Understanding Christ’s Call to Watchfulness Mark 13:34–37

“The Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh… And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” (Mark 13:34–37, KJV)

The Master, the House, and the Servants

In this parable, Jesus pictures Himself as a man taking a far journey who “left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work.” He is the Master; the house is His domain—His people, His kingdom in this world—and the servants represent all who belong to Him. No servant is left idle; “to every man his work” means each believer has a God-given responsibility, a role in the Master’s household.

The Master’s physical absence does not mean His disinterest. He entrusts real authority and real work to His servants, expecting them to labor faithfully in His name. This parable tells us that the time between Christ’s ascension and His return is not dead space but delegated time—time in which His servants are to serve, build, guard, and witness as if He could walk back through the door at any moment.

The Porter and the Call to Watch

Jesus also mentions “the porter,” the doorkeeper, “and commanded the porter to watch.” The porter had one central duty: to stay awake, stay alert, and be ready to open when the master came home. While the porter stands out as a distinct figure, his commission to watch becomes the pattern for all disciples when Jesus concludes, “And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”

Watching in this sense is not passive staring at the sky; it is active, alert faithfulness. It means staying spiritually awake—guarding against temptation, dullness, and distraction; keeping the door of our lives open to Christ’s word and closed to sin. It is the posture of a servant who refuses to drift into spiritual sleep because he knows the Master’s footsteps could be heard at any moment.

You Do Not Know When He Is Coming

Jesus underlines the uncertainty of the timing: “for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning.” These phrases evoke the watches of the night, times when weariness is strongest and sleep is most tempting. The danger is not simply that we do not know when He will come, but that His coming may collide with our sleep.

This uncertainty is meant to produce urgency, not speculation. We are not told to figure out the exact hour but to live ready in every hour. The Master could return in the “evening” of your life when you feel you still have time, or at “midnight” in a dark season, or at “cockcrowing” when hope is just dawning, or “in the morning” when you least expect interruption. The point is plain: at any time, He may come.

The Sin of Spiritual Sleep

The warning is sharp: “Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.” Sleeping here is more than physical rest; it is spiritual indifference, moral carelessness, and complacent worldliness. It is going through life as if Christ will not return, as if His words are distant theory instead of urgent reality.

A sleeping servant may still belong to the household, but he is living beneath his calling and dishonoring his Master. He neglects his assigned work, loses his sense of urgency, and lets his heart be weighed down with lesser things. The parable presses a searching question on every reader: if the Lord came suddenly today, would He find you watchful at your post or drifting in a spiritual slumber?

“What I Say unto You, I Say unto All”

Jesus closes with one sweeping sentence: “And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” These words reach past the first disciples, past the first century, and land with full weight on every generation of believers. There is no class of “watching Christians” and another of ordinary, relaxed Christians; watching is the normal Christian posture.

To watch is to live every day with the awareness that your life, your work, your choices, and your secret thoughts are all lived before the face of a returning Lord. It is to hold your plans loosely, your sins lightly, and your Savior tightly. The Master has gone on a far journey, but He has not forgotten His house, His servants, or His promise. He will come. The only fitting response to this parable is to take up your God-given work with renewed seriousness and to let the words of Christ ring in your soul: “What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”

Study of Jesus Parables in Matthew

Study of Jesus Parables in Mark

Discovering the Path of Salvation series by Stephen Luckett