“No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.j17For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.18Take care, then, how you hear. To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.”
Kerry has had strange men come up to him and spill their guts. Once in the parking lot of an automotive store, a man shared really heartfelt struggles to Kerry as Kerry was trying to find out about some auto part, and Kerry was a complete stranger of about five minutes acquaintance. We tell him he had his light on, and it's true.
Light is used so many times in the New Testament as a metaphor for God's love and understanding. This part of the parable is pretty obvious. If you have God's love in your heart, you are going to share it, not hide it.
Most people of my background have heard that the next part regards you sins and how everyone will know when you get to judgement day. But that doesn't really fit with this series of metaphor. The translation in Mark 4:22 comes closer to paralleling the theme of the first metaphor. For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. When we are living God's love, it shows. When we are living in hate and intolerance and selfishness, it shows. Who we are on the inside will eventually become known to those around us. We may pretend for a while; but, in the long run, our inner life will show in our outer life. I saw this as so evident in the year I spent working in an assisted living facility. If you are the kind of person who is kind and fun loving in life, it will show even in dementia. If you were rude and self-centered, that will also be your personality when your mind is no longer functioning normally (the exception being dementia due to Alzheimer's which can totally affect your personality depending on where it spreads in the brain. My talkative mother became almost completely silent).
The last metaphor is perhaps the hardest and seems not to fit with the idea of light and understanding found in the previous two. Take care how you hear. More will be given to the one that has and the one with the least gets it taken away. I have found with the negatives present in the gospel that it is the nature of life or spirituality that makes it so. I see the same in this passage. It is similar to the story of the two wolves inside us. Which one wins? The one you feed. If a person has God's love in their hearts, the more you have, the more you seek. If there is little love, as in another parable of Jesus, there is less gratitude. If that understanding is not fed and supported, even the small amount of love you have will be swallowed by other priorities and desires. If our light is to be brighter, we must be listeners; we must be seekers; we must be adding to what we know by shining our light and feeding it. Lamps require oil to be replenished. We must feed what we want to continue. Food can be song, words, or actions. What makes our life brighter and brings to others a brighter life is the food of light.
This food came to me from the Bible. I am also fed by song, especially what I have been blessed to hear in traditional black churches. I have been fed by Roger Lovette and Deb Richardson-Moore in messages from the pulpit. I have been fed by the poems of Wendall Berry and Jane Kenyon and so many others. I have been fed by taking care how I hear.
For this I am grateful and put the light I have on a lampstand.
