Earlier this year, I was asked to preach on one the parables of Jesus. The sermon series was organized around a selection of parables that had already been decided; would I take one? I agreed, and let others decide which parable I would be assigned, confident that God would give me whatever insight was needed. “Great!” they said, and gave me the parable of the faithful servant. Here’s Matthew’s version:

Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 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 hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt 24:45-51, NIV)

Yeah. Gotta love preaching on texts that end with slashing and gnashing.

But there’s an important lesson here for all of us, in terms of how we anticipate the future and “keep watch.” And to understand this, we need to read the parable in its context.

Jesus has come to the last week of his earthly life. Do the disciples understand what’s about to happen? He’s tried to tell them, but it’s not clear that they’ve truly taken his words to heart. Instead, we might imagine them riding something of an emotional high. They’ve seen Jesus demonstrate his power over nature, over disease, even over death. They’ve walked beside him as they came into Jerusalem to the roar of the crowds who acclaimed him as king. They’ve seen him stride into the temple and drive out the money-changers, then stand in the temple courts, humiliate his opponents in public debate, and denounce the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy.

Matthew doesn’t tell us the disciples’ reaction. But I imagine them exchanging the first-century equivalent of high-fives, and saying the Aramaic equivalent of “Yeah, baby!”

But as they leave the temple, Jesus ruins the mood. Looking around at the magnificence of the temple, he tells them that it will all be turned to rubble. When they get to the Mount of Olives, the disciples ply Jesus with questions: “When is all this going to happen? What will be the signs?”

His answer, in chapters 24 and 25, is known as the Olivet Discourse. In it, Jesus doesn’t give the disciples the kind of concrete answers they seem to want. He talks about destruction and persecution. And over and over, using a variety of words and illustrations, he tells them: Do your work; be ready, keep watch.

That’s the immediate context of the parable. At the beginning of the parable Jesus asks, “Who then…?” The “then” means, “Given what I’ve just said, what does it mean to be faithful and wise?” And what has he just said? “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Matt 24:44).

This is the scarlet thread running through the Olivet Discourse. The Son of Man is returning. The master is returning. The bridegroom is returning. But you don’t know when. Indeed, you can’t know when (and as Jesus implies both here and in Acts 1:7, “It’s none of your business”). What, then, does it mean to be faithful? Do what the master has given you to do, and keep watch. Be on the lookout for his return.

But that’s not all there is to it. If we read this parable alongside the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 (which also ends with weeping and gnashing of teeth!), I think we’re meant to understand that the quality of our waiting makes a difference. Faithfulness is not just dutiful behavior, though it is at least that; it is also the attitude with which we keep watch.

Let’s explore that in the next post.