[it is] as a man gone out of the country, having left his house and given to his bondmen the authority, and to each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper that he should watch.
Jesus ends His prophecy with a picture. A master travels abroad, leaves his household to his servants, and everything turns on one word: watch.
Who is the man who goes away, and what does he leave behind?
Just before the Lord went to the cross, He told His disciples this parable. By this the Lord meant that He was going back to heaven. He was leaving His interests here in the hands of His own, whom He expects will be His servants. Each one will do his own particular work for his Master while he watches for His return.
The wording is exact, and it fits a Gospel about the Servant.
It does not say that He gives authority to every man; it says that He gives each one his work. This fits Mark exactly. Christ Himself was the great Servant. But now His service was past; He was going away, and taking the place of Lord on high. So He gives authority to His servants, and to each one his work — each in his due place. Notice, it is here not so much gifts as work.
Darby ties the house to the earth and to Jerusalem. But the command reaches beyond that first setting.
He left His house — we see that the earth and Jerusalem are in question. This is a picture of the way the Lord has left His disciples among the Jewish people. But what He said to them He says to all: Watch. This is the exhortation for us. We are called to wait for the Lord, not knowing when He will come back, in case He finds us sleeping.
The phrase leaves no one out.
Every man has had his work assigned. Do we each know what our work is? And are we doing it faithfully? Many of God's children have never thought seriously about what their own work is. The Master never intended idlers. "Slothful servant" is the condemnation of the wicked servant — the one who only professed to serve, and all the time did nothing with his master's goods. There is no one to whom the Master has not given something to do for Him. This is not necessarily preaching or any great public form of service. It is just as much the quiet unseen service at home — training children, visiting the sick, caring for the needy. Serving the Lord takes a thousand forms.
Authority and reward both come from the same place.
The servant gets his commission from his Master. He wants no other authorisation or commendation... He has authority from his Lord: that is enough. What will be the result? There will be a reward for all service rendered to Him by and by.
What does the word "porter" mean, and what kind of post was it?
In Scripture this word means doorkeeper. The Levites kept the doors of the temple: it was an honourable office.
Watching is not idle waiting. It means being found at your post at any hour.
The Lord is still the worker, now that He has gone up. In Mark 13 you find Him as one who has gone away. He has set each servant his work, and told the doorkeeper to watch. Then He comes back to see if each is at his post of service and watching — in the evening, at midnight, at the cock crowing, or in the morning. So the Lord's coming fits the gospel of His service — His own work, or that of His servants.
The command does not stop with the first disciples.
Christ's people are pictured as servants whose master has gone on a far journey. Before he left, he arranged everything for his household's good. The time of the master's return is unknown — but all are to be in constant readiness. By night and by day each one is to be at his post and awaiting his master's return. No one may treat this as a private or exclusive word. So our Lord ends by saying, "And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake."
- The Master left. The perfect Servant went back to heaven and took the place of Lord on high. He left His interests on earth in the hands of His own.
- He gave authority. Each servant's commission comes straight from Him. That is all the authority a servant needs, and a reward waits at the end.
- He gave work. Not gifts here, but work — a task for each servant. Much of it is quiet and unseen: the home, the children, the sick, the needy.
- He gave a door to guard. The porter is the doorkeeper, and Scripture treats that post as an honourable office, not a lesser one.
- He is coming back. He returns to see if each servant is at his post. And nobody is left out — what He says to one, He says to all: watch.
Watch therefore, for ye do not know when the master of the house comes evening, or midnight, or cock-crow, or morning;
The Lord names four watches of the night, one after another — not to fix a date, but to take away every excuse for sleeping through any of them. He speaks as an owner who has gone away and left His servants with the house, so the verse presses not "when?" but "where will He find me?"
The figure behind the verse is an owner who has gone on a journey and will return to what belongs to Him.
Notice the interests which Christ has here. He is going up to where He was before — to the Father's presence and joy. Yet here He presents Himself as having His house on earth. He leaves it for a time and comes back to it, to those He has entrusted with its work and authority while He is away. The master of the house comes back at an unknown hour, "in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning." It cannot be later than that, because the One spoken of here brings the day Himself. But with the uncertainty, watchfulness is a must: the true disciple must not be caught asleep.
The four names are the ordinary way of telling time after dark in that world.
Under the Romans there were four night watches. They matched the changes of the Roman guards. Each one lasted three hours, from sunset to sunrise. They were sometimes called evening, midnight, cock-crowing and morning.
Some writers press the four watches further. They read them as stages in the long night of the Lord's absence:
At first this looks like only a stirring call to watch for the Lord's return. But in our day we can see more than that in verse 35. The night is a picture of this whole age. It begins at the time of greatest light, the evening. Then the darkness sets in, deepening into the "midnight" of the middle ages. But then came the awakening of the Reformation, the time of cock-crowing. At last comes the morning, for which we are watching still.
The uncertainty is not a gap in the teaching. It is the teaching.
Mark 13:35 tells us to watch, because the hour of His coming is unknown. How could anyone watch for the Lord to come, if they knew He would not come until a certain time? On the face of it, the call to watch means the time is uncertain.
The watchers here are not idle onlookers. Each one has a job.
It does not say that He gives authority to every man, but "to each his work." This fits Mark exactly. Christ Himself was the great Servant. But now His service was past; He was going away, and taking the place of Lord on high. So He gives authority to His servants, and to every man his work, to each and all their due place. Note, it is here not so much gifts as work.
So watching becomes a habit of readiness, not a mood.
So everyone should always keep their work in such good order, as if they expected Him at once.
The danger named is not tiredness of body but a heart that has drifted.
So let the Lord's servants watch, in case He comes suddenly and finds them overcome by the world and spiritually asleep to Himself.
The picture first fits the disciples the Lord left among the Jews. But His closing word reaches wider.
He was like a man going on a journey. He left His house (we see that the earth and Jerusalem are in question). He gave authority to His servants, and to every man his work, and He commanded the doorkeeper to watch. This is a picture of the way the Lord has left His disciples among the Jews. But what He said to them He says to all: Watch. This is the call for us. We are to wait for the Lord, not knowing when He will come back, in case He finds us sleeping. May grace work in our hearts, so that we may be expecting His coming with real desire to see Him.
- The Master. He left His house on earth and is coming back to it; the whole verse hangs on an Owner returning to what is His.
- The night. Evening, midnight, cock-crow, morning: the four Roman watches. The Lord names them all, so no hour is safe to sleep through.
- The secret. The hour stays hidden. If you knew the day, watching would mean nothing.
- The work. He gave each servant authority and a task. So watching shows itself in work kept in order, as if He were due now.
- The verdict. He comes to find you either watching or sleeping. And His closing word reaches past those first disciples: what He says to them, He says to all.
lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
The Lord ends His long talk on the Mount of Olives with a warning about the heart, not with a date or a sign. Everything He has said about the end comes down to one risk: the Master returns and finds His household asleep.
Mark's Gospel has one great object, and this closing command fits it.
This is clearly a suited word for a servant watching in the absence of One who has gone. He left His house, but He is coming back again. So from first to last, Mark is true to the great tone and character and object of his Gospel. Its object is to show the perfect Servant even in His prophetic testimony, and to keep those who are waiting and watching for Him here below in a spirit of service.
The four times are not poetry. They are the four shifts of the night, and the Lord names each one.
The Lord suggests His coming in one of the four night watches, when men are most likely to be sleeping. The time of His absence is looked at as "night" in the world (Romans 13:12). The evening would be the earlier days of the church's history. Midnight would be the more advanced time of darkness.
By naming all four, He leaves no hour that is safe to sleep through.
The danger the verse names is not physical tiredness. It is a settled dullness toward the Master Himself.
Not knowing the day, we are to "watch and pray." Christ is like one who has gone into a far country. He has given authority to His servants, work to each man, and told the door-keeper to watch. So let the Lord's servants watch. If not, He may come suddenly and find them overcome by the world, and spiritually asleep to Himself.
This sleep is hard to spot, because nothing outward goes wrong.
A very stealthy and unsuspected foe is among us. Its presence is not marked by grave sins or scandals. It gains the upper hand and rules even when the Christian keeps up an outward religious life that is regular, smooth and proper. Its name is SLEEP.
One writer marks the difference with a picture of men waiting for a friend's ship.
There seems to be something more earnest and definite in watching than in waiting, though all who are watching are also waiting for Him... The second man is so affected by the sure news of his friend's return that he goes to meet him. He soon finds his way to the seaport, and decides to stay there till his friend comes. He is waiting... But the third man does more than go to the seaport and wait for his friend to arrive. He looks out over the sea many times a day, makes every enquiry about the expected ship, and checks each passenger to see if his friend is among them. This one is watching.
In the next verse the Lord widens the circle Himself, and no teaching about timing may shrink it.
The duty of watchfulness is most surely a moral duty binding on all. "What I say to you, I say to all, Watch." The Lord's coming as a thief in the night has a strict prophetic application. Nothing said about that should weaken our sense of the common duty to watch, even for a moment.
The hour is uncertain, and that is why the call reaches everyone. One writer names the excuse used against it:
Not only is the door-keeper to watch, but — to mark the uncertainty of the hour when Jesus will come — all are to watch. Some will say, "Ah, you do not need to think about the coming of the Lord; it will not happen in your day."
The men who heard this failed it the same night. A chapter later, in the garden of Gethsemane, they sleep while He prays.
When He comes to the disciples He finds them sleeping. Think of it! The Master praying, and the servants sleeping. The Master is in agony before God, showing the perfection of human dependence in that moment of unequalled sorrow. Meanwhile the servant sleeps. Such is human nature. Peter slept in the presence of the glory of the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. Now he is sleeping in the presence of His sorrow.
- Night. The Master's absence is the night. He names all four of its watches, so no hour is safe for sleeping.
- House. He gave each servant work and told the door-keeper to stay awake. Watching is the posture of people already on duty.
- Sleep. The danger is not scandal but dullness. A believer can be overcome by the world and asleep to Him while outward religious life runs on smoothly.
- Watching. Waiting stays at the port; watching scans the sea many times a day for the friend who is coming.
- All. "I say to all" leaves no one out. The garden showed how fast it can be lost: the Master praying, the servants sleeping.
But what I say to you, I say to all, Watch.
Mark's long warning ends with one command, not a date or a sign, and the Lord widens it past the disciples in front of Him. Who is meant by "all," and what does staying awake involve when no one knows the hour?
Much of the chapter looks at Israel. A reader might then file this closing word away as belonging only to that setting. One writer holds both sides together.
Meanwhile the servants are left to serve during the Master's absence. He commanded the porter in particular to watch. They did not know at what hour the Master would come. This applies to the disciples in their connection with Israel, but at the same time it is a general principle. The Lord addresses it to all.
Prophecy and duty are not rivals here. (Where the ESV reads "Stay awake," older translations render the word "Watch," and the writers quote it that way.)
The duty of watchfulness is surely a moral duty binding on everyone. "What I say to you, I say to all, Watch." The Lord's coming as a thief in the night has a strict prophetic application. But nothing said about that should ever weaken the sense of the common duty of watching.
The command grows out of a short story. A man leaves home, gives each servant a job, and posts a doorkeeper. The wording of that job matters.
"It is like a man who went abroad. He left his house and gave authority to his servants." Again, it does not say that He gives authority to every man, but "to each his work." This fits Mark exactly. Christ Himself was the great Servant. But now His service was past; He was going away, and taking the place of Lord on high. So He gives authority to His servants, and to every man his work, to each and all their due place. Notice, it is here not so much gifts as work.
So watching is not idling at a window. It means the Master finds you at your post.
In Mark 13 you find Him as one who has gone away. He set "every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch." Then He comes back to see if each is at his post of service and watching. It may be in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or in the morning. So the Lord's coming fits the gospel of His service — His own work, or that of His servants.
Watchfulness is often reduced to getting ready to die. One writer names a different object, and a different danger.
Those who put off His coming find their prototype in the evil servant of Matthew 24:48. And what our Lord said to the early disciples He says to all: "watch." This is in view, not of death, but of His own coming, the conqueror of death (Mark 13:33-37). ... this as the constant hope of the heart — sure He is coming, not sure when, but always looking out for Him from day to day.
Being ready and watching are not the same thing. One writer puts the difference in the heart.
Both have their place, but watching means expectancy, the heart is engaged. A servant might be quite ready for his master's return, simply obeying a command. But if he is watching, it shows that his master's return is absorbing his thoughts. With the Christian the two must go together. If the heart is not right towards the Lord, the belt will loosen and the light will grow dim.
The reason the command is urgent lies inside us. One writer points to men who fell without ever expecting it.
Who would have thought to find adultery in David, drunkenness in Noah, and cursing in Job? If God leaves a man to himself, how suddenly and shamefully sin may break out in the holiest men on earth! "I say to all, Watch" (Mark 13:37). A wandering heart needs a watchful eye.
On this last verse the writers agree: the Lord Himself widened the command.
- All. The Lord takes a command given to the disciples in front of Him and hands it to everyone. A prophetic timetable never cancels a moral duty.
- Assignment. The Master gave each servant a job — "to each his work," not to each a gift. So every servant knows his post.
- Expectancy. Being ready obeys an order; watching means His return is what fills the servant's thoughts.
- Object. The servant watches for Christ's own coming, not for death — sure He is coming, not sure when.
- Inspection. He returns to see who is at his post — and a wandering heart is why the eye must stay watchful.