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the flood that took them away. This situation, says Jesus, will be repeated at the Parousia of
the Son of Man.
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of
Man. & they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came
and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of
Man.
Jesus provided the meaning of this parable to his hearers, so there can be no doubt:
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord
will come.
92
Matthew 24:46  47 (NIV)
93
Matthew 24:48, 50, 51 (NIV)
94
Matt 24:36 (NIV)
© 2007 Doug Mason 33 doug_mason1940@yahoo.com.au
Literalist Exegesis of the Parable at Matthew 24:45  51
Unprepared for the unannounced thief (Matt 24: 43  44)
Understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of
night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have
let his house be broken into.
Jesus provided the meaning of this parable to his hearers:
So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour
when you do not expect him.
The owner of the house received no warning of the time.
The faithful servant might be deceived (Matt 24:45  51)
In this parable, Jesus moves his attention to believers, and tells his hearers that even these
must maintain their readiness for the coming Son of Man.
Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in
charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the
proper time?
Whereas the previous parables relate to the general populace, Jesus now speaks of a person
who has bonded to him as his servant. The ordinary sense of the word  servant and of the
sense given in the cited passages is that of any individual, not of a set group of individuals.
Jesus explains that it will be good for this servant should he be doing the right things when the
master returns.
It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he
returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
In the previous parables, Jesus says  I am coming, whether you are ready or not . In this
parable the faithful servant says  I am always ready, whether you are coming or not .
But, explains Jesus, if that servant says his Master delays his coming and acts accordingly, the
servant will find the Master comes while he is not ready and unaware.
But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself,  My master is
staying away a long time, and he then begins to beat his fellow servants
and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come
on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.
The fate of that servant is sealed forever with the hypocrites.
[The Master] will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the
hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
To the world, the servant says Jesus is coming, but the servant s thoughts and actions show
him to be a hypocrite.
This parable says it is possible for people who are aware that their Master is coming, to fall
away and be lost.
Unexpected arrival of the bridegroom (Matt 25: 1  13)
This parable is about the arrival of a bridegroom. The long wait by virgins drags into the
night, then at a time when he is not expected, the bridegroom arrives. Those virgins who
made preparations for the long wait are invited to the feast.
The parable provides an object lesson for the modern reader. The bridegroom is said to arrive
at  midnight . For the Jews listening to Jesus words and to the Jews of the primitive church,
the day ended and began with the setting of the sun. The points about  midnight are:
It is a time when people are asleep
© 2007 Doug Mason 34 doug_mason1940@yahoo.com.au
Literalist Exegesis of the Parable at Matthew 24:45  51
It is not a time when a bridegroom would be expected to arrive.
Those influenced by the prophetic speculators of the 19th century make much of the fact that
the bridegroom arrives at midnight, and they relate this to the contemporary end of a day at
midnight. This is irrelevant. The message of the parable is that the bridegroom comes when
people are asleep, and when he comes at this unexpected hour, some will be ready, others will
not. Nothing more is intended, nothing less.
So the explanation given by Jesus to this parable is:
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
The Governing Body actually concurs:
The purpose of the illustration (parable) is plainly shown in Matthew
25:13 95
Employing the master s investments (Matt 25: 14  30)
This parable demonstrates that  being ready means to be employing that which God has
invested. God has invested in each person according to their ability, and he requires his
investment to be employed by the recipient.  To be ready does not mean hiding God s
investment.
The Judgment scene: Sheep and Goats (Matt 25:31  46)
The event described just before this series of parables was the Final Judgment at the glorious
coming of the Son of Man. This parable of the separation of the sheep and the goats returns to
that scene:
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he
will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 96
This parable draws on an experience his hearers would have been very familiar with. While
previous parables pleaded  be ready at all times , this parable of the Sheep and the Goats
explains what  to be ready really means.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you
gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I
was in prison and you came to visit me. 97
And these people performed these acts selflessly, unaware of Christ s enduring interest.
95
Insight on the Scriptures (1988), WTBTS, Vol 1, pp. 1183
96
Matthew 25: 31 (NIV)
97
Matthew 25: 35  36 (NIV)
© 2007 Doug Mason 35 doug_mason1940@yahoo.com.au
Literalist Exegesis of
the Parable at Luke 12:42  48
The parable of the  Faithful and Wise servant appears at Luke 12: 42  46. In Luke s
Gospel, the Olivet Discourse appears at chapter 21. This means that the parable at Luke
appears in a context that is totally different from the context in Matthew.
Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they
were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples
saying:  Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy.98
Jesus continued speaking to his disciples until someone in the crowd called out to him. Jesus [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]