Ready with Lamps Burning

Late at night, a household is still awake. The lamps are burning. The servants are dressed, belts fastened. And every few minutes, someone glances at the door.

Jesus is on his long journey toward Jerusalem. Crowds are following him in their thousands, so many that they are trampling on each other. He has been teaching his disciples not to worry about food and clothes, and not to cling to riches. Do not be afraid, little flock, he has said, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give to the poor. Store up treasure in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And then Jesus paints a picture of what it looks like to live with your heart in the right place.

“Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning.” In those days people wore long, loose robes. To work or run, you tucked the robe up into your belt. Girded loins meant: be dressed for action. And keep your lamps lit, so you are not fumbling in the dark when it is time to move. “And you yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks, they may open unto him immediately.” Weddings in those days could go on for days. No one knew when the master would leave the party. So the servants stay ready.

Then Jesus says something that must have made his listeners sit up. “Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he comes shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.” Picture it. The master comes home late, tired from the celebrations. And instead of saying, bring me my supper, he tucks up his own robe, sits his servants down at the table, and brings them food himself. In that world it was unthinkable. Masters did not serve servants. But this master does. “And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.”

Then Jesus changes the picture. Think of a homeowner, he says. If he had known what hour the thief would come, he would have stayed awake, and not let his house be broken into. Thieves do not send messages ahead. And then the point. “Be you therefore ready also. For the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not.” Peter immediately asks, Lord, is this story for us, or for everyone? And Jesus answers with another story, about a faithful and wise steward who looks after the household well while his master is away.

The lamps the servants kept burning were small clay oil lamps, about the size of a hand, with a hole on top for pouring olive oil and a spout at the front for a wick of linen or flax. Archaeologists have found thousands of them across Israel. A lamp like that would burn for a few hours, so keeping it lit through a long night meant refilling it and trimming the wick, again and again.

Ready with lamps burning. You can read it in Luke chapter twelve, verses thirty-five to forty. The master who serves his servants sounds a lot like Jesus himself, who at the Last Supper said, I am among you as one who serves. Christians believe the child born at Christmas will come again, and they wait for him like servants with their lamps lit and their hearts ready. So here is a question to carry with you. In Jesus' story the master serves his servants. How could you serve someone this Christmas the way Jesus serves us?