be with you. We can trust and hope that Jesus will come again, and now all we have to do is stay ready and stay awake.

Some questions to ponder:

What are some ways that you can stay awake?

How many times have you found yourself drifting off?

Hebrews 12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of  God.

Running a cross-country course is like having faith in Jesus. Sometimes we struggle through it. There can be obstacles in the way like trees, hills, temptations, and the devil. There is only one way we can get through; we must look to the finish line. Jesus is the finish line. When we get to the finish line, there is a great cloud of witnesses. They encourage us.

Jesus suffered through the course. He suffered the cross to forgive us from our sins. When we think of Jesus, we will not grow weary. We cannot get rid of the things that weigh us down. We need Jesus to get rid of them. Without Jesus, we would have no chance of completing the race.

Jesus is the founder and perfecter of faith. When he ran the course He had to endure more pain than we will have to. We should always keep out eyes on Jesus.

Questions

1. How can we keep our eyes on Jesus?
2. What kind of things way us down?