Be in Readiness

³⁵ “^[a](A)Be dressed in ^(B)readiness, and keep your lamps lit. ³⁶ Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find ^(C)on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that ^(D)he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. ^38 (E)Whether he comes in the ^[b]second watch, or even in the ^[c]third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹ “^(F)But ^[d]be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be ^[e](G)broken into. ^40 (H)You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not ^[f]expect.”

⁴¹ Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or ^(I)to everyone else as well?” ⁴² And ^(J)the Lord said, “^(K)Who then is the faithful and sensible ^(L)steward, whom his master will put in charge of his ^[g]servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? ⁴³ Blessed is that ^(M)slave whom his ^[h]master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁴ Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵ But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master ^[i]will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; ⁴⁶ the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. ⁴⁷ And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will ^(N)receive many lashes, ⁴⁸ but the one who did not ^(O)know it, and committed deeds worthy of ^[j]a flogging, will receive but few. ^(P)From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.