Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 18 Aug 2013
24:42 Therefore, stay alert,
because y’all don’t know what day [hour] your Lord is coming.
24:43 But that is [something] y’all should keep in mind,
because if the head of the household had perceived in which night-watch the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
24:44 By the same token, y’all also must keep becoming prepared men,
because the Son of Man is coming in which hour you are not suspecting.
24:45 Who then is the faithful and smart servant whom his master will stand in His stead over His household staff to give the food to them in a timely way?
24:46 That servant will be blessed who, when his master comes, He will find him doing thus.
24:47 Really, I’m telling y’all that He will stand him in His stead over all of His possessions!
24:48 But if that bad servant happens to say in his heart, ‘My master is taking His time in coming,’
24:49 and he begins to beat up his fellow-servants and to eat and drink with the drunks,
24:50 the master of that servant will arrive
during a day in which he is not anticipating [it] - and during an hour which he does not know,
24:51 and He will cut him in two,
and he will set his district to be with the hypocrites – wailing and gnashing of teeth will be there.
Many years ago, my father gave a picture book, containing a story by Max Lucado to my oldest son. The title was, The Children of the King. I’d like to recount the gist of that story to you as an introduction to this important teaching of Christ:
A long time ago, there was a kingdom with a great king and many villages. This king had a special concern for orphans, so one day, a letter from the king arrived at the home of some orphan children whose mother and father had just died. It said to get ready because the king was going to come and take the children to live in his castle with him!
All the children were thrilled at this news and began to think what they could do to prepare for the king. The oldest boy could read, so he decided to read as much as he could so that he could impress the king with great scholarship. The next girl could sing like a bird, so she decided to spent all she had to buy a guitar and become a great musician to impress the king. The youngest girl was too little to read or play guitar; she spent her days at the village entrance greeting the people as they came in and out, asking how their families were doing, and offering to water and brush their horses for them.
One day the king arrived, but nobody recognized him because he came disguised as a merchant. When the little orphan girl at the gate saw the new traveler arrive, she offered, as always, to take care of his donkey and tell him the best places to see in town and asked him why he had come to her village. He said that he had come to pick up some orphan children. “But you don’t look like a king!” she exclaimed. “Well,” he said, “People act funny around me when I’m out and about in my royal robes, so I prefer to dress like a businessman so I am treated normally.” The king then asked her to take care of his donkey while he went to get the other orphans, and she cheerfully obeyed, even though it was a smelly job.
After a while, the king came back. “Where is my brother and sister?” asked the little orphan girl. “Well,” said the king, “your brother was busy reading and did not answer the door when I knocked, and your sister was giving a concert, so I stayed to hear her, but she did not want to talk to the audience afterward. But how about you? I see my donkey is all freshened up. Are you ready to ride home with me now? And so the little girl who was once a poor orphan lived happily ever after as a princess.
REVIEW: The Disciples asked a couple of questions in v.3 about when the temple buildings will be destroyed, when Jesus will come as Messiah, when the end of the age will be, and what signs will tip people off as to the fact that these things are happening. In the first sermons in this series, we recognized that the events Jesus described have characterized not only life in the first century and life in our century, but have been ongoing throughout all of Christian history. We saw the importance of enduring to the end by keeping our focus on Jesus, loving others, and preaching the gospel. We have seen how the judgment that fell upon the city of Jerusalem in 70 AD was similar to times throughout history when God punished individual nations, and is typical of the way Christ will judge the world at its end. Now we turn to the practicalities of how to live in anticipation of Jesus’ second coming. The first command is to “keep watchKJV,NIV/ stay awakeESV.”
24:42 Therefore, stay alert, because y’all don’t know what day [hour] your Lord is coming.
Γρηγορειτε ουν ‘οτι ουκ οιδατε ποιᾳ ημερᾳ[1] ‘ο κυριος ‘υμων ερχεται.
24:43 But that is [something] y’all should keep in mind, because[2] if the head of the household had perceived in which night-watch the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
Εκεινο δε γινωσκετε ‘οτι ει ηδει ‘ο οικοδεσποτης ποια φυλακη ‘ο κλεπτης ερχεται εγρηγορησεν αν και ουκ αν ειασεν διορυγηναι[3] την οικιαν αυτου
24:44 By the same token, y’all also must keep becoming prepared men, because the Son of Man is coming in which hour you are not suspecting.
Δια τουτο και ‘υμεις γινεσθε ‘ετοιμοι ‘οτι ᾗ ‘ωρα ου δοκειτε ‘ο ‘υιος του ανθρωπου ερχεται.
24:45 Who then is the faithful and smart servant whom his master will stand in His stead over His household staff to give the food to them in a timely way?
Τίς αρα εστιν ‘ο πιστος δουλος και φρονιμος ‘ον κατεστησεν ‘ο κυριος [αυτου[10]] επι της θεραπειας[11] αυτου του διδοναι[12] αυτοις την τροφην εν καιρω;
24:46 That servant will be blessed who, when his master comes, He will find him doing thus.
Μακαριος ‘ο δουλος εκεινος ‘ον ελθων ‘ο κυριος αυτου ‘ευρησει ποιουντα ‘ουτως.
24:47 Really, I’m telling y’all that He will stand him in His stead over all of His possessions!
Αμην λεγω ‘υμιν ‘οτι επι πασιν τοις ‘υπαρχουσιν αυτου καταστησει αυτον.
24:48 But if that bad servant happens to say in his heart, ‘My master is taking His time in coming [he is delayingKJV],’
Εαν δε ειπη ‘ο κακος δουλος εκεινος εν τη καρδια αυτου Χρονιζει ‘ο κυριος μου ελθειν[14],
24:49 and he begins to beat up his fellow-servants and to eat and drink with the drunks
και αρξηται τυπτειν τους συνδουλους [15] εσθιειν δε και πινειν μετα των μεθυοντων,
24:50 the master of that servant will arrive during a day in which he is not anticipating [it] - and during an hour which he does not know,
‘ηξει ‘ο κυριος του δουλου εκεινου εν ‘ημερα ᾗ ου προσδοκα και εν ‘ωρα ᾗ ου γινωσκει,
24:51 and He will cut him in two, and he will set his district to be with the hypocrites – wailing and gnashing of teeth will be there.
και διχοτομησει αυτον και το μερος αυτου μετα των ‘υποκριτων θησει εκει εσται ‘ο κλαυθμος και ‘ο βρυγμος των οδοντων.
So, “Who is that faithful and wise servant of the Lord?” (v.45) Are you?
[1] The Byzantine and Textus Receptus (T.R.) editions of the Greek New Testament (GNT) read ωρᾳ “hour” (thus the KJV), but the earliest-known manuscript with “hour” instead of “day” dates to the 8th Century, and all other manuscripts predating it (א, B, C, D, W) – as well as some others after it (notably Δ Θ) read “day” (thus the NASB, NIV, ESV, NET)
[2] The Louw & Nida GNT tagging project tagged the hoti in v.42 “because” and the hoti in v.43 “that,” and that is the sense in which the KJV, NKJ, ESV, NAS, and NIV translate this verse. But it doesn’t make sense to me to render it thus: “Stay alert because you don’t know, but remember that if you did know you would have been alert.”
[3] This is the reading of the Patriarchal, Majority, and Textus Receptus editions of the Greek New Testament (GNT). Critical editions follow the divergent reading of a few ancient uncial manuscripts (א, D, L, and 067), which is hardly adequate in my opinion. That divergent reading is διορυχθηναι, a more regular spelling of the same word, with no difference in meaning.
[4] The root verb ginwskw was in v.32 “you know it is summer,” v.33 “you know (or “keep knowing”) that He is near,” v.39 “they did not know until the flood came,” and now v.43 “keep this in mind” – and also in v.50 “will arrive…in an hour he does not know.” The other verb translated “know” in this passage is oidate, literally “to see/perceive” shows up in a synonymous way in v.36 “no one knows the day or the hour” and v. 42 “you do not perceive what hour.”
[5] Roman military practice divided the nighttime into four shifts in which watchmen would take turns staying alert.
[6] Or, more properly to the context, the wall which the thief had breached in order to get in
[7] The Greek grammar, ei + Pluperfect in the protasis and Aorist apodosis, indicates that it is not a true condition
[8] Chrysostom appears to have come to the same interpretation: “His meaning is like this: if the common sort of men knew when they were to die, they would surely strive earnestly at that hour. In order therefore that they may strive, not at that hour only, therefore He tells them not either the common hour, or the hour of each, desiring them to be ever looking for this, that they may be always striving.”
[9] Hendriksen interpreted the Present tenses here and in v.42 as “be constantly on the alert… ready at all times.”
[10] Because the oldest-known Greek manuscripts (א, B, D) do not have this possessive pronoun, Critical editions of the GNT also do not include it. However, the vast majority of Greek manuscripts copied later all include this word, thus it is in the Patriarchal and TR editions. Because the definite article before the word “lord/master” can be interpreted as a possessive pronoun, the meaning is not changed. The NASB and ESV, which follow the Critical text, and the KJV and NKJV which follow the T.R. both read “his master/lord.” The NIV stands alone in rendering it “the master.” Of course, if the master were not the servant’s master, the story would be nonsense, so the meaning is not changed.
[11] The majority of Greek manuscripts read θεραπειας “house servants,” supported by two ancient witnesses (D, 0133). There is, however, a large number of ancient Greek manuscripts which use the more general word oiketeias “household” (B, L, W, Δ, Θ, 067, 0204, with א agreeing with the same Greek root, and the Latin versions also in agreement). It’s a hard call, but since the majority does have a witness which reaches back to the same century as the earliest documents with the variant, and since it is more specific in meaning and the meaning fits better, I decided to side with the majority. Curiously, the KJV, which followed the T.R., translated it more along the lines of the Critical editions, and the NIV, which generally followed the Critical editions, translated it more along the lines of the Majority! It stands to reason that the slave is not put in authority over the family members in the household, though.
[12] The critical apparatus of Nestle-Aland (N-A) gives no reason why the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts was abandoned in favor of the Aorist spelling of this word (δουναι), so I kept the traditional text. The difference in meaning between an Aorist infinitive and a Present infinitive is too small to be significant, and all the standard English versions read the same: “to give.”
[13] Matthew Henry sums up my sentiments and those of other commentators succinctly when he wrote that this, “is applicable to all Christians, who are in profession and obligation God’s servants, but it seems especially intended as a waning to ministers…” His application is good: “Their work is to give not take… It is to give meat, not to give law… not the poison of false doctrines, not the stones of hard and unprofitable doctrines… It must be given in due season… day by day… whenever any opportunity offers itself…; when eternity comes it will be too late…”
[14] Because the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus omit this word, it does not appear in the Critical editions of the GNT, but it is in just about all the other Greek manuscripts known, including manuscripts dated within a century of א & B, and, in a rare departure from the Critical text, the NASB editors seem to agree with the Majority and include the word “coming.” The ESV changes the active verb into a passive, but follows the Critical editions, omitting the word “coming,” and the NIV invents a verb not even in the Greek text (“staying away”).
[15] Critical editions of the GNT insert the word αυτου (“his”) here, which is not in the Majority of Greek manuscripts. Neither the USB nor Nestle-Aland (N-A) Critical editions cite manuscript support for this in their critical apparatus, so I have relegated it to a footnote. It makes no difference in the meaning of this text, since the definite article can carry the force of a possessive. Note that the KJV, which did not follow the modern Critical text, still inserts the word “his.” Also, the Critical editions change the infinitives “to eat” and “to drink” in the traditional GNT to Subjunctives: “he might eat and he might drink,” which would make them parallel to the verb “begin” rather than parallel with the verb “to beat.” Hendriksen saw in the extra Subjunctives that gluttony and drunkenness were lifelong habits of this servant but that the beatings were only recently begun before the master returned and put a stop to them, but that seems to me to be reading more into the text than is there. Besides, no manuscript evidence is offered in the critical apparatus of the UBS or the N-A for this change, so I went with the Byzantine. (On “fellow-servants,” see Lk 12:45 τους παιδας και τας παιδισκας “the boy and girl servants.”)
[16] This is a different Greek word from the standard word for come.
[17] Although many commentators suggest that this is figurative language for a “severe whipping,” none seem to be able to demonstrate a Greek textual basis for that interpretation, so, although it is plausible, I am passing it by.