We are going to look at the parable of the lampstand today which tells us that the light is meant to reveal what is hidden. Mark's gospel is not always given to us in chronological order, for he likes to group similar things together, such as the parables contained in Chapter 4. There's nothing wrong with this; all four of the gospel writers arrange the material in their books in the order that best suits the point each of them makes about the identity of Jesus. Jesus said what He said, so the order in which these four men present His sayings is not what's important. Besides, all four gospels come together in a tight timeline of agreement when we get to the final week of Jesus' life. Up until then they are at liberty to group the parables together or to group the miracles together, but no such liberties can be taken with the arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus presents to us the parable of the lampstand. "He said to them, 'Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand?" (Mark 4:21) Light is meant to illuminate the darkness. There's no point in lighting a lamp only to hide it. Jesus, the light of the world, is present. He is illuminating the darkness. But just as lighting a lamp in a dark room reveals everything in that room whether good or bad, Christ reveals what is in the heart of mankind whether good or bad.
"For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." (Mark 4:22) Sin that we try to hide from ourselves and from God can't be healed. When the Lord reveals to us that we are in the wrong, the thing we must do is bring our sin out into the open before Him, confessing it and repenting of it. The Lord doesn't reveal our sins to us to beat us down with them but to set us free of them. Just as the alcoholic or drug addict must first admit he or she has a problem and needs help, we must first admit to ourselves we are sinners who need help. Here is another example: if a doctor took an x-ray that reveals we have a cancerous tumor that needs to come out, it would be foolish of us to pretend the tumor doesn't exist. We aren't going to get healed like that. When Christ the Great Physician reveals to us that there is sin in our hearts that needs to come out, it's equally foolish for us to pretend the sin doesn't exist.
Jesus gives a stern warning about taking what He says to heart. "'Consider carefully what you hear,' He continued. 'With the measure you use, it will be measured to you---and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.'" (Mark 4:24-25) He promises to bless the one who eagerly hears His word with better and better understanding of His word. The more we love the Scriptures and study them, the more God will speak to us through them. The Lord honors the one who hungers for His word. But there are those who have no desire to understand the Scriptures or to have a relationship with the Lord, and of those He predicts they will grow more foolish over time, spiritually speaking, until eventually they stand before God with no excuse for how they have lived their lives and with no defender to speak up for them. The Apostle Paul compared such non-spiritually minded people to the heathen Gentiles of his day, "They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts." (Ephesians 4:18)
Today's passage gives us a couple of clues about what we should include in our daily prayer lives. First, we ought to pray for the Lord to reveal to our hearts anything we need to repent of. It's much better to willingly allow Him to bring these things into the light so we can deal with them and get it over with than to have Him chastise us for them later on through unpleasant circumstances. Believe me, I've been there! There have been things I refused to deal with until the Lord put me in such unpleasant circumstances that I couldn't keep shoving my wrong attitudes under the rug and pretending they didn't exist. I shouldn't have let the situation get so bad. It would have been far less painful for me if I'd repented of these things when the Lord first shined a light on them.
Second, we ought to pray for the Lord to give us such a hunger for His word that we can't go through a day without it. The more we want to learn from it, the more the word will speak to us. Jesus promises this in today's passage! He will honor our desire to grow in our relationship with Him. In fact, since we can't outgive God, in verse 24 Jesus promises to reward us with even more than we expect. Like a parent who lavishly blesses the child who is obedient, the Lord lavishly blesses us with His presence far beyond what we ever imagined.
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