Big Idea: God’s true servants will not be caught unawares but will always be found doing their master’s will.

Understanding the Text

The theme of readiness for the Lord’s coming, begun at 12:35, now continues: 12:35–48 is a coherent unit of teaching, which has been broken up here simply to accommodate the commentary divisions. The collection of sayings that follows in 12:49–59 does not relate specifically to that theme, but it does add further to the sense of crisis: Jesus’s arrival has confronted people with serious and difficult choices that will have eternal consequences. This theme will continue in the call to repentance in 13:1–9.

All this is to be understood against the background of 12:1: Jesus has attracted a very large crowd, but he speaks primarily to his disciples. However, w…