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“Keep on the Watch”The Watchtower—2000 | January 15
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Illustrating the Need to Be Watchful
9, 10. (a) How would you summarize Jesus’ illustration of the slaves who waited for their master to return from his marriage? (b) Why might waiting for their master have been difficult for the slaves? (c) Why was it beneficial for the slaves to be patient?
9 In emphasizing the need to be watchful, Jesus compared his disciples to slaves awaiting their master’s return from his marriage. They knew that he would return on a certain night—but at what hour? During the first watch of the night? The second? The third? They did not know. Jesus said: “If [the master] arrives in the second watch, even if in the third, and finds them thus [watchful], happy are they!” (Luke 12:35-38) Just imagine the anticipation of these slaves. Every sound, every flickering shadow would surely heighten their expectation: ‘Could this be our master?’
10 What if the master arrived during the second watch of the night, which extended from about nine o’clock till midnight? Would all the slaves, including those who had worked hard since early morning, be poised to greet him, or would some be asleep? What if the master returned during the third watch of the night—the period from midnight till about three in the morning? Would some of the slaves have become discouraged, even disgruntled at their master’s seeming delay?a Only those who were found watching when the master arrived would be pronounced happy. To them the words of Proverbs 13:12 would certainly apply: “Expectation postponed is making the heart sick, but the thing desired is a tree of life when it does come.”
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“Keep on the Watch”The Watchtower—2000 | January 15
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a The master had made no appointment with his slaves. Hence, he did not have to account for his comings and goings, nor did he owe his slaves an explanation for any seeming delay.
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