Two pictures are contained in this passage with a single meaning: waiting for the bridegroom to return with his bride from the wedding … and being alert in case a burglar ransacks your home.  The meaning of both is the same - to be alert and ready for an unpredictably timed event … the return of the Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:2).

Middle Eastern weddings were quite an event, with at least a week of feasting and much joy.  The bridegroom goes to the bride’s house for the wedding, and then brings her to his father’s house to set up a new life together.  But the period of feasting involves an unpredictable delay.  During this time the man’s servants needed to be constantly ready to welcome him and his new bride.  The analogy is filled out for us in the Epistles (Ephesians 5:25-33) in which the bridegroom is Jesus and the bride is His church.  Jesus used this common celebration, with its eager excitement, to emphasise the importance of being ready for His return as the Bridegroom, clearly describing the need to be ready for Christ's return.  Those who are not ready will be shamed and have no place in His household (Matthew 7:21-23).

The date for Christ's return is as unpredictable as the time of the end of the wedding feast (Matthew 24:36-42).  Only one thing matters: to be ready.  Those whose attention is diverted away from the purpose of the wedding may miss the big occasion, suffer shame and lose their places as servants.  In the same way, those who have little love for the Lord Jesus will not be anticipating His return.  Such inattention would be unforgivable if a burglar had given advance warning of his arrival and then found himself free to loot the house.  In the same way, Jesus said that His disciples must be continually on the alert, not only anticipating Jesus' return but eagerly desiring it (2 Timothy 4:8).  Indeed, such people will spend their lives as a preparation for the moment when He comes.  They will want to be ready and doing those things which would please their master.

Life in today's workplace is often busy and stressful.  The priorities of the business and the continual demand to perform to the satisfaction of employers often puts the real purpose of our lives out of perspective (Mark 4:19).  We can let a whole week go by and not actively think about the reaction of Jesus to our lives when He suddenly appears.  Yet, that moment is what every Christian has been made for.  To live without a constant gaze to the horizon of eternity is foolish indeed, and so the Word encourages us to consider each day as the day when Jesus might return (Mark 13:32-37).  How this thought would transform our business as well as our behaviour!