St. Luke 12: 35-48

Dec. 15, 2021

35Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;

36And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.

37Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

38And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

39And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.

40Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

41Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?

42And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?

43Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

44Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.

45But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;

46The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

47And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

48But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Preparation. In Advent, we are to be preparing for the birth of Jesus – doing our spiritual house cleaning, setting things straight in our hearts and minds, putting out the welcome mat to invite Jesus in.

These verses in St. Luke also remind us of the verse in Revelation 3:20 “20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” We look back in excitement to the day when Jesus was born. We look forward in great anticipation for the Day of His Second Coming. We prepare for both at the same time. Whether we are in a shanty in the woods somewhere or a pricey mansion in a glittering city, if we are prepared, Jesus will come in. But if we are prepared or not, Jesus is coming again.

*Special note: I do my Morning Prayer first thing (often as my eyes are barely open, lol!) and then do our daily reflection on the New Testament readings. Yesterday, the lectionary said the reading was St. Mark 5:21. On Tuesday mornings, I do a second Morning Prayer via Face Book stream with dear Fr. Matt Harlow at Christ the Redeemer in Fort Valley, Georgia. I was, of course, all ready for the NT reading except … Fr. Harlow finished the chapter. Right after Morning Prayer, Fr. Harlow does Zoom Bible study, which I also attend. As people there at the church got settled in for Bible study, I asked Fr. Harlow about what the lectionary referenced (one verse) and how he had finished the chapter and asked if that was a choice he had made. He very patiently explained that when there is a one verse reference, look to see if the verse leads to verses that end the chapter. If it does, then the reading should be to the end of the chapter as well.

So, my friends, I apologize; I didn’t know that. But I promise, moving forward, that I will follow Fr. Harlow’s direction. Thank you for your patience.

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