The Watchful Servants^(A)

³⁵ “You must keep your belts fastened and your lamps burning. ³⁶ Be like people who are waiting for their master to return from a wedding. As soon as he arrives and knocks, they will open the door for him. ³⁷ How blessed are those servants whom the master finds watching for him when he comes! I tell all of you^[a] with certainty, he himself will put on an apron, make them sit down at the table, and go around and serve them. ³⁸ How blessed they will be if their master^[b] comes in the middle of the night or near dawn^[c] and finds them awake!^{[d] 39} But be sure of this: if the homeowner had known at what time the thief were coming, he would have watched and^[e] would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰ So be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at a time when you don’t expect him.”