Luke 12:36 (ASV)

Passage

and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their lord, when he shall return from the marriage feast; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may straightway open unto him.

Nearby Context

Luke 12:34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luke 12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning;

Luke 12:36 and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their lord, when he shall return from the marriage feast; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may straightway open unto him.

Luke 12:37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and shall come and serve them.

Luke 12:38 And if he shall come in the second watch, and if in the third, and find [them] so blessed are those [servants].

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "yourselves", "like", "looking", "lord", "shall", "return", "marriage", and "feast". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "yourselves" and "like", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 35's "Let your loins be girded about and..." into verse 37's "Blessed are those servants whom the lord...", so "yourselves" and "like" belong inside that flow. In Luke context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "yourselves" and "like" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.