Charles Ellicott Commentary Mark 13:34

"[It is] as [when] a man, sojourning in another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, to each one his work, commanded also the porter to watch." — Mark 13:34 (ASV)

For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey.—The italics indicate, as usual, that the words are not found in the Greek. Their absence, which seems essential to the meaning of the sentence, is remarkable. A possible explanation is that we have an imperfect, fragmentary report, perhaps from a note taken at the time, of what appears in a more developed form as the parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30.

And commanded the porter to watch.—This feature is unique in our Lord’s parables and, as such, seems to call for a special interpretation. We readily accept the “servants” as the disciples, and we generally understand the authority and the work assigned to them. But who specifically was the “gate-keeper” or “porter”? The answer appears to be found in the promise of the keys of the kingdom made to St. Peter (Matthew 16:19).

It was his work to open the door of that kingdom wide, to be ready for his Lord’s coming in any of those manifold senses which experience would unfold to him. We may accordingly venture to trace in St. Mark’s record, here as elsewhere, the Apostle's influence. That word “the porter” was, he felt, meant for him, and this he remembered when much that others had recorded had faded from his recollection. If we adopt this application of the word here, it sheds light on the somewhat difficult reference to the “porter” of the sheepfold in John 10:3.