Mark Bradford's Bible Blog

Receiving the Light (NLB)

³³ “No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket.^[k] Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house.

The “lamp under a bowl” analogy was a favorite of Jesus. It appears in 4 different places, by my count (Luke 8:16-18, Mark 4:21-25, Matt 5:14-16), including here. In Mark and earlier in Luke, it has one meaning, in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, it has another, and here, it has a third meaning. See my posts on Luke 8:16-18 here and Mark 4:21-25 here.

This paragraph is a continuation of the warning to those who attributed his miracles to demons and demanded more and greater miraculous signs, in addition to what they had just seen. These were people who considered themselves righteous, and Jesus is warning them to be careful that the light that they think is within them is not darkness.

³⁴ “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is bad, your body is filled with darkness.

When your eye is good or bad? What is he talking about? The smart aleck in me wants to say, “Yeah, my eyes used to be bad, but then I had lasik surgery.” I’ve thought at times that maybe Jesus was talking here about the things we look at, to make sure we’re not looking at the wrong things. Though it’s true that we need to be careful about that, I don’t think that’s what he’s talking about here. Look at how the Amplified Bible puts this verse;

³⁴Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye (^[p]your conscience) is sound and fulfilling its office, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound and is not fulfilling its office, your body is full of darkness.

He’s talking about our conscience. The people who were asking for signs and attributing his miracles to Satan were saying those things because their hearts were hard. Their consciences weren’t working properly. If you’ve allowed your heart to become hard by ignoring the overtures of the Holy Spirit, your conscience isn’t fulfilling its office, or doing its job. Then you can’t recognize God working right in front of you. The Pharisees that Jesus was talking to were not unique. There are people just like them today, people who consider themselves Christians, but have not really listened to God for a long time. They’re more interested in keeping rules and outside appearances than in having the light of Jesus light up their lives.

³⁵ Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. ³⁶ If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.”

Why might some of us resist the idea of letting Jesus shine his floodlight inside of us? Maybe because we don’t want our dark corners exposed. But the more we keep those dark corners hidden, the more darkness will take over. Even though we think we’re trying to live a Christian life, as long as we try to keep things hidden from his light, it will never work. The light we think we have will become darkness. Think about it. Why does no one put a candle under a bowl? Because if you do, not only will you not see its light, soon the candle will go out. But the light Jesus wants to shine within us is not a candle, it’s a lamp. It’s a floodlight. If we don’t let Jesus expose all of our dark corners with his floodlight, the light within us will be smothered like a candle under a bowl.

But if we do let Jesus fill us with his light, that light will reveal any areas of our lives that need to be cleaned up. And once we’re clean on the inside, then his light within us will shine so brightly that others will be able to see it. Our consciences will be working like they should, alerting us to right and wrong and making us sensitive to his voice. Here’s the thing about light and dark. All darkness is is the absence of light. All evil is is the absence of God. When you walk into a dark room and flip the light switch, what happens? The room is filled with light. Darkness can’t fight it. All you need to defeat darkness is a light source. The darkness within us is nothing. If we let the light of Jesus shine within us, the darkness has to flee.

The image I keep thinking about is of Jesus at the Transfiguration and at the Resurrection, when Jesus’ face shone like the sun (Matthew 17:6), and his appearance was like lightning (Matthew 28:3). The wording of the Greek in both of those cases indicates that it wasn’t an external light shining on Jesus, it was a brilliant light shining out from within Jesus. What’s the best reason to let Jesus’ light illuminate every part of our lives from the inside? It’s Christlike. If we let him do that, we will be like him.

Mark Bible Jesus, Luke, Parable of the Lamp

A Lamp on a Stand

¹⁶“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. ¹⁷For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. ¹⁸Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.”

This passage also appears in Mark 4:21-25. See my post on that passage here. As I said in that post, this passage is not talking about us letting our light shine before men. Jesus uses essentially the same illustration for that purpose in Matthew 5:14-16. Jesus apparently liked this illustration, and it’s easy to see why. In this case he is still explaining to his disciples why he used parables. He’s saying that he’s not hiding the truths of God from people by speaking this way. He would not do that for the same reason that nobody would hide a light under a bowl. God does not hide the truth, he exposes it. It’s our responsibility to listen to what he says, meditate on it, and live by it. If we do that, we’ll be given more and more understanding as we go along. If we don’t, we will lose what little understanding of him we have.

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

¹⁹Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. ²⁰Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”

²¹He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”

Mark places this incident in a different context that Luke does. Mark’s version of this story can be found in Mark 3:20-35. See my post on that passage here. It seems to me like Luke, for the rest of this chapter, is giving us “highlights” rather than a chronological narrative. Maybe Luke is referring to this event here to briefly illustrate what Jesus said in verse 18 about our responsibility in hearing the word. If we hear his words and put them into practice, we not only gain more understanding of him, we become members of his family.

Somehow, I’ve always gotten the impression from this passage that Jesus was “blowing off” his family who came to see him. But the Bible doesn’t say that Jesus ignored his family or refused to see them. He just used their presence there to make a point about hearing his words and putting them into practice. He wasn’t saying, “These people aren’t my family, my disciples are”. He was telling us that if we hear him and obey him, we become members of his family also.

Mark Bible Jesus, Luke, Parable of the Lamp

Parable of the Lamp

²¹ Then Jesus asked them, “Would anyone light a lamp and then put it under a basket or under a bed? Of course not! A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light will shine. ²² For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light. ²³ Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

²⁴ Then he added, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given^[c]—and you will receive even more. ²⁵ To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.”

I’m using the New Living Translation today because I feel it communicates the meaning of this passage better than the NIV, which I usually use. Jesus used the analogy of the lamp at least three times, with different meanings each time. The one I’ve heard talked about most is in the Sermon On The Mount in Matthew 5. The message there is to let our light shine before others and not to hide it. But the message here is different. Jesus is expanding on his repeated statement, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”, which the NLT translates, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

Yesterday I talked about how Jesus used parables as a way of weeding out those who were only following him around hoping to see a miracle from those who were interested in his teaching. In verses 21-22, Jesus is saying that He is not hiding the truths of God from the people by using parables. Instead he is revealing those truths to those who really listen. The Amplified Bible makes it even clearer.

²¹And He said to them, Is the lamp brought in to be put under a ^[f]peck measure or under a bed, and not [to be put] on the lampstand?

²²[^[g]Things are hidden temporarily only as a means to revelation.] For there is nothing hidden except to be revealed, nor is anything [temporarily] kept secret except in order that it may be made known.

²³If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend. (Amplified)

Jesus isn’t telling others not to hide their light under a bushel, at least not here. He’s explaining that he is not doing that. There was confusion among the disciples about why Jesus was speaking this way, and most of the time, they didn’t understand the parables themselves. So he used a parable to explain why he used parables! Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor? In verses 24-25, he explains further. I’ve often heard these two verses quoted to talk about money and giving, especially the way they are worded in the NIV and KJV.

²⁴“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. ²⁵Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” (NIV)

²⁴And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.

²⁵For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. (KJV)

Jesus is not talking about money or giving here. If you look at the context of those verses, he’s still talking about his teachings. The NLT and Amplified do a better job of conveying the true meaning.

²⁴ Then he added, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given^[c]—and you will receive even more. ²⁵ To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.” (NLT)

²⁴And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure ^[h][of thought and study] you give [to ^[i]the truth you hear] will be the measure ^[j][of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you–and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.    ²⁵For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away [^[k]by force] (Amplified)

Jesus was saying to those who stayed to hear him teach and didn’t take off when they decided he wasn’t going to perform any more miracles that the more they listen to his teaching and meditate on what he said, the greater their understanding would be. But if they were only there to see miracles, then what little understanding of him they had, they would lose. The more we listen to God, pray, study the Bible, and think about what we’ve learned, the more understanding he will give us. He will reveal himself to us more and more the longer and more earnestly we seek him. But if we are only seeking God for what he can do for us, that is not the kind of follower he wants.

Mark Bible Bible, Jesus, Mark, Parable of the Lamp