Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don’t expect him.”
Peter said to him, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everybody?”
The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times? Blessed is that servant whom his lord will find doing so when he comes. Truly I tell you, that he will set him over all that he has. But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, then the lord of that servant will come in a day when he isn’t expecting him, and in an hour that he doesn’t know, and will cut him in two, and place his portion with the unfaithful. That servant, who knew his lord’s will, and didn’t prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes, but he who didn’t know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.
“I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled. But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv40, 42, 48, 49 None have more need to watch, than they that…
None have more need to watch, than they that have some degree of honor in the household of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv40–53 40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son…
40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
Ver. 40. Be ye therefore ready] See Mat 24:46; {See Trapp on "Mat 24:46"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv41, 49, 50, 51 See Poole on "Mat 24:45" and following verses to…
See Poole on "Mat 24:45" and following verses to Mat 24:51, where we met with the same parable, but here expressed more largely, and with more circumstances. Matthew hath not the introduction to it which we have here, Luk 12:41.
It was occasioned from Peter’s saying to Christ, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or unto all? Doth this duty of watchfulness concern all thy disciples, or only us, that are thine apostles, the ministers of thy gospel? The substance of what our Lord saith in answer to Peter, from Luk 12:42-48, is, Peter, I spake it to all, I have not the meanest hearer but is concerned to watch against my coming; but you that are ministers of my gospel are most eminently concerned. Others are concerned, upon the pain of eternal damnation, to have the loins of their understandings girt about with truth, the loins of their minds girt with sobriety and hope, to have their lights burning, to be every way and always ready, watching against sin, abstaining from it, and industriously keeping themselves from any obedience to their lusts, in a prospect of my coming to judgment. But you that are to be ministers are more highly concerned than others. You are the rulers of my household, the stewards of my mysteries, 1Co 4:1; your work is to give the rest of my people their portion of meat in due season; if you faithfully do this, you shall be blessed, holding on in doing of it to your lives end, so as your Lord find you so doing. But if any of you shall be found, who out of any atheistical principles, not in heart believing what you preach to others, but saying, either that I will not come, or not so soon but you may sleep awhile, and wake time enough to prepare for my coming; if they who should be examples to my flock, and are the rulers over them, shall give reins to their lusts, and eat with the gluttons, and drink with the drunkards; if they who should feed my flock, shall fail to the worrying of it, instead of feeding, beating my men servants and maidens; the Lord will not spare them long, but be upon them before they are aware, και διχοτομησει, and cut them to pieces, (the word signifies to divide into two parts), as those nations were wont to serve the vilest transgressors, traitors, and rebels, and violaters of their covenants; they shall be most severely dealt withal, Luk 12:47, they shall be beaten with many stripes, because they knew their Master’s will, and did it not. Ignorance of the Divine will not wholly excuse the sinner, he shall be beaten, but his stripes shall be few, his damnation shall be gentle compared with a minister’s, that knows his Master’s will, but doth it not; teacheth it to others, but doth it not himself. Our Saviour further tells them, that this just judgment of God upon lewd and scandalous ministers, is justified by the ordinary practice of men, who require much where they give much, and ask milch of those to whom they have committed great trusts. God looks upon wicked, loose, and scandalous and mischievous ministers as the greatest transgressors, and he will deal with them as such. There will be degrees in the punishment as well as in the rewards of another life. Such persons as have taken upon them to be the rulers of Christ’s household, the stewards of his mysteries, if they be vile and wicked, if they be not faithful in giving the servants of Christ’s household their portion in its season, must expect the deepest place in the bottomless pit: they know more than others, they have more committed to their trust than others, their examples do more harm than others, their sins are greater than others, and the fiery furnace will for them be heated over seven times.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv41, 45, 49 These words may be applied these two ways: First,…
These words may be applied these two ways: First, to all the faithful servants of God in general; and then the note is this, that for a Christian to spend and end his days in the service of Christ, and doing his will, gives good assurance of a happy and blessed condition: Blessed is that servant.
Secondly, these words may be applied to the ministers of the gospel in special; and then observe,
Read full note →
1. The character and duty of a gospel minister; he is the steward of Christ’s household, to give them their meat in due season.
2. A double qualification requisite in such stewards: namely, prudence and faithfulness. Who then is that faithful and wise steward?
Observe, 3. The reward insured to such stewards, with whom are found these qualifications: Blessed is that servant.
Learn hence,
1. That the ministers of the gospel are in a spiritual sense stewards of Christ’s household.
2. That faithfulness and prudence are the indispensable qualifications of Christ’s stewards.
3. That where these qualifications are found, Christ will graciously and abundantly reward them. Our faithfulness must respect God, ourselves, and our flock; and includes integrity of heart, purity of intention, industry of endeavor, and impartiality in all our administrations. Our prudence must appear in the choice of suitable subjects, in the choice of fit language, in exciting our own affections in order to the moving of our people’s. Ministerial prudence also must teach us, by the strictness and gravity of our deportment, to maintain our authority, and to keep up our esteem in the consciences of our people: it will also assist us to bear reproach, and direct us to give reproof: he that is silent cannot be innocent: reprove we must, or we cannot be faithful; but prudently, or we cannot be successful.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v41 Here is, I. Peter's question, which he put to…
Here is, I. Peter's question, which he put to Christ upon occasion of the foregoing parable (Luk 12:41): "Lord, speakest thou this parable to us that are thy constant followers, to us that are ministers, or also to all that come to be taught by thee, to all the hearers, and in them to all Christians?" Peter was now, as often, spokesman for the disciples. We have reason to bless God that there are some such forward men, that have a gift of utterance; let those that are such take heed of being proud. Now Peter desires Christ to explain himself, and to direct the arrow of the foregoing parable to the mark he intended. He calls it a parable, because it was not only figurative, but weighty, solid, and instructive. Lord, said Peter, was it intended for us, or for all? To this Christ gives a direct answer (Mar 13:37): What I say unto you, I say unto all. Yet here he seems to show that the apostles were primarily concerned in it. Note, We are all concerned to take to ourselves what Christ in his word designs for us, and to enquire accordingly concerning it: Speakest thou this to us? To me? Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears. Doth this word belong to me? Speak it to my heart.
II. Christ's reply to this question, directed to Peter and the rest of the disciples. If what Christ had said before did not so peculiarly concern them, but in common with other Christians, who must all watch and pray for Christ's coming, as his servants, yet this that follows is peculiarly adapted to ministers, who are the stewards in Christ's house. Now our Lord Jesus here tells them,
Read full note →
1. What was their duty as stewards, and what the trust committed to them. (1.) They are made rulers of God's household, under Christ, whose own the house is; ministers derive an authority from Christ to preach the gospel, and to administer the ordinances of Christ, and apply the seals of the covenant of grace. (2.) Their business is to give God's children and servants their portion of meat, that which is proper for them and allotted to them; convictions and comfort to those to whom they respectively belong. Suum cuique - to every one his own. This is rightly to divide the word of truth, Ti2 2:15. (3.) To give it to them in due season, at that time and in that way which are most suitable to the temper and condition of those that are to be fed; a word in season to him that is weary. (4.) Herein they must approve themselves faithful and wise; faithful to their Master, by whom this great trust is reposed in them, and faithful to their fellow-servants, for whose benefit they are put in trust; and wise to improve an opportunity of doing honour to their Master, and service in the family. Ministers must be both skilful and faithful.
2. What would be their happiness if they approved themselves faithful and wise (Luk 12:43): Blessed is that servant, (1.) That is doing, and is not idle, nor indulgent of his ease; even the rulers of the household must be doing, and make themselves servants of all. (2.) That is so doing, doing as he should be, giving them their portion of meat, by public preaching and personal application. (3.) That is found so doing when his Lord comes; that perseveres to the end, notwithstanding the difficulties he may meet with in the way. Now his happiness is illustrated by the preferment of a steward that has approved himself within a lower and narrower degree of service; he shall be preferred to a larger and higher (Luk 12:44): He will make him ruler over all that he has, which was Joseph's preferment in Pharaoh's court. Note, Ministers that obtain mercy of the Lord to be faithful shall obtain further mercy to be abundantly rewarded for their faithfulness in the day of the Lord.
3. What a dreadful reckoning there would be if they were treacherous and unfaithful, Luk 12:45, Luk 12:46. If that servant begin to be quarrelsome and profane, he shall be called to an account, and severely punished. We had all this before in Matthew, and therefore shall here only observe, (1.) Our looking upon Christ's second coming as a thing at a distance is the cause of all those irregularities which render the thought of it terrible to us: He saith in his heart, My Lord delays his coming. Christ's patience is very often misinterpreted his delay, to the discouragement of his people, and the encouragement of his enemies. (2.) The persecutors of God's people are commonly abandoned to security and sensuality; they beat their fellow-servants, and then eat and drink with the drunken, altogether unconcerned either at their own sin or their brethren's sufferings, as the king and Haman, who sat down to drink when the city Shushan was perplexed. Thus they drink, to drown the clamours of their own consciences, and baffle them, which would otherwise fly in their faces. (3.) Death and judgment will be very terrible to all wicked people, but especially to wicked ministers. It will be a surprise to them: At an hour when they are not aware. It will be the determining of them to endless misery; they shall be cut in sunder, and have their portion assigned them with the unbelievers.
4. What an aggravation it would be of their sin and punishment that they knew their duty, and did not do it (Luk 12:47, Luk 12:48): That servant that knew his lord's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes, shall fall under a sorer punishment; and he that knew not shall be beaten with few stripes, his punishment shall, in consideration of this, be mitigated. Here seems to be an allusion to the law, which made a distinction between sins committed through ignorance, and presumptuous sins (Lev 5:15, etc.; Num 15:29, Num 15:30), as also to another law concerning the number of stripes given to a malefactor, to be according to the nature of the crime, Deu 25:2, Deu 25:3. Now, (1.) Ignorance of our duty is an extenuation of sin. He that knew not his lord's will, through carelessness and neglect, and his not having such opportunities as some others had of coming to the knowledge of it, and did things worthy of stripes, he shall be beaten, because he might have known his duty better, but with few stripes; his ignorance excuses in part, but not wholly. Thus through ignorance the Jews put Christ to death (Act 3:17; Co1 2:8), and Christ pleaded that ignorance in their excuse: They know not what they do. (2.) The knowledge of our duty is an aggravation of our sin: That servant that knew his lord's will, and yet did his own will, shall be beaten with many stripes. God will justly inflict more upon him for abusing the means of knowledge he afforded him, which others would have made a better use of, because it argues a great degree of wilfulness and contempt to sin against knowledge; of how much sorer punishment then shall they be thought worthy, besides the many stripes that their own consciences will give them! Son, remember. Here is a good reason for this added: To whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required, especially when it is committed as a trust he is to account for. Those have greater capacities of mind than others, more knowledge and learning, more acquaintance and converse with the scriptures, to them much is given, and their account will be accordingly.
III. A further discourse concerning his own sufferings, which he expected, and concerning the sufferings of his followers, which he would have them also to live in expectation of. In general (Luk 12:49): I am come to send fire on the earth. By this some understand the preaching of the gospel, and the pouring out of the Spirit, holy fire; this Christ came to send with a commission to refine the world, to purge away its dross, to burn up its chaff, and it was already kindled. The gospel was begun to be preached; some prefaces there were to the pouring out of the Spirit. Christ baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire; this Spirit descended in fiery tongues. But, by what follows, it seems rather to be understood of the fire of persecution. Christ is not the Author of it, as it is the sin of the incendiaries, the persecutors; but he permits it, nay, he commissions it, as a refining fire for the trial of the persecuted. This fire was already kindled in the enmity of the carnal Jews to Christ and his followers. "What will I that it may presently be kindled? What thou doest, do quickly. If it be already kindled, what will I? Shall I wait the quenching of it? No, for it must fasten upon myself, and upon all, and glory will redound to God from it."
1. He must himself suffer many things; he must pass through this fire that was already kindled (Luk 12:50): I have a baptism to be baptized with. Afflictions are compared both to fire and water, Psa 66:12; Psa 69:1, Psa 69:2. Christ's sufferings were both. He calls them a baptism (Mat 20:22); for he was watered or sprinkled with them, as Israel was baptized in the cloud, and dipped into them, as Israel was baptized in the sea, Co1 10:2. He must be sprinkled with his own blood, and with the blood of his enemies, Isa 63:3. See here, (1.) Christ's foresight of his sufferings; he knew what he was to undergo, and the necessity of undergoing it: I am to be baptized with a baptism. He calls his sufferings by a name that mitigates them; it is a baptism, not a deluge; I must be dipped in them, not drowned in them; and by a name that sanctifies them, for baptism is a name that sanctifies them, for baptism is a sacred rite. Christ in his sufferings devoted himself to his Father's honour, and consecrated himself a priest for evermore, Heb 7:27, Heb 7:28. (2.) Christ's forwardness to his sufferings: How am I straitened till it be accomplished! He longed for the time when he should suffer and die, having an eye to the glorious issue of his sufferings. It is an allusion to a woman in travail, that is pained to be delivered, and welcomes her pains, because they hasten the birth of the child, and wishes them sharp and strong, that the work may be cut short. Christ's sufferings were the travail of his soul, which he cheerfully underwent, in hope that he should by them see his seed, Isa 53:10, Isa 53:11. So much was his heart set upon the redemption and salvation of man.
2. He tells those about him that they also must bear with hardships and difficulties (Luk 12:51): "Suppose ye that I came to give peace on earth, to give you a peaceable possession of the earth, and outward prosperity on the earth?" It is intimated that they were ready to entertain such a thought as this, nay, that they went upon this supposition, that the gospel would meet with a universal welcome, that people unanimously embrace it, and would therefore study to make the preachers of it easy and great, that Christ, if he did not give them pomp and power, would at least give them peace; and herein they were encouraged by divers passages of the Old Testament, which speak of the peace of the Messiah's kingdom, which they were willing to understand of external peace. "But," saith Christ, "you will be mistaken, the event will declare the contrary, and therefore do not flatter yourselves into a fool's paradise. You will find,"
(1.) "That the effect of the preaching of the gospel will be division." Not but that the design of the gospel and its proper tendency are to unite the children of men to one another, to knit them together in holy love, and, if all would receive it, this would be the effect of it; but there being multitudes that not only will not receive it, but oppose it, and have their corruptions exasperated by it, and are enraged at those that do receive it, it proves, though not the cause yet the occasion of division. While the strong man armed kept his palace, in the Gentile world, his goods were at peace; all was quiet, for all went one way, the sects of philosophers agreed well enough, so did the worshippers of different deities; but when the gospel was preached, and many were enlightened by it, and turned from the power of Satan to God, then there was a disturbance, a noise and a shaking, Eze 37:7. Some distinguished themselves by embracing the gospel, and others were angry that they did so. Yea, and among them that received the gospel there would be different sentiments in minor things, which would occasion division; and Christ permits it for holy ends (Co1 11:18), that Christians may learn and practise mutual forbearance, Rom 14:1, Rom 14:2.
(2.) "That this division will reach into private families, and the preaching of the gospel will give occasion for discord among the nearest relations" (Luk 12:53): The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father, when the one turns Christian and the other does not; for the one that does turn Christian will be zealous by arguments and endearments to turn the other too, Co1 7:16. As soon as ever Paul was converted, he disputed, Act 9:29. The one that continues in unbelief will be provoked, and will hate and persecute the one that by his faith and obedience witnesses against, and condemns, his unbelief and disobedience. A spirit of bigotry and persecution will break through the strongest bonds of relation and natural affection; see Mat 10:35; Mat 24:7. Even mothers and daughters fall out about religion; and those that believe not are so violent and outrageous that they are ready to deliver up into the hands of the bloody persecutors those that believe, though otherwise very near and dear to them. We find in the Acts that, wherever the gospel came, persecution was stirred up; it was every where spoken against, and there was no small stir about that way. Therefore let not the disciples of Christ promise themselves peace upon earth, for they are sent forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv40–53 Then Peter said unto him, Lord,.... The Syriac, Persic,…
Then Peter said unto him, Lord,.... The Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, "our Lord":
speakest thou this parable: of the master at the wedding, and his servants waiting for him, or of the housekeeper watching that his house be not broken up, or both:
Read full note →
unto us, or unto all? Peter was in doubt whether the above discourse was peculiarly directed to them, the apostles, as containing special instructions to them in the discharge of the ministerial work; or whether it was designed for all his disciples and followers, both in the present age, and in time to come, to the end of the world.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv41, 42, 43, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 Speakest thou this parable to us - Apostles and…
Speakest thou this parable to us - Apostles and disciples: Or to all - The people? Does it concern us alone? Or all men?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv40, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52 Verse 40. Be ye therefore ready also] It is…
Verse 40. Be ye therefore ready also] It is pretty evident that what is related here, from verse 35 to 49, Lu 12:35-49 was spoken by our Lord at another time. See Mt 24:42, &c., and the notes there.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv41, 45, 47, 49 Luk 12:41-44. Then Peter said, Lord, speakest thou this…
Luk 12:41-44. Then Peter said, Lord, speakest thou this parable to us — Who are thy constant followers, to us who are ministers; or even to all — That come to be taught by thee, to all the hearers, and, in them, to all Christians? Peter, it appears, had been giving close attention to the whole of Christ’s discourse, and saw it to be very important; out was at a loss to know whether the latter part of it, namely, the parable of the watching servants, was spoken to the multitude in general, and therefore to all that should hereafter become Christ’s followers, or to the apostles in particular. He therefore begged his master to satisfy him as to that point. He knew indeed that the parable was addressed to all the disciples, but it contained instructions which Peter thought might be peculiarly designed for the twelve. And the Lord said, Who, &c. — Our Lord, in his answer to Peter’s inquiry, shows that, though his exhortations were directed to all, they more especially concerned those who were, or hereafter should be, intrusted with the care of the souls of others, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, &c. — The sense of the word is, “What do you think ought to be the character and conduct of a steward to whom his lord commits the care of his family in his absence, as I do the care of my church to you? Why, certainly, he should be both wise, to know in what manner to govern the family, and faithful in executing whatever his wisdom and prudence direct as fit to be done; for thus only all the members of the family under his care will have due provision made for them.” Blessed, μακαριος, happy, is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing — To complete the character of such a steward, he must never remit his care and diligence, that so, at whatever time his Lord returns, he may find him employed in the prudent and faithful discharge of the duties of his office. If this be the case, such a servant shall be happy, not only in the consciousness of doing his duty well, but in the rewards and honours which his lord will bestow upon him. Here we see the unspeakable importance of a patient continuance in well-doing. The servant spoken of is supposed to be now wise, faithful, and happy; yet our Lord’s words imply that he might become the reverse of all this, and perish for ever. I say unto you, That he will make him ruler, &c. — He will commit the management of his whole estate to him; a trust which such a servant merits by the prudence, faithfulness, and diligence which he showed as steward of the household.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv47–51 Which knew his lord’s will - Who knew what…
Which knew his lord’s will - Who knew what his master wished him to do. He that knows what God commands and requires.
Many stripes - Shall be severely and justly punished. They who have many privileges, who are often warned, who have the gospel, and do not repent and believe, shall be far more severely punished than others. They who are early taught in Sunday schools, or by pious parents, or in other ways, and who grow up in sin and impenitence, will have much more to answer for than those who have no such privileges.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv48–50 Shall be beaten with few stripes. Ignorance, when it…
Shall be beaten with few stripes. Ignorance, when it proceeds from a person’s own fault, doth not excuse, but only diminisheth the fault. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v49 b. Luk_12:49-59
b. Luk_12:49-59
49I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled [how much do I wish that it were already kindled!15]? 50But I have a baptism to be baptizedwith; and how am I straitened16 till it be accomplished! 51Suppose ye that I am cometo give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather [only] division: 52For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two againstthree. [They shall be divided, father against son17]53The father shall be divided against the son, and the [om., the] son against the [om., the] father; the [om., the] mother against the [om., the] daughter, and the [om., the] daughter against the mother; the [om., the] mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the [om., the] daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 54And he said also to the people, When ye see a [the18]cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so55it is. And when ye see the south wind blow [blowing], ye say, There will be heat;56and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of theearth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? 57Yea, and why even of yourselves58judge ye not what is right? When [For as] thou goest [proceedest] with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale [drag] thee to the judge, and the judge deliver theeto the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. 59I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last [even the last] mite [λεπτόν].
Read full note →
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk_12:49. I am come.—To the question in what connection this part of the Saviour’s discourse stands with what immediately precedes, the neutiquam cohœrent (Kuinoel) is certainly, it seems to me, the simplest possible answer. At least the method in which Olshausen and others give the connection of the ideas, is in our eyes excessively forced. But if we insist on having some connection, then the view of Meyer, “that the greatness of the responsibility, Luk_12:48, as well as the whole momentousness of the previously demanded faithfulness, is still more strengthened by the difficulty of the state of things, Luk_12:49, and so is meant to be made the more palpable to the disciples,” is perhaps the most simple.
Luk_12:49. Send fire on the earth.—The question is, what fire the Saviour here means. The answer that we have here to understand a fire of controversy, appears indeed to be the most admissible, but has, however, this difficulty, that then Luk_12:51 is really only a weak repetition of that which has been already said in Luk_12:49. If πῦρ is entirely the same with μάχαιρα, Mat_10:34, and διαμερισμός, Luk_12:51, it cannot then be well conceived that the Saviour could have unconditionally wished the kindling of such a fire. On the other hand, there is not the least reason for here, with many of the fathers and some modern expositors, immediately understanding the fire of the Holy Spirit, for which βαλεῖν would certainly have been no very fitting expression. It is best, without doubt, to proceed from the general signification of the metaphorical expression, and to understand the extraordinary movement of mind which Christ should bring to pass when His Gospel should everywhere be proclaimed, comp. Luk_24:32. As fire has on the one hand a warming and purifying, but on the other a dissolving and destroying, force, not otherwise is it with the manifestation of Christ, of which the Gospel bears testimony. It is, however, by no means to be denied that the Saviour has in mind the latter rather than the former side of the fact. It does not, however, come into the fullest prominence until Luk_12:51. Division had already been effected by the Saviour’s advent, but the fire was not to blaze up in its full power until after His death and His exaltation.
Καὶ τί θέλω εἰ ἤδη ἀνήφθη; The general interpretation (Kuinoel, Bretschneider, De Wette, who appeal to Mat_7:14): “How much I could wish that it were already kindled,” has the signification of εἰ against it. Better Schleiermacher: “And what more do I wish if it is even already kindled?” But it will best agree with the character of the discourse if we with Grotius and Meyer translate: “And what will I? Would that it were already kindled!” This wish, however, the Saviour does not cherish only because between now and the kindling of this fire lay His near and bitter Passion in the midst, which must first be endured (Meyer), but rather because, besides the harmful and ruinous, the salutary force of the fire also stands before His view, and because He knows that only through these flames can all impurity be purged away from the earth.
Luk_12:50. A baptism to be baptized with.—Over against the heavenly fire which He sends, stands the earthly water of the suffering which previously to that must roll entirely over Him.—To be baptized.—An image of the depth and intensity of this suffering, like a baptism performed by immersion. Comp. Mat_20:22; Joh_1:33.—How am I straitened, πῶς συνέχομαι.—As far from being only a pressure of longing and desire (Euth. Zigab., De Wette) as from meaning merely, “oppressed by anxiety and fear” (Meyer and others); on the other hand the one must be joined with the other. Without doubt there is here a συνοχὴ καρδίας, not less than Joh_12:27; 2Co_2:4, and whoever in this human reluctation of the Lord against His suffering finds any cause of offence, places himself in a Docetic position. But in the heart of the holy Son of Man such a shrinking back from suffering, and the wish that it might already have been overcome, could not arise without His feeling at the same time the pressure of a love which must be baptized with this baptism, only because it itself has willed it. A similar union of anxiety and longing we see in the woman, Joh_16:21, who when her hour comes is seized with fear and anguish, and yet in the midst of this fear feels love and inward longing soon to press her child to her heart.
Luk_12:51. Suppose ye.—Comp. Mat_10:34-36. It was only perplexity on the part of some expositors when they believed that here the language respecting the consequence of the Saviour’s manifestation was used exclusively ἐκβατικῶς, not τελικῶς. On the other hand, we may say that the Saviour here speaks not of the highest and ultimate, but yet of a very essential purpose of His manifestation on earth, which, however, was in its turn to be a means for the attainment of a higher end, of a peace, namely, which could be attained through this strife alone. The division which the Saviour brought on earth was and is so general, that He in a certain sense could say of Himself that He establishes nothing less than (ἀλλ̓ ἤ) discord. This phenomenon is so far from being surprising and fortuitous, that, on the contrary, it has been foreseen and will be met, not as something good and desirable in itself, but as the only way in which He could erect His kingdom of peace here below upon an immovable foundation. An analogous representation, see Luk_2:34; Joh_9:39. Even because Christ is the Sun of Righteousness, it cannot but be that torches of strife and funeral pyres should be kindled by its fiery glow. When the Holy One of God comes into personal contact with an unholy world, a shock and strife is inevitable, and that not only against Him personally, but also among men themselves, inasmuch as these begin to distinguish themselves into adversaries and subjects of His kingdom.
Luk_12:52. Five in one house.—Here also is the mention of the uneven number five peculiar to Luke, as in the statement of the number of sparrows, Luk_12:6. When three stand against two and two against three, it is so much the more difficult to bring them together again. The holiest bonds are torn asunder, and as well in the male as also in the female sex does our Lord count friends and enemies, who on account of Him oppose one another. “Non additur gener, nam hic aliam constituit familiam.” Bengel. For the whole representation, compare the prophetical utterance, Mic_7:6. Only when the Saviour appears as the Prince of Peace can the disharmony between the three on the one hand and the two on the other hand be lastingly over.
Luk_12:54. And He said also to the people.—Luke justly remarks that here the address of the Saviour to the disciples breaks off. What now follows is more adapted to the mixed throng of His listeners, among whom there were found also enemies and those of Pharisaical views. According to Mat_16:1 seq., the Saviour directed the next following censure very particularly against the Pharisees and Sadducees; the expressions, however, in the two Evangelists are more or less different. If we are disposed to demonstrate the connection with the previous section, we may find it in this, that the Saviour now proceeds to the statement of the source from which so much discord and misunderstanding flow as He had just described; namely, the failure to recognize the signs of the times, which unequivocally enough pointed to the Messianic kingdom.
A cloud.—The cloud which rose out of the west, on the side of the sea, was regarded as the sign of approaching rain, see 1Ki_18:44, while the south wind was considered as a sign of heat to be expected, Job_37:17. The here-mentioned καύσεν is undoubtedly that glowing heat which was produced in Palestine by the south wind. In the LXX = קָדִים. In most mournful contrast with the sound intelligence of these weather-prophets, which in daily life at once decides (εὐθέως), and whose prophecies also commonly are fulfilled, stands the general blindness in reference to that which was infinitely more momentous and quite as easy to discover.
Luk_12:56. Ye hypocrites.—We cannot mistake the fact that here towards the end, the discourse again visibly inclines towards its point of departure. Very fittingly could the Saviour address the people in a mass thus, if we consider how deeply the leaven of the Pharisees had already penetrated into their minds. Since they were capable of distinguishing the face of the sky as well as that of the earth (Joh_4:35), it could only be from a lack of good-will that they left wholly unnoticed the rain and the vital warmth which in these days had been imparted, in the kingdom of God. What lies nearest to the heart of man his understanding judges best; but since the advent of a spiritual kingdom of God was to them essentially indifferent, they do not account it even worth the trouble of giving heed to these signs in the moral world, which so convincingly afforded proof that the fulness of the time had arrived. The Saviour, on the other hand, will have His contemporaries become meteorologists in the spiritual sphere, and therefore He afterwards also rebukes them that they did not know the time of their visitation, Luk_19:44.
Luk_12:57. Of your own selves, ἀφ̓ ἑαυτῶν, Luk_21:30. There was lacking to them, as appears from what precedes, the gift necessary for clearly distinguishing in the spiritual sphere what was right (κρίνειν, secernere). When they discerned the face of the sky and the earth (Luk_12:56), they did this indeed ἀφ̓ ἑαυτῶν, independently, without any necessity that it should first have been told them by another. So did it beseem them in other relations also to apply the standard of a natural science of truth and duty, without always first awaiting the inspiration of their spiritual guides.—Luk_12:58-59 the Saviour makes a special case in which they could apply such a κρίσις ἀφ̓ ἐαυτῶν, while He leaves it to their own understanding and conscience themselves to make a profitable application of the here-given rules to much higher and weightier concerns.
Luk_12:58. For as.—Γάρ here introduces the statement of the special case, by the delineation of which the Saviour more particularly explains His meaning. Comp. Mat_5:25-26. He presupposes that they are with their adversary (ἀντίδικος) on the way to their legitimate ruler (ἅρχων), as appears from Luk_12:59, because a controversy had arisen about an unpaid debt; and if they now should persevere even to the end in the way of litigation, the consequences were very easy to be foreseen. The adversary with whom one cannot reconcile himself drags (κατασύρῃ) the debtor before the righteous judge (κριτής), and he, after he has ascertained the claim of debt to be well established, delivers the accused to the bailiff, who throws him into prison (πράκτωρ, exactor, executor, a legally appointed functionary of the Roman tribunals, whom Matthew has designated only in general as ὑπηρέτης). And there must one remain, until even the very last and least portion of the debt in its last item is paid. Matthew mentions τὸν ἔσχατον κοδράντην, Luke still more strongly τὸν ἔσχ. λεπτόν. The last farthing equals half a quadrant.—How much mischief, therefore, does one prevent, and how fully he acts in his own interest, when he comes to terms with such an ἀντίδικος, enters into a satisfactory compromise before the last decisive step is taken! Δὸς ἐργασίαν, a Latinism, perhaps as a Roman formula of law sufficiently familiar to Theophilus.
The Saviour, therefore, here urges His hearers in their own interest to placableness, and will have them by such a conduct show that they are in a condition ἀφ̓ ἑαυτῶν to κρίνειν τὸ δίκαιον. Considered by itself alone the admonition has, therefore, the same intention as in the parallel passage in Matthew, only with the distinction that with Luke the juridical form of the process is brought out somewhat more in detail. If one inquires now in what connection this exhortation, Luk_12:57-59, stands with the previous verses, Luk_12:54-56, we acknowledge that we have not found in one of the interpreters an answer perfectly satisfactory to us. The thread connecting the different parts of Luke 12 becomes looser in proportion as the chapter hastens towards its end. In general, we may say that the Saviour here urges His hearers no longer to allow themselves to be so much led in their judgment by others as they had hitherto done, in consequence of which they also did not recognize the signs of the times, Luk_12:54-56, but to see more with their own eyes. This His meaning He elucidates by an example, Luk_12:58-59; but neither in the letter nor the spirit of His words is a single proof contained that this example must be interpreted as a parable, and that He wishes thereby to admonish them to repent betimes, “because the Messianic decision is so near, that they may not be exposed to the judgment of Gehenna.” (Meyer.) It is wholly arbitrary to see in the ἀντίδικος an allusion to the devil (Euth. Zigab.), to the poor (Michaelis), God (Meyer), or even to the law (Olshausen), and in the φυλακή to see a representation of Gehenna. Nothing but the craving to find in Luk_12:57-59 a congruous conclusion to a well-connected discourse has here put the expositors on a false track. The Saviour, however, presents not a single proof for the opinion that He here is urging them on allegorically to repentance, and according to the representation of Mat_5:25, this saying has an entirely different sense. It is, without doubt, better, in case of necessity, to give up making out the connection which undoubtedly exists (Kuinoel, De Wette), which we, moreover, have by no means done, than to find under the simple sense of the words a deeper significance which no one amongst the first hearers, without a more particular intimation of the Saviour, could have found therein.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. As the Saviour has first admonished His disciples to watchfulness and faithfulness, the remaining part of His discourse, so far in particular as it is addressed to the Apostles, has such a direction as to prepare them for many kinds of strife and troubles, and to take away the scandal which they might otherwise have found when His cause, instead of overcoming, should be suppressed and opposed. The cause of this strife lay at least in part in the unreceptiveness and earthly-mindedness of the people, who neglected to give heed to the signs of the times, and, like blind men, slavishly followed their spiritual guides, instead of seeing with their own eyes.
2. In this whole utterance of our Lord, as far as it stands in direct relation to His own personality and kingdom, we see a striking revelation on the one hand of His truly human, on the other hand His truly Divine, nature. With a genuinely human feeling He shrinks back from His suffering and longs for the beginning of the conflict. But with Divine knowledge He calculates at the same time the consequences of the combat, and utters forth the indispensable necessity of His baptism of suffering, if the fire were really to be kindled upon earth.
3. Already more than once have we heard the Saviour speak with heavy-heartedness and deep feeling of His approaching Passion, but here is the first revelation of this genuinely human reluctance to enter upon the approaching conflict, which afterwards returns in heightened measure, Joh_12:27; Mat_26:38. This inner sorrow and pressure of love also constitutes a part of His hidden history of suffering.
4. It is one of the strongest arguments for the entirely unique significance of the personal manifestation of our Lord, that He calls forth such a discord in the sphere of humanity. The strongest sympathy or antipathy does He arouse, but in no case apathy. So much strife and blood the Gospel could never have caused, had not men been deeply persuaded on both sides that here there was to do with the Highest and Holiest.
5. The recognition of the signs of the times is one of the most sacred obligations which our Saviour imposes on all those who wish to be capable of passing an independent judgment on the concerns of His kingdom. However, the blindness of His contemporaries still shows itself continually under all manner of forms. Men who in the sphere of the natural life display a singular measure of sound understanding, are, and that in large numbers, dulness and unreceptiveness itself, when it comes to the distinguishing of light and darkness, truth and illusion, from one another in the spiritual sphere. A sad proof of the power which the corruption of the sinful heart exercises upon the darkened understanding. See Rom_1:18; Eph_4:18.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The fire which Christ kindles on earth: 1. A fire which warms what is cold; 2. purifies what is impure; 3. consumes what is evil.—Suffering, a baptism.—For the Christian a threefold baptism necessary: 1. The water-baptism of sprinkling; 2. the spiritual baptism of renewal; 3. the fire-baptism of trial.—The intensity of anguish and love with which the Saviour foresees His approaching Passion.—The discord which Christ has brought upon earth: 1. A surprising phenomenon, if we look, a. at the King, Psalms 72, b. at the fundamental law of the kingdom of God, Joh_13:35; John 2. an explicable phenomenon if we direct our eye, a. to the severity of the Gospel, b. to the sinfulness of the human heart; 3. a momentous phenomenon, a. this strife is a proof of the high significance, b. and means for the establishment, the purification, and the victory of Christianity.—The proclamation of the conflict excited by His appearance a proof: 1. Of the infallible omniscience; 2. of the holy earnestness; 3. of the infinite love of our Lord.—Of all false peace the King of the kingdom of truth makes an end.—The fire kindled in the old earth no curse but a blessing.—Even our nearest earthly kindred we must, in case of need, deny for Christ’s sake.—The spiritual world also, like the kingdom of nature, has its signs.—The noticing of the signs of the times a duty: 1. Commended by heavenly Wisdom 2. forgotten by sinful blindness.—The Saviour will have one judge independently what is true and good.—How our own interest urges us to the duty of placableness.—There comes a time in which the law is left to run its course, and every hope of grace is cut off.
Starke:—Canstein:—When the Gospel is preached in right earnest, it is as if a conflagration breaks out, which every one runs to quench, and thereby is faith proved.—Quesnel:—Jesus had ever His suffering before His eyes; His love to the cross shames the effeminacy and delicacy of Christians, who are so unwilling to suffer.—Three against two; so was it in Abraham’s house: Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac against Hagar and Ishmael.—There is hardly a house in which the evil are not mingled with the good and the good with the evil.—Brentius:—Between the kingdom of Christ and of Satan no peace exists, not even in eternity; let no one, therefore, give himself any fruitless trouble to bring it about.—Bibl. Wirt.:—Man, discern the time of grace, which to discern is indeed not difficult.—The proving of spiritual things is a duty even of the simple.—Cramer:—It is better to compose matters of controversy by friendly dealing and brotherly reconciliation, than by the sharp law and sentence of the judge, 1Co_6:7—In hell there is no payment possible, therefore the plague of the same will have no end.
Heubner:—If all reforming and heating of people’s heads is wrong and illegal, then Christianity would be the most illegal of anything; but everything depends upon whether the revolutionizing and incendiarism comes from selfishness or from God.—Even he who is already resolved to duty feels, nevertheless, shrinking of heart till the conflict is fought out.—When tempests approach thee, strengthen thyself in Jesus.—What is great and noble requires severe conflict.—The false judging of Jesus is our own fault.—Ehrenberg:—Fire as the power: 1. Of separating; 2. of consuming; 3. of warming.—Tholuck:—“Of what fire does Christ speak here? Is it that which has just now been kindled in the Evangelical Church?” With reference to the separation of the Lutheran from the United Church (in the second volume of his Sermons, p. 412 seq.).—Schenkel:—The controversy which Christ has brought upon earth, how we have: 1. To wish for it; 2. to fear it; 3. to endure it.—T. Muller:—The destroying might of Christianity: 1. In the outer; 2. in the inner, world.
Footnotes:
[15][Luk_12:49.—Τί θέλω εἰ ἤδη ἀνήφθη; Van Oosterzee takes it thus: What do I wish? Would that it were already kindled! This gives essentially the same sense as the rendering proposed above, but, as Bleek and Meyer remark, it is a less natural turn of expression. The use of εἰ for ὅτε, when the object of the wish is less confidently expected, or known not to exist, is sufficiently well established. I will cite one example, adduced by Meyer from Sir_23:14 : θελήσεις εί μὴ ἐγεννήθης.—C. C. S.]
[16][Luk_12:50.—Norton translates this: “what a weight is on me till it be accomplished!”; which, though paraphrastic, appears to express the sense very exactly.—C. C. S.]
[17]Luk_12:53.—According to the most probable reading, that of Lachmann and Tischendorf, διαμερισθήσονται, with B., D., [Cod. Sin.,] T., U., cursives, Schid., Vulgate, Copt., Itala, and several fathers. The singular of the Recepta was spontaneously suggested by the immediately following substantives. Symmetry, however, requires the verb. [In allusion to Tischendorf’s and Lachmann’s joining διαμερισθήσονται with the previous clause.—C. C. S.]
[18][Luk_12:54.—That is, the usual cloud brought by the prevailing west or northwest wind.—C. C. S.] The original τήν appears to have been inadvertently omitted in A., B., [Cod. Sin.,] L., X., Δ., and cursives, on account of the preceding ἴδηTE. (Meyer.)
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51 unto us or even to all?--us the Twelve, or…
unto us or even to all?--us the Twelve, or all this vast audience?
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv40, 41, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50 40. Cometh… hour… think not—The language is now literal.…
40. Cometh… hour… think not—The language is now literal. The judgment day lies in the unknown future. It may be to-day; it may be myriads of years hence. We may be mistaken in placing it nearer than it is, or making it more distant. Even our interpretations of those prophecies which seem to us at the present time to indicate that the day is distant, may be wrong; for prophecy is designedly obscure, in accordance with the law that the future must be profoundly hid from mortal knowledge. But, on the other hand, near two thousand years have passed since these warnings of our Lord were given, and those were certainly mistaken who have, during every age from the apostles to the present day, fixed the time as to be in their own generation. On this very subject it is that the apostle warns us that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years. (See 2Pe_3:8.) This night of the master’s absence is to be measured by the chronology of eternity, by the arithmetic of infinity; for it is the eternal and infinite One that speaks. Yet it is plain from many scriptures that when the Lord does come it will be upon an unsuspecting world.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53 41. Then Peter said unto him] Peter’s intercourse with…
41. Then Peter said unto him] Peter’s intercourse with his Lord seems to have been peculiarly frank and fearless, in accordance with his character. In the immaturity of the disciples we may suppose that the blessing on the faithful servants mainly prompted his question. But if so the lesson of our Lord was by no means lost on him, 1Pe_5:3, and passim.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv41, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 (41) Then Peter said unto him.—The motive of Peter’s…
(41) Then Peter said unto him.—The motive of Peter’s question is not given. Interpreted by the like question in Mat_19:27 (where see Note), it is natural to suppose that he dwelt, not so much on the last words of warning, as on the greatness of the promise which is held out in Luk_12:37. Was that to be the common blessing of all believers, or the special reward of those who had forsaken all?
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv41, 42, 45, 47, 49, 50, 51 Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this…
Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? Peter"s question here referred evidently to the longer and more important parable-story, where the reward which the faithful watchers were to receive is mentioned (ver. 37). The grandeur of that reward seems deeply to have impressed the impulsive apostle. Some true conception of the heaven-life had entered into Peter"s mind; we know, too, that now and again dimly Peter seemed to grasp the secret of his Master"s awful Divinity. What meant, then, thought the faithful, loving man, the figure in the parable of the lord? Who was that lordhimself serving his faithful followers? The same curious perplexity evidently passed through Peter"s mind when, on the evening before the death, in a symbol-act the Master repeated the words of the great promise made here, and washed his disciples" feet. Then we read how Peter said to him, "Lord, dost thou wash my feet?" Were all who followed Jesus to share in that strange, mighty promise; or only a few, such as Peter and his companions, called for a special purpose?
Vers. 41-59. The glories and responsibilities of the Christian ministry.
Read full note →
The previous parable attracts Peter by reason of its glorious promise, and he accordingly wonders if it can apply to all believers or to the apostles only. Having asked our Lord, he receives light upon the responsibilities and glories of the ministerial office. From our Lord"s words we learn
I IT IS CHRIST"S WILL THERE SHOULD BE STEWARDS IN HIS CHURCH, WHOSE DUTY IT IS TO GIVE HIS PEOPLE MEAT IN DUE SEASON. (Ver. 42-44) This is the great design of the ministry to feed the flock of God. All other duties are subsidiary to this.. For souls need to be as regularly fed with truth as the body with food. To this end the Christian ministry should, therefore, direct all its effects, that the people may be fed. And need it be said that the truth which nourishes men"s souls is the truth as it is in Jesus? When Jesus is presented in the glory of his Person and offices, then the famished souls are saved and satisfied. Now, our Lord declares that the ministry will continue for such a purpose until his advent. The household of God will always need the food furnished by the ministry. No time will come when the ministry shall be superseded. And the ministers who are diligently employed at their teaching and feeding of souls when our Lord comes will find themselves blessed
(1) in their own experience, and
(2) in the magnificent promotion awaiting them,
Christ promises the faithful minister no less than universal influence. He is to be ruler over all he has. Others may have some influence, but a faithful minister will, in the world made new, have universal sovereignty. Ministerial influence is often incomparably the grandest and widest exercised among men in this life: how much more in the life and order which will be ushered in by the advent!
II OUR LORD AT HIS ADVENT WILL MAKE SHORT WORK OF SPIRITUAL DESPOTS. (Ver. 45, 46) Some in the ministry, it would seem, instead of living in expectation of the advent, will live as if the long-delayed advent would never come. In such a case selfish tyranny over the people committed to them will soon manifest itself; and upon the self-indulgent despot our Lord shall come suddenly, to appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. A ministry that is not earnest, but self indulgent and tyrannical, has before it a terrible doom. ()
III HE ALSO SHOWS THAT JUDGMENT IN THE WORLD TO COME SHALT, BE GRADUATED ACCORDING TO DESERT. (Vers. 47, 48) The difficulties about the Divine judgment have been partly owing to the forgetfulness of the fact that sinners are not to be cast indiscriminately into some common receptacle, but subjected to a series of graduated punishments of the most carefully adjusted character. The rhapsodies which are so plentiful against any thoroughness in punishing the impenitent are based mainly upon the false assumption of indiscriminating punishment. According to a person"s opportunities will be his doom.
IV OUR LORD DECLARES THAT HIS PRESENT ADVENT MUST GENERATE OPPOSITION. (Vers. 49-53) The fire which our Lord came to kindle is that of spiritual enthusiasm; such a fire as burned in the disciples" hearts as he spoke to them on the way to Emmaus; such a fire as was promised in the baptism with the Holy Ghost. Such incendiarism is just the blessed commotion the world needs. But in the kindling of the holy flame our Lord will have to pass through a bloody baptism. He sees how inevitable this dread experience is, and yet he pants for the cross which is to crown his work and revolutionize the world. The cross of Christ is really the great divider of mankind; by its instrumentality families are divided into different camps, and the battle of the truth begun. But the division Christ creates is infinitely better than the unity without him. Better far that we should have to fight for truth than that we should live, like lotus-eaters, through indifference towards or ignorance of it. The battle for Christ is wholesome exercise, and the victory at last is assured.
V HE CHARGES THEM WITH MISUNDERSTANDING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES, WHILE THEY CAN APPRECIATE THE SIGNS OF THE WEATHER. (Vers. 54-56) He is now speaking to the people, and not to the apostles. He points out how they can anticipate shower and heat by certain signs on the face of nature. People become "weather-wise," and can often show wonderful predictive power. And yet the times were providentially more significant than the weather. And before their eyes were hung the signs of a great contest between good and evil, between Christ and the world; and yet their hypocritical hearts would not allow them to appreciate the signs or take the proper side. It is a curious fact that many will study the laws of physical nature with intense interest and success, and yet neglect utterly those laws of the Divine government which involve the mightiest of revolutions. The hypocrisy of the heart is, our Savior here says, the secret of such inconsistent apathy.
VI HE DECLARES THE URGENCY OF RECONCILIATION WITH GOD. (Vers. 57-59) The adversary, magistrate, and officer, are three individuals needful for the initiation and execution of human judgment. But the context shows that Jesus here refers to the Divine judgment which these hypocrites are courting. In this case as Godet, in loco, observes the adversary, judge, and officer are united in the Person of God. He is the Adversary to charge us with our defaults; he is the Judge to decide our guilt; he is the Officer to execute due vengeance on us in case we incur it. Christ consequently urges reconciliation with God without delay upon these hypocrites. To secure this he appeals to their conscience. They can surely come to this conclusion themselves, that, in opposing and persecuting him, they are not doing right. Their own inward monitor must witness to the guilt of their present course. Let them see to it, then, that they are delivered from their doom. Only one way is open, and that is by throwing themselves upon his mercy manifested in Christ. In this appointed way our Lord leaves them without excuse. There is surely a hopeless air about the terms of this judgment. The payment of the last mite is surely impossible in the prison-house of eternity, and current remedial programmes about the future life are but "will-o"-the-wisps" to lure thoughtless minds onwards towards doom! May we calculate upon no post-mortem reformation, but enter upon the pardon and spiritual progress God offers to us now! R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv42, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 That faithful and wise steward
Luk_12:42-44
That faithful and wise steward
Read full note →
Our stewardship
I.
HERE IS REPRESENTED A SITUATION OF WEIGHTY RESPONSIBILITY. A stewardship. All responsibility on the part of man is owing to God.
1. And first, my brethren, let it be remarked that God, on this principle and in this relationship of responsibility, or of stewardship, has endowed us with natural faculties: faculties which impart to us a dominion and empire over the various orders of that material creation by which we are surrounded; faculties which enable us to distinguish between right and wrong, between good and evil; faculties which therefore entitle us to comprehend the purposes for which moral government is formed; and faculties which permit our assimilation to the attributes and image of our Maker, that assimilation by which, most of all, He is dignified and honoured. There are, my brethren, you observe in these cases, entrustments which are committed to all, and the improvement of which is required from all, excepting, indeed, in cases of sad and mysterious affliction, or where it is usurped by madness. And those who, from time to time, have conceived, whether truly or falsely, that they have received an amount of natural faculties greater than the ordinary measure, must always remember, with deep and with prayerful solemnity, that what remains for them is nothing but humility, and seriousness, and diligence, and prayer.
2. Secondly, let it be observed that upon this principle and assimilation of stewardship God has also endowed us with many advantages and blessings. The comforts that men derive from their measure of worldly substance and competency, whatever it may be, and the comforts which they derive from the intimacies of friendship and the sweet and tender endearments of private and domestic life, ought not to escape enumeration, and ought not to be meanly esteemed.
3. God, on this principle of stewardship, has also endowed us with many religious privileges. He has endowed us with many religious privileges: that is to say, those means that are eminently adapted to instruct His creatures in the knowledge of His will, and to prepare them and guide their feet into the ways of quietness and peace.
II. Here is presented AN IMPORTANT CHARACTER BY WHICH THIS SITUATION IS DISTINGUISHED. The Redeemer, you observe, speaks of the faithful and wise stewards love to the cause of his master. What we intend now to remark on this is, that these are the attributes which it is desirable that every human being should sustain with respect to that stewardship under which he is placed.
1. To be faithful and wise stewards, men must ascertain the nature of the duty which is imposed.
2. To be faithful and wise stewards, men must love the duty which is imposed.
3. To be faithful and wise stewards, men must practically perform the duty which is imposed.
4. To be faithful and wise stewards, men must habitually contemplate the account to be rendered of the duty which is imposed.
III. THE DELIGHTFUL RESULTS IN WHICH THE MAINTENANCE OF THAT CHARACTER IN THAT SITUATION IS TO TERMINATE.
1. The public approbation of the Divine Master.
2. The introduction to substantial honour, and perfect and eternal happiness. (J. Parsons.)
A faithful steward
The other day! [Rev. F. S. Cook, D.D., in Altering the Gospel] received a communication from a lawyer, who says that a very large owner has discovered that a very small piece of property belongs to him, and not to the small proprietor in whose possession it has for a very long time remained. The matter seemed a trifling one. We had a conference, and there came the steward with the lawyers, and he was furnished with maps, and, putting on his spectacles, examined them with great care. Why? It was a small matter to him, but because he was a steward he was expected to be faithful. And when he found that this small piece of ground belonged to his lord he was determined to have it. So let me say--as stewards of the gospel of God-never give up one verse, one doctrine, one word of the truth of God. Let us be faithful to that committed to us, it is not ours to alter. We have but to declare that which we have received.
Christian devotedness
Did you never read Henry Martyns life, a polished scholar, a man of learning and repute, giving up all for Christ to go to Persia and there to die without having seen a convert, perhaps, and yet content to live, content to die, in far-off lands for his Masters sake? Did you never read of Brainerd far away among the Indians, toiling on, and in his old age teaching a poor black child its letters, and thanking God that when he could not preach, he could yet teach the child its letters, and so do something for his dear Lord who had done so much for him? Ay, did you never read and think of even St. Francis Xavier, papist as he was? Yet what a man, how consecrated, how zealous! with all his errors, and all his mistakes, and all his faults, yet passing over sea and land, penetrating forests, and daring death a thousand times, that he might spread abroad the poor misguided doctrines which he believed. As much as I hate his teaching, I admire his all but miraculous zeal. When I think of some such men; when I would fain censure their mistakes, I can only censure myself that I cannot even so much as think, or cannot do more than think of living such a life as they lived. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Blessed is that servant
The blessedness of the well-employed servant
I. WE ARE ARE OF US SERVANTS AND STEWARDS, AND ARE TO BE IN EMPLOYMENT. We must be doing. Religion is no idle and lazy thing, it is not sluggish and sleepy, it is not drowsy and lethargic, but it is lively and active, vigorous and operative, and always puts us upon holy endeavours and enterprizes. A Christian is not made to stand still and dig nothing. His soul and all its faculties were given him for some great design, and fitted for some excellent use and work.
II. IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO BE EMPLOYED AND TO BE DOING SOMETHING; WE MUST BE SO DOING--doing our Masters work. We had better be doing nothing than not be so doing--so run, that ye may attain, saith the apostle. The racer may run, and with full speed, and yet never reach the goal, never obtain the prize, for he may run out of the way, and make haste from the mark. And though he keeps the way, he may not be swift enough. The manner as well as the matter o! religion is to be minded, and the latter of these chiefly. I shall endeavour, then, to explain this duty of a Christian in my text; I will show you what it is to be so doing, and I pray God the several particulars, which are all plain and intelligible, may have influence on our lives and practices, that when our Lord shall come, we may be found employed about these following things.
1. Meditating and examining ourselves, serious consideration and reflection on our ways. The Christian is to be busied within doors; he is to be rifling his own breast, and taking account of the inward frame and disposition of his heart.
2. Watching is another exercise meant here by the so doing, as you may see in Luk_12:37-38 of this chapter. You are, then, to watch over your hearts, and to keep them with all diligence. And moreover, you are to watch over your actions and lives; you must avoid the occasions of every vice, and keep a strict guard over your senses, which are the common inlets to sin, and betray you to the commission of the greatest follies. Behold! I come as a thief (saith Christ), blessed is he that wateheth Rev_16:15).
3. Praying is another good and laudable posture to be found in when our Lord cometh. Watch and pray go hand in hand together, and they are never more seasonable than when we are expecting the coming of our Lord.
4. Lamenting and sorrowing for our sins is to be so doing; and is another good work to be found in when we are to depart hence, and appear before the impartial tribunal of heaven. Our sins and failings are very numerous, our slips and offences are many and frequent, and we cannot sufficiently lament and bewail our folly, and implore the Divine pardon, and invoke the assistance of the Holy Spirit, but let us resolve to do it with all our might, and with sincere and upright hearts, that our present sorrows and lamentations may give us an entrance into undisturbed joy and felicity.
5. Whilst we have opportunity, let us reckon it our duty and interest to be constantly attending on Gods holy ordinances, not only that of prayer (before mentioned), but that of reading and hearing Gods Word; also the Holy Communion.
6. Doing of works of charity to the souls and bodies of our brethren is an acceptable employment, and will render our last accounts easy to us.
7. Serving God in the several particular callings and places wherein He hath set you is a work which you should endeavour to be found doing. Let me tell you, you serve God by your secular vocations; you may bring glory to Him even by your worldly employment, though it be never so mean and contemptible. The poorest labourer, by a conscientious discharge of his proper trust, by diligence and honesty, is in a capacity to honour his Maker and the religion which he professes. Every one in the sphere and orb wherein Providence hath fixed him must act, move, and influence. Serve God with constancy both in your general and particular calling. This is Christianity, and this will bring a blessing upon you and yours.
III. OUR LORD WILL COME AND TAKE AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT WE HAVE DONE. The Master will come and visit His servants whom He hath set on work. My brethren, our Lord observes and minds what we do; He takes notice whether we be idle or watchful, whether we busy ourselves about His work or Satans. And it will not be long before He comes and reckons with us for all our past demeanour. The days of accounting are these two, death and the last judgment. These are the set times of our Lords coming, and none can reverse and escape them. The voluptuous and debauched person must appear before that great tribunal, and give an account of his wild and brutish deportment; the unclean person who shunned the light, and thought to conceal his folly by darkness and retirements, must then appear and stand out in the open view of the world, and be accountable for his lewd and lascivious practices. The profane swearer, who blasphemed the holy name of God and His Son Jesus, must then bow and prostrate himself to Him whom he before profaned. The mighty oppressor, who escaped here the earthly judge, and by his wealth and power made himself too great for human judicature, must stand at that great bar and submit to the fatal sentence. The hypocrite, who thought to deceive God as well as his neighbours, shall appear then in his true shape, which he never did before. The uncharitable man, the fomenter of strife and discord, the man that haled others before the judge, must himself appear before the Judge of heaven and earth, and answer for all his unchristian and unbrotherly behaviour.
IV. THOSE SERVANTS WHOM CHRIST AT HIS COMING SHALL FIND ABOUT HIS WORK AND BUSINESS ARE IN A BLESSED AND HAPPY CONDITION.
1. How comfortable must it needs be to a holy person that he hath not only all his lifetime endeavoured sincerely to serve his God, and to do all the good he could in the world, but that, by Gods grace assisting him, he hath persevered in the same course until death; and now that he is to depart this life he is not employed in the works of darkness, he is not displeasing God, and offending good men, but he is about his Masters business, and he expires his last breath in the discharge of his duty. Blessedness is entailed on the servant who thus behaves himself. If you consider the nature of the thing itself it cannot be otherwise, for he being made by God to serve Him, and to be wholly at His beck and disposal, it must needs be that his satisfaction and happiness should consist in conforming himself to Gods will, and in acting according to His laws and commands. I may add likewise that God will protect His servants in the discharge of His own work. They are safe whilst they are doing what He sets them about. Come what will, they cannot be miserable. The summary application of all may be that of 2Pe_3:11. Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved (seeing that the day of the Lord approaches, and Christ will come to judge thee speedily, either at death or at the last judgment), what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? how exemplary should your lives and conversations be? how zealous should you show yourselves in all the exercises of religion. Give me leave to direct you (as to this great matter) in these few words:
1. Pray more fervently. Unite all your forces now and wrestle with God, and cry mightily unto Him for yourselves, for this place where you inhabit, and for the whole land of your nativity.
2. Disengage your affections more resolvedly from the world. You are convinced by this time, surely, that the world is vain and uncertain. Dote not on its enjoyments, sink not your souls into earth, plunge them not into the mire, be indifferent as to all things here below, and be ready to part with any of this worlds goods.
3. Oppose vice more vigorously than ever, and the rather because of those many strong temptations you meet with in this degenerate and corrupted age.
4. Breathe after heaven more passionately. Let the ill things which you behold here below be the occasion of raising your thoughts and desires toward those mansions above where nothing inhabits but what is pure and holy.
5. Let your lives and actions acquaint the world how mindful you are of that great account which you are to give at the coming of the Lord. Desire to be found doing your Masters work, and then be not solicitous about the wages, but assure yourselves that that will be a recompense far beyond your thoughts and wishes. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (John Edwards, D. D.)
The faithful servant
I. THE FAITHFUL PRINCIPLES OF THE TRUE SERVANT OF GOD.
1. He views God as an ever-present Master.
2. He acknowledges God as the Giver of life and salvation to his perishing soul.
II. THE HONOURABLE OCCUPATIONS OF THE TRUE SERVANT OF GOD. He considers himself to be entrusted with various gifts; not for his own pleasure, but for Gods glory; not for selfish ends, but for the highest good of his fellow-creatures. All that he possesses he considers as being his Lords goods; and he does not dare to waste any part of them. He takes an inventory of what is committed to him, and occupies or trades therewith. He turns everything to good account; he squanders nothing. To this end, moreover, he often reviews his own proceedings; and these self-examinations are preparatory to that last solemn hour when it shall be said, Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. See how he dedicates his talents to the Most High, and employs all his mind for God! What poor, ignorant sinners, whether at home, or heathen abroad, can I bring to the knowledge of Christ? What afflicted person can I comfort? What tempted servant of Christ can I succour? What neighbour, or friend, or relative, that is unconverted, can I win to Christ? Thus, moreover, he lays out his time; his years, his days, his very hours are engaged for God.
III. THE GENEROUS DISPOSITIONS OF THE TRUE SERVANT OF GOD. In one word--love. Therefore, nothing is irksome, nothing burdensome.
IV. THE REWARD WHICH SHALL BE GIVEN TO THE TRUE SERVANT OF GOD.
1. He is commended.
2. He is promoted.
3. He is admitted to joys inconceivable. (Dr. Jowett, M. A.)
The blessedness of the faithful servant
I. THE HONOURABLE OCCUPATION DESCRIBED IS THAT OF A SERVANT DILIGENTLY EMPLOYED IN HIS MASTERS WORK.
1. Labour is not necessarily and essentially a curse. Adam in Eden. Labour in itself is invigorating, promoting the welfare of the body and the cheerfulness of the mind, while it tends to keep the heart from the power of those temptations which find in the idle and unoccupied an easy prey. It is idleness in all its forms against which the displeasure of our God is expressed with repeated emphasis in the sacred Scriptures. And labour is honourable, whether in the lowly engagements of those who tread the humbler walks of life, or in the more imposing pursuits of those who occupy the prominent stations of society; whether the miner who labours in the bowels of the earth, or the author who with his pen records the processes and results of laborious thought for the guidance of his fellowmen. God has prescribed labour as one of the lasting arrangements of the social world. Everything is full of labour, from the glowing seraph, who flies through boundless space, the willing agent of Almighty will, down to those mysterious laws which keep the universe in being and secure its destined aims; and man is to be no exception, his varied powers of body and of mind were bestowed, net to evaporate in listless, dreamy idleness, to be prostituted for the needs of selfishness and pleasure, but to be employed in active, healthful toil; hence we say labour is honourable. And if prescribed and honourable in the social world, much more so is its relation to the religion of Jesus. He would have no idlers in His kingdom. The idea of our text is that of a servant diligently engaged with his work. Now this, you know, is not the case with all; by some it is done partially, sluggishly, grudgingly, fitfully; but the character here described is supposed to recognize his obligation, without which no one will prove a faithful servant; to carry out his obligations with perseverance, feeling that every day has its claim, and every hour its demand; and further, seeking his Masters approbation, and thus making his labour his delight, as will always be the case when the smile of approbation is felt to be a coveted reward and a gratifying recompense. This we have described as an honourable position, and contrast justifies the representation. How unlike the trifler and the profligate is the course of the faithful servant!
2. Such a character is honourable in the unprejudiced estimate of the world. To whom do we look back with reverence and esteem? To the men who lived solely for selfish ends, either that they might amass a fortune or obtain a name? or to those who spent their all in riotous living? Oh no, they have passed into a silence as complete as the destruction they have secured, or are remembered only as warnings to others to avoid their folly and escape their doom. It is the patriot toiling or suffering for his countrys good. A Howard or a Fry risking the infection of disease in their efforts to alleviate the sufferings or restrain the progress of guilt--the humble, devoted instructor of youthful ignorance--the faithful pastor--the sanctified intellect--the self-denying philanthropist--these are they whom the world, with all its evils, yet delights to honour--whose names are embalmed in fragrant recollection, who are looked upon as men who are held up for the admiring imitation of succeeding generations--these, the servants diligently and faithfully engaged in their work, are the lights of the world and the salt of the earth.
3. Such characters are honourable in the approving representations of Gods own Word.
II. CONSIDER THE BLESSEDNESS WITH WHICH SUCH COURSE SHALL BE CROWNED. Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing.
1. Here we are referred to a solemn event, the coming of the Master.
2. And yet further, the form of our text suggests to us the uncertainty of the mode and the moment of the Masters arrival. Uncertainty--not with Him, for known unto God are all things from the foundation of the world, but uncertainty as respects ourselves; the moment is hastening on, but we know it not--the mode is arranged and fixed, but it is not revealed. Nor can any careful induction of facts lead us to any reliable conclusion as to what awaits us--under what circumstances, or at what time, the Master will come to us. Sometimes we see the servant left to toil on through the whole extent of the wilderness, like Joshua and Caleb, while others enter the promised land in the springtide of their youth or in the full yet undecayed maturity of advanced years: wearisome sickness sometimes makes the exhausted traveller cry, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, while others, spared the struggle and the dying strife, drop the coil of mortality and soar away on more than eagles wings, and find themselves at rest. None, none can tell the hour or foresee the mode by which he shall be summoned to the final interview, yet the event with all its details is determined and known to Him in whom we live and move and have our being. The time is settled when, by the slow process of decay, or suddenly without previous notice, amid scenes of pleasure, the occupations of business, or in the solitude of retirement, we shall hear the Masters voice, and be called to appear before Him. (Henry Madgin.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv47, 49, 50, 51 47, 48. That servant, which knew his lord's will.…
47, 48. That servant, which knew his lord's will. This is the wilfully disobedient servant. The man who sins in the face of knowledge is such a servant. His neglect of known duty shall aggravate his punishment.
He that knew not. The man who sinned in ignorance shall have lighter punishment. Certainly degrees of punishment for degrees of guilt are taught. All will not be punished alike.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv41, 49 Luk_12:41. Then Peter said.—The high reward promised, rather than…
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk_12:41. Then Peter said.—The high reward promised, rather than the duty enjoined, was in Peter’s thoughts, and involved a certain measure of danger against which Christ warns him. It is noticeable that his question is not answered directly, but by implication. “Jesus continues His teaching as if He took no account of Peter’s question; but in reality He gives such a turn to the warning which follows about watchfulness, that it includes the precise answer to the question” (Godet). Cf. chap. Luk_19:25-26; Joh_14:22-23, for a similar mode of answering questions. The reply of Christ is virtually that the larger the powers and opportunities entrusted to any servant, the greater is the degree of watchfulness which he needs to exercise, lest he should either neglect or abuse them.
Read full note →
Luk_12:42. Portion of meat.—Cf. the description of the duties of presbyters, or elders, in Act_20:28.
Luk_12:44. Ruler over all.—Probably referring to the history of Joseph (Gen_39:4).
Luk_12:46. Cut him in sunder.—I.e., put him to death in this manner. Cf. 1Ch_20:3; Dan_2:5. Unbelievers.—Mat_24:51 has “hypocrites.”
Luk_12:47. Prepared not himself.—Rather, “made not ready”—i.e., the things required (R.V.).
Luk_12:48. But he that knew not.—The justice of the procedure is not quite so obvious in this case as in the preceding. “Such a servant cannot remain unpunished—not because he has not obeyed his Lord’s will (for that was unknown to him), but because he has done that for which he deserved to be punished” (Meyer). Ask the more.—I.e., than from others to whom less has been entrusted. Cf. with the teaching of this passage Rom_2:12-15, in which the principle it states is applied to the Gentile world.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_12:41-49
Watching for the King.—There are many comings of the Son of Man before His coming in final judgment, and the nearer and smaller ones are themselves prophecies. So we do not need to settle the chronology of unfulfilled prophecy in order to get the full benefit of Christ’s teachings here. In its moral and spiritual effect on us, the uncertainty of the time of our going to Christ is nearly identical with the uncertainty of the time of His coming to us.
I. Watchfulness because of our ignorance of the time of His coming.—What is this watchfulness? It is, literally, wakefulness. We are beset by perpetual temptations to sleep, to spiritual drowsiness and torpor. Without continued effort our perception of the unseen realities, and our alertness for service, will be lulled to sleep. Christ bases His command on our ignorance of the time of His coming. It was His purpose that from generation to generation His servants should be kept in the attitude of expectation, as of an event that might come at any time, and must come at some time. The parallel uncertainty of the time of death, though not what is meant here, serves the same moral end, if rightly used, and is exposed to the same danger of being neglected, because of the very uncertainty, which ought to be one chief reason for keeping it ever in view. Any future event which combines these two things—absolute certainty that it will happen, and utter uncertainty when it will happen—ought to have power to insist on being remembered, at least till it is prepared for, and would have, if men were not so foolish. Christ’s coming would be often contemplated if it were more welcome. But what sort of servant is he who has no glow of gladness at the thought of meeting his lord? True Christians are “all them that have loved His appearing.”
II. The picture and reward of watchfulness.—It is to be observed that watchfulness is not mentioned in this portraiture of the watchful servant. It is pre-supposed as the basis and motive of his service. So we learn the double lesson, that the attitude of continual outlook for the Lord is needed if we are to discharge the tasks which He has set us, and that the true effect of watchfulness is to harness us to the car of duty. A Church or a soul which has ceased to be looking for Him will have let all its tasks drop from its drowsy hands, and will feel the power of other constraining motives of Christian service but faintly, as in a half-dream. On the other hand, true waiting for Him is best expressed in the quiet discharge of accustomed and appointed tasks. The right place for the servant to be found, when the Lord comes, is “so doing” as He commands, however secular the task may be. Observe, further, the interrogative form of the parable. The question is the sharp point which gives penetrating power, and suggests Christ’s high estimate of the worth and difficulty of such conduct, and sets us to ask for ourselves, “Lord, is it I?” The servant is “faithful,” inasmuch as he does his Lord’s will, and rightly uses the goods entrusted to him; and “wise,” inasmuch as he is “faithful.” For a single-hearted devotion to Christ is the parent of insight into duty, and the best guide to conduct; and whoever seeks only to be true to his lord in the use of his gifts and possessions, will not lack prudence to guide him in giving to each his food, and that in due season. Such faithfulness and wisdom (which are, at bottom, but two names for one course of conduct) find their motive in that watchfulness which works as ever in the great Taskmaster’s eye, and as ever keeping in view His coming, and its rendering account to Him. The reward is, that faithfulness in a narrower sphere leads to a wider. The reward for true work is more work, of nobler sort and on a grander scale. That is true for earth and for heaven. If we do His will here, we shall one day exchange the subordinate place of the steward for the authority of the ruler, and the toil of the servant for the joy of the Lord.
III. The picture and doom of the unwatchful servant.—This portrait presupposes that a long period will elapse before Christ comes. The dimming over of the expectation, and doubt of the firmness, of the promise is the natural product of the long time of apparent delay which the Church has had to encounter. It will cloud and depress the religion of later ages, unless there be constant effort to resist the tendency and to keep awake. It was an “evil” servant who said so in his heart. He was evil because he said it, and he said it because he was evil; for the yielding to sin and the withdrawal of love from Jesus dim the desire for His coming, and make the whisper that He delays a hope; while, on the other hand, the hope that He delays helps to open the sluices, and let sin flood the life. So an outburst of cruel masterfulness and of riotous sensuality is the consequence of the dimmed expectation. The corruptions of the Church, especially of its official members, are traced with sad and prescient hand in these foreboding words, which are none the less a prophecy because cast by His forbearing gentleness in the milder form of a supposition. The dreadful doom of the unwatchful servant is cast into a form of awful severity. The cruel punishment of sawing asunder is his. What concealed terror of retribution it signifies, we do not know. At all events, it shadows a dreadful retribution, which is not extinction, inasmuch as, in the next clause, we read that his portion—his lot, or that condition which belongs to him by virtue of his character—is with the unbelievers. That is not the punishment of unwatchfulness, but of what unwatchfulness leads to, if unawakened. Let these words of the King ring an alarm for us all, and rouse our sleepy souls to watch, as becomes the children of the day.—Maclaren.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_12:41-49
Luk_12:41. “Then Peter.”—This apostle was the one who afterwards most needed the admonition (Mat_26:41), and in so sad a manner forgot it. Those who stand in most danger are often slowest to profit by words of warning.
Luk_12:42. “Faithful and wise.”—Faithful comes before wise, because the true wisdom of the heart comes from faithfulness. Motives to faithfulness:—
I. Love.—Which is sufficient of itself.
II. But where love is defective, considerations of prudence—a salutary fear, which Christ here commends to us.
The portion of steward in the kingdom of God is—
I. One of honour.
II. One of usefulness.
III. One of responsibility.
Luk_12:43. “Blessed.”—I. He is already blessed in his deed.
II. It is a new and increased blessedness so to be found of his lord.
III. He is promised a high promotion, from a few things to many things.
Luk_12:45-48. Punishment of evildoers is here represented—
I. As no mere affectionate chastisement for the moral reformation of the erring, but as just retribution.
II. As varying in degree according to the guilt incurred—according to the measure of knowledge the servants had of their Lord’s will, and the measure of their disobedience.
Luk_12:45-46. Carelessness:—
I. Trusting to a longer delay of the Master.
II. The ease with which carelessness leads to unbridled insolence and dissoluteness.
III. The severe punishment of such carelessness.
Luk_12:45. Negligence.—Negligence leads to two great sins:—
I. Hardness and caprice towards others.
II. Slothfulness and wantonness as respects the servant himself.
Luk_12:46. A Divided Heart.—The heart of the negligent sinner is divided between the duty he owes and the vicious indulgences he is determined to have; his punishment corresponds to his fault—“will cut him in sunder.”
Answer to Peter’s Question.—It is not difficult for Peter to draw from these two pictures of the faithful and the unfaithful steward the answer to his question. Yes, watchfulness, with the fidelity which results from it, is a sacred duty for all believers, but it is still more incumbent upon those of them who are honoured with the special confidence of their Master, and charged with the superintendence of their fellow-servants, as Peter and the other apostles were shortly to be. Their fidelity would receive a glorious recompense; but their neglect would be esteemed still more culpable than that of others, and would draw upon them a severer chastisement.—Godet.
Luk_12:47. A Warning to Rulers in the Church.—It ought to be remembered that those who are appointed to govern the Church do not err through ignorance, but basely and wickedly defraud their Master of His right.—Calvin.
Ignorance no Excuse.—Ignorance does not free from condemnation; for—
1. If we seek to know God’s will, we may discover it.
2. Ignorance is always accompanied by gross and shameful negligence.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v49 Luk 12:49-53. “I came to send fire on the…
THE FIERY BAPTISM
Luk 12:49-53. “I came to send fire on the earth, and what do I wish if it is already kindled?” This is none other than the fiery baptism of Pentecost, which Jesus came to send on the earth, thus inaugurating a new era in the kingdom of grace. “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it is perfected!” Here is an allusion to the baptism of blood which awaited Him on Calvary. “Do you think that I came to send peace on the earth? I tell you, Nay, but division; for there shall be five in one house divided; two against three, and three against two shall be divided; the father against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law.” You see here, from the connection, that division follows, as a logical sequence, the baptism of fire. When people get sanctified wholly, they become out-and-out for God, who leads them in different ways, pursuant to His blessed will. Consequently, division will be the result. There is only one way to have harmony, and that is for all to get the fiery baptism. The grip of Satan is so tight that he is almost certain to hold some of the members of a family or a Church. In that case there will always be division, as holiness can not harmonize with carnality.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv43, 49 Luk 12:37, Luk 12:43 - Luk 12:44.
Luke
SERVANTS AND STEWARDS HERE AND HEREAFTER
Read full note →
Luk 12:37, Luk 12:43 - Luk 12:44.
You will, of course, observe that these two passages are strictly parallel in form. Our Lord evidently intends them to run side by side, and to be taken together. The divergences are as significant and instructive as the similarities, and the force of these will be best brought out by just recalling, in a sentence or two, the occasion for the utterance of the second of the two passages which I have taken for my text. When our Lord had finished His previous address and exhortations, Peter characteristically pushed his oar in with the question, ‘Do these commandments refer to us, the Apostles, or to all,’ the whole body of disciples? Our Lord admits the distinction, recognises in His answer that the ‘us,’ the Twelve, were nearer Christ than the general mass of His followers, and answers Peter’s question by reiterating what He has been saying in a slightly different form. He had spoken before about servants. Now He speaks about ‘stewards,’ because the Apostles did stand in that relation to the other disciples, as being slaves indeed, like the rest of the household, but slaves in a certain position of authority, by the Master’s appointment, and charged with providing the nourishment which, of course, means the religious instruction, of their fellow-servants.
So, notice that the first benediction is upon the ‘servants,’ the second is upon the servants who are ‘stewards.’ The first exhortation requires that when the Master comes He shall find the servants watching; the second demands that when He comes He shall find the stewards doing their work. The first promise of reward gives the assurance that the watching servants shall be welcomed into the house, and be waited on by the Master himself; the second gives the assurance that the faithful steward shall be promoted to higher work. We are all servants, and we are all, if we are Christian men, stewards of the manifold grace of God.
So, then, out of these two passages thus brought together, as our Lord intended that they should be, we gather two things: the twofold aspect of life on earth-watchfulness and work; and the twofold hope of life in heaven-rest and rule. ‘Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching.’ ‘Blessed is that steward whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find’-not merely watching, but-’so doing.’
I. The twofold attitude here enjoined.
The first idea in watchfulness is keeping awake; and the second is looking out for something that is coming. Both these conceptions are intertwined in both our Lord’s use of the metaphor of the watching servant, and in the echoes of it which we find abundantly in the Apostolic letters. The first thing is to keep ourselves awake all through the soporific night, when everything tempts to slumber. Even the wise virgins, with trimmed lamps and girt loins, do in some degree succumb to the drowsy influences around them, and like the foolish ones, slumber, though the slumbers of the two classes be unlike. Christian people live in the midst of an order of things which tempts them to close the eyes of their hearts and minds to all the real and unseen glories above and around them, and that might be within them, and to live for the comparatively contemptible and trivial things of this present. Just as when a man sleeps, he loses his consciousness of solid external realities, and passes into a fantastic world of his own imaginations, which have no correspondence in external facts, and will vanish like
‘The baseless fabric of a dream,
If but a cock shall crow,’
so the men who are conscious only of this present life and of the things that are seen, though they pride themselves on being wide awake, are, in the deepest of their being, fast asleep, and are dealing with illusions which will pass and leave nought behind, as really as are men who lie dreaming upon couches, and fancy themselves hard at work. Keep awake; that is the first thing; which, being translated into plain English, points just to this, that unless we make a dead lift of continuous effort to keep firm grasp of God and Christ, and of all the unseen magnificences that are included in these two names, as surely as we live we shall lose our hold upon them, and fall into the drugged and diseased sleep in which so many men around us are plunged. It sometimes seems to one as if the sky above us were raining down narcotics upon us, so profoundly are the bulk of men unconscious of realities, and befooled by the illusions of a dream.
Keep yourselves awake first, and then let the waking, wide-opened eye, be looking forward. It is the very differentia, so to speak, the characteristic mark and distinction of the Christian notion of life, that it shifts the centre of gravity from the present into the future, and makes that which is to come of far more importance than that which is, or which has been. No man is living up to the height of his Christian responsibilities or privileges unless there stands out before him, as the very goal and aim of his whole life, what can never be realised until he has passed within the veil, and is at rest in the ‘secret place of the Most High.’ To live for the future is, in one aspect, the very definition of a Christian.
But the text reminds us of the specific form which that future anticipation is to take. It is not for us, as it is for men in the world, to fix our hopes for the future on abstract laws of the progress of humanity, or the evolution of the species, or the gradual betterment of the world, and the like. All these may be true: I say nothing about them. But what we have to fill our future with is that ‘that same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go.’ It is much to be lamented that curious chronological speculations have so often discredited that great central hope of the Church, which is properly altogether independent of them; and that, because people have got befogged in interpreting such symbols as beasts, and horses, and trumpets, and seals, and the like, the Christian Church as a whole should so feebly be holding by that great truth, without which, as it seems to me, the truth which many of us are tempted to make the exclusive one, loses half its significance. No man can rightly understand the whole contents of the blessed proclamation, ‘Christ has come,’ unless he ends the sentence with ‘and Christ will come.’ Blessed is ‘that servant whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching.’
Of course I need not remind you that much for which that second coming of the Lord is precious, and an object of hope to the world and the Church, is realised by the individual in the article of death. Whether Christ comes to the world or I go to Christ, the important thing is that there result union and communion, the reign of righteousness and peace, the felicities of the heavenly state. And so, dear brethren, just because of the uncertainty that drapes the future, and which we are often tempted to make a reason for dismissing the anticipation of it from our minds, we ought the more earnestly to give heed that we keep that end ever before us, and whether it is reached by His coming to us, or our going to Him, anticipate, by the power of realising faith grasping the firm words of Revelation, the unimaginable, and-until it is experienced-the incommunicable blessedness revealed in these great, simple words, ‘So shall we ever be with the Lord.’
But, then, look at the second of the aspects of Christian duty which is presented here, that watchfulness is to lead on to diligent work.
The temptation for any one who is much occupied with the hope of some great change and betterment in the near future is to be restless and unable to settle down to his work, and to yield to distaste of the humdrum duties of every day. If some man that kept a little chandler’s shop in a back street was expecting to be made a king to-morrow, he would not be likely to look after his poor trade with great diligence. So we find in the Apostle Paul’s second letter-that to the Thessalonians-that he had to encounter, as well as he could, the tendency of hope to make men restless, and to insist upon the thought-which is the same lesson as is taught us by the second of our texts-that if a man hoped, then he had with quietness to work and eat his own bread, and not be shaken in mind.
‘Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing.’ It may seem humble work to serve out hunches of bread and pots of black broth to the family of slaves, when the steward is expecting the coming of the master of the house, and his every nerve is tingling with anticipation. But it is steadying work, and it is blessed work. It is better that a man should be found doing the homeliest duty as the outcome of his great expectations of the coming of his Master, than that he should be fidgeting and restless and looking only at that thought till it unfits him for his common tasks. Who was it who, sitting playing a game of chess, and being addressed by some scandalised disciple with the question, ‘What would you do if Jesus Christ came, and you were playing your game?’ answered, ‘I would finish it’? The best way for a steward to be ready for the Master, and to show that he is watching, is that he should be ‘found so doing’ the humble task of his stewardship. The two women that were squatting on either side of the millstone, and helping each other to whirl the handle round in that night were in the right place, and the one that was taken had no cause to regret that she was not more religiously employed. The watchful servant should be a working servant.
II. And now I have spent too much time on this first part of my discourse; so I must condense the second. Here are two aspects of the heavenly state, rest and rule.
‘Verily I say unto you, He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.’ I do not know that there is a more wonderful promise, with more light lying in its darkness, in all Scripture than that. Jesus Christ continues in the heavens to be found in ‘the form of a servant.’ As here He girded Himself with the towel of humiliation in the upper room, so there He girds Himself with the robes of His imperial majesty, and uses all His powers for the nourishment and blessedness of His servants. His everlasting motto is, ‘I am among you as one that serveth.’ On earth His service was to wash His disciples’ feet; in heaven the pure foot contracts no stain, and needs no basin: but in heaven He still serves, and serves by spreading a table, and, as a King might do at some ceremonial feasts, waiting on the astonished guests.
I say nothing about all the wonderful ideas that gather round that familiar but never-to-be-worn-into-commonplace emblem of the feast. Repose, in contrast with the girded loins and the weary waiting of the midnight watch; nourishment, and the satisfaction of all desires; joy, society-all these things, and who knows how much more, that we shall have to get there to understand, lie in that metaphor, ‘Blessed is that servant’ who is served by the Master, and nourished by His presence?
But modern popular presentations of the future life have far too predominantly dwelt upon that side of it. It is a wonderful confession of ‘the weariness, the fever, and the fret,’ the hunger and loneliness of earthly experience, that the thought of heaven as the opposite of all these things should have almost swallowed up the other thought with which our Lord associates it here. He would not have us think only of repose. He unites with that representation, so fascinating to us weary and heavy-laden, the other of administrative authority. He will set him ‘over all that he hath.’
The steward gets promotion. ‘On twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel’-these are to be the seats, and that is to be the occupation of the Twelve. ‘Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things.’ The relation between earthly faithfulness and heavenly service is the same in essence as that between the various stages of our work here. The reward for work here is more work; a wider field, greater capacities. And what depths of authority, of new dignity, of royal supremacy, lie in those solemn and mysterious words, I know not-’He will set him over all that he hath.’ My union with Christ is to be so close as that all His is mine and I am master of it. But at all events this we can say, that faithfulness here leads to larger service yonder; and that none of the aptitudes and capacities which have been developed in us here on earth will want a sphere when we pass yonder.
So let watchfulness lead to faithfulness, and watchful faithfulness and faithful watchfulness will lead to repose which is activity, and rule which is rest.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v40 Son of man
Son of man
(See Scofield "Mat 8:20").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv41, 47, 49 Peter’s question and the Lord’s reply:
Peter’s question and the Lord’s reply:
v. 41. Then Peter said unto Him, Lord, speakest Thou this parable unto us, or even to all?
Read full note →
v. 42. And 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?
v. 43. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing-.
v. 44. Of a truth I say unto you that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
v. 45. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men-servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken,
v. 46. the 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 under, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
See Mat 24:45-51. Peter interrupted the Lord with the question whether the parable, and therefore also its lesson, was meant for the disciples only or for all the people present. While Jesus did not answer directly, the continuation of the discourse made it plain that He had reference mainly to His disciples. The believers should be ready at all times, they should be examples of watchfulness for all men. The Lord’s parable is a fine bit of vivid description: A servant selected for a position of special trust by his master, given the administration of the entire household, which includes, above all, the dealing out of due portions of food; the faithful servant found engaged in this service upon the return of the master and rewarded far beyond his deserts, receiving the charge of all the goods of the master; the unfaithful servant trusting in the further delay of the master, by which he will gain time for his wicked deeds, beating the slaves of both sexes, taking their portion of the food for himself, to gorge himself to gluttony and drunkenness; the unexpected return of the master at an unusual hour; the awful punishment meted out to the scoundrel. The faithful servant is a type of the true disciple of Christ, especially of the faithful pastor. Those that serve Christ in their fellow-men will rule with Christ in the world to come. And the pastors that have given to every one of their fellow-servants their due portion of the Word of God, and have sought only to minister after His great example, they will be rewarded with mercy far beyond all hopes and understanding. But the faithless disciples, that lived in careless security, that believed in enjoying life, that refused to take part in the duties of charity toward their neighbor, and even were guilty of cruelty to their fellow-men, they will receive their portion with the wicked in eternal damnation. Above all is this true of hirelings that do not care for the flock of Christ, but try to gain from them what they want for a life of ease, that neglect the preaching of the Gospel, that feed the souls with the husks of human wisdom. They will receive the greater damnation.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv41, 45, 47, 49, 51 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
In verse 42, Jesus begins to tell another parable.
Read full note →
General Information:
In verse 41, there is a break in the story line as Peter asks Jesus a question about the previous parable.
Who then is ... right time?
Jesus uses a question to answer Peter's question indirectly. He expected those who wanted to be faithful managers to understand that the parable was about them. AT: "I said it for everyone who is ... right time." (See: Rhetorical Question)
the faithful and wise manager
Jesus tells another parable about how servants should be faithful while they wait for their master to return. (See: Parables)
whom his lord will set over his other servants
"whom his lord puts in charge of his other servants"
Blessed is that servant
"How good it is for that servant"
whom his lord finds doing that when he comes
"if his lord finds him doing that work when he comes back"
Truly I say to you
This expression means they should pay special attention to what he is about to say.
will set him over all his property
"will put him in charge of all his property"
translationWords
Peter
lord
parable
faithful
wise
manager
servant
bless
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv40, 42, 44, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 53 12:40 the Son of Man will come: See “The…
12:40 the Son of Man will come: See “The Son of Man” Theme Note.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.