37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
Amazing! Those who are watching, waiting and ready for their Master, He will serve. Reclining at the table, donned with clothes of service, Jesus will wait on His servants. How like God to turn the order to such as this – the Master serving His servants! What greater love can be bestowed? I would certainly have to say that would be a most blessed position to be placed in!
The word translated “good” in the above verse is from the Greek word “Makarios” meaning: “Blessed, blissful. Biblically, one is pronounced blessed when God is present and involved in his life. The hand of God is at work directing all his affairs for a divine purpose, and thus, in a sense, such a person lives coram Deo, before the face of God. Blessedness is sharing in the life of God, being favorably affected and influenced by God which involves, among other things, participating in the kingdom, recompense and forgiveness.” The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible New Testament Lexical Aids.
So what is actually meant by watching? It is from the Greek word “Gregoreuo” meaning to arouse, arise. To watch, refrain from sleep. It denotes a mindfulness of threatening dangers which, with conscious earnestness and an alert mind, keeps one from all drowsiness and all slackening in the energy of faith and conduct. I am reminded of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when speaking to His drowsy disciples:
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. 41 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Matt 26:40-41 (NIV)
I wonder if He is saying this very thing to us on our “hour” watch in this time of His-story. “Watch” and “Pray”, Jesus tells us, “The Spirit is wiling but the body is weak”.
I love the words penned by David in Psalm 37. Filled with wonderful promises for those who belong to the Lord, it is replete with words such as wait, commit, trust, refrain and consider. The psalm in its entirety is worth the read yet the following gem found within it seals our point:
34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it. Psalms 37:34 (NIV)
Jesus and David were not the only ones in Scripture speaking out on watching and waiting for the Master’s return. Isaiah tells us:
18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)
Paul speaks of this in Romans:
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:22-25 (NIV)
Stating also in I Thessalonians:
13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words. 1 Thess 4:13-18 (NIV)
Jesus’ half brother James tells us:
7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. James 5:7-8 (NIV)
Believing Jesus’ return to be imminent gave these men greater impetus to watch and wait patiently. While no one knows the hour or the day of Christ’s return we are all called to live in this same prepared state of anticipation of His arrival.
“O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee. I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow, may richer, fuller be. O light that follow’st all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee. My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day, may brighter, fairer be. O joy that sleekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee. I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morning shall tearless be. O cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee. I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red, life that shall endless be.” George Matheson