Lamp casting light onto table

Shining? Or Hidden?

TWELVTH IN MY TEACHING SERIES ON THE PARABLES OF JESUS

Parable of the Lamp

Mark 4:21-25 NLT

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. For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

Then he added, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given[a]—and you will receive even more. 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.”

Charles Spurgeon, a great preacher of his day, once said, “The Bible is not the light of the world, it is the light of the Church. But the world does not read the Bible, the world reads Christians! You are the light of the world.”

Interconnected Parables

In order to understand this parable, it’s critical to have an understanding of Jesus’s Parable of the Sower that I discussed in my previous posting. Jesus said this about the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:13, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?” (NLT). The parable of the farmer sheds light on the parable of the lamp.

The parable of the sower and the four different kinds of ground emphasized the importance of being a fruitful hearer by distinguishing the good ground from the bad. Jesus made it clear that understanding the parable of the sower was key to understanding these other parables.  These parables, then, should not be regarded as disconnected stories. Rather, they are connected illustrations carefully arranged by Jesus to make a divine truth clear. Jesus tells the parable of the lamp as an illustration of what the disciples are to do with that truth.

Basically, Jesus is saying, “If you have a hunger to learn from Me and follow Me, that shows you are good ground. Since you are good ground and will produce a harvest from your life let me teach you the impact being good ground can have with an illustration of a lamp.”

Lamp casting light onto tableWhy A Lamp?

In my study of the Parable of the Lamp, I believe there are at least four key points Jesus was hoping his Disciples would hear:

  • As “a lamp” you want your light to shine.  Verse 21 says, 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” (NLT).
  • As “a lamp” you reveal what is hidden.  Jesus says in verse 22, “For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light” (NLT). The first secret that is brought to light is God’s kingdom. The second secret that is brought to light are the sins of people.
  • As “a lamp” you must receive in order to give.  Jesus says in verse 23, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” Then he added, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given—and you will receive even more” (NLT).
  • As “a lamp” you want your light to become brighter.  Jesus said in verse 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).

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