Saturday, December 20, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Luke 12-13
Key Verse
Luke 12:48 — “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”
Devotional Thought
The crowd around Jesus had grown so vast that people were trampling one another, and in the middle of that press He turned first to His disciples with a warning about leaven—the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Everything hidden, He said, will be uncovered; words whispered in closets will be shouted from housetops. Then He steadied them: do not fear those who can only kill the body; fear God, who numbers even the hairs of your head. Five sparrows for two farthings, and not one forgotten. And in the same breath He told of a rich man whose barns could not hold his harvest, who said to his soul, “Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry”—only to hear, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” From there He pointed to ravens and lilies, to a treasure that moth cannot corrupt, to servants with loins girded and lamps burning, waiting for a master who returns at an unexpected hour. He spoke of the fig tree given one more year, of a woman bowed double for eighteen years loosed on the Sabbath, of a mustard seed and hidden leaven, of a strait gate and a shut door, and finally of Jerusalem itself—the city that stones prophets, and a hen that longs to gather her chicks under her wings while they will not come.
It is the Saturday before Christmas, and the world around us is loud with plenty. Our calendars are full, our tables will be heavy, our barns—literal and figurative—are being filled. Yet this passage asks a bracing question of anyone preparing to celebrate the Nativity: where is your treasure? The rich man in the parable was not a murderer or a blasphemer. His sin was simply that his soul was not in the accounting. He planned for crops and barns, but not for God. Jesus tells us the Father already knows what we need, and it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom. So the Advent posture is not anxious striving but watchful waiting—servants whose lamps are burning, who are rich toward God rather than toward barns.
Notice, too, how much of this chapter is about mercy that arrives at the last hour. The fig tree is spared one more year. The woman bent for eighteen years is straightened in a moment. The door is still open while we are on the way. But Jesus is honest that the door will one day shut, and those who only ate and drank in His presence, without ever belonging to Him, will hear “I know you not whence ye are.” This is not meant to terrify the humble but to rouse the careless. The same Lord who warns is the Lord who says, “Fear not, little flock.” The hen still spreads her wings. The gate is strait, but it is open—today.
So as Christmas draws near, let us examine the leaven in our own hearts, the hidden things we assume will stay hidden. Let us hold our possessions loosely and our lamps high. The One who counts the hairs of our heads, who feeds the ravens and clothes the lilies, is coming at an hour we think not. Blessed are those servants whom He finds watching.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you laying up treasure on earth—filling barns, planning for years—while neglecting to be rich toward God?
- If the Master knocked tonight, would He find your loins girded and your lamp burning, or would He find you unprepared and unaware?
Prayer
Father, we thank You that You number the very hairs of our heads and count us of more value than many sparrows. Forgive us for the leaven of hypocrisy, for the hidden things we have thought would never be revealed, and for the barns we have built while our souls stood empty before You. Teach us to seek first Your kingdom, trusting that all these things shall be added unto us. Keep our loins girded and our lamps burning as we wait for the return of Your Son. Gather us under Your wings, Lord, for we would come. In the name of Jesus, Amen.