S119P1 – A life in parables: revealing light
Mk. 4:21-23
Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
He had always been a quiet man, and that did not really change after he became a Christian. In some ways, this was not a problem. He was not an egotist, and he did not like attention, so he carried a gentility and humility that the faith requires. He was a gentle spirit, and everyone who interacted with him appreciated that. There was, however, another side to this quiet demeanor. He did not want to rock the boat or ruffle feathers, but that was something his faith also required. His lamp was often sitting under the table, and he failed to notice something very critical about that. His light was hiding while others proudly displayed their darkness for all to see.
In the spiritual realm, there is darkness and there is light. Those who know the truth have been illuminated. Those who continue to live in darkness either have rejected the light or cannot recognize it for what it is. This parable tells us that we must set our light in a visible place for it to do its purposeful work. It is the only way that we can shine truth in the darkness, and it matters because so many people will be spreading darkness in the same way. The world shamelessly flaunts its sin in an effort to recruit others into that same sin, and we must be just as forward with the truth. Imagine a place where only darkness is advanced, where the light is too shy to appear, and I will show you a place too horrible to envision.
Some people will take the light they have received and hold on to it for dear life. Perhaps they think that sharing this light will cause them to lose it, but that is not the reasoning of someone who knows the word. The light only lives through us when we allow it to do so. If we hold the light and try to keep it to ourselves, whether out of selfishness or fear, it dies with us. The lamp goes out, and we are back in the dark. Too many evil people are casting their dark shadows. Our lamps must be unveiled because people are dying in the darkness even today. Father, teach us what it means to live with our lamps shining over the darkness, and make us fearless to do so.