Mark 13:34-36

Jesus told another parable about a doorkeeper. Mark is the only evangelist who recorded it. It is similar to the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and the parable of the minas (Luke 19:12-27) though much shorter.

In this parable the doorkeeper is the focus of attention. A doorkeeper or porter was responsible to guard the entrance to his master’s house. Entrusted with his master’s goods this doorkeeper did not know when his master would return. However whenever the master returned the doorkeeper would have to be ready to admit him to a well-managed house. Evening, midnight, rooster crowing, and dawn were the names that the Romans gave the four watches of the night. [Note: Wessel, p. 753.] The porter had to remain watchful (Gr. gregore) at night, when the Light of the World was absent from His estate. The opposite of watchfulness is insensibility, lethargy, and inactivity, pictured here as sleep (cf. Romans 13:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11). Likewise it is necessary for Jesus’ disciples to remain watchful (Gr. gregoreite, Mark 13:35).

"The element of surprise is ineradicable from the parousia expectation." [Note: G. R. Beasley-Murray, A Commentary on Mark Thirteen, p. 117.]