New Thoughts (2/27/07-3/3/07)
One thing that ought to be clear is that Jesus used the same lessons on multiple occasions. In some cases, He used the same illustrations to make somewhat different points. In the passages under consideration here, we have two distinct applications of the parable. In the context of the Sermon by the Sea, it seems clear that He is continuing the message of the previous parable. The point is clearly to teach us not to hide away this newfound faith. Like the sower who casts his seed indiscriminately, so the light of the lamp reaches all indiscriminately. This is no accident. It is the purpose of the lamp to do as it does. It is designed with that end in mind. Likewise, the city that is built on a hill is not only visible to all, it is intended to be visible to all.
Yet, when this same example is given later in Luke’s account (Lk 11:33), the point being made is in regard to how we keep ourselves as opposed to how we present ourselves and our message. It is used to illustrate our need to see clearly, with no sin clouding our judgment, so that the light is not hidden from our own thought life. Same picture, but a much different application is drawn from it. One seeks that our internal life should be visible to all for their benefit. The other seeks to keep our internal life in visible contact with the Light of life.
In the same fashion, we see that closing statement from Mark’s coverage of this parable as one that Jesus used with great regularity. “If you have ears that hear, hear this.” So common was this tag line at the end of His messages that when He comes to John with the visionary messages that form the book of the Revelation, He closes each of His letters to the churches with the same admonition. If John had suffered any doubts as to Who was speaking to him there on Patmos, this likely cleared them all away.
There is also the issue of giving more to the one who has and taking away from the one who doesn’t. This, too, arises in multiple places in the Gospels. Some look at this as a sign of inaccuracies in the text. Some look at the variations and see only the strata of history. Yet, I need look no further than my own example to realize that I often reuse particular stories and I often find myself pursuing the same points I have pursued previously. My goodness! Just read through the studies I have gone through in the last several years and any number of similar examples will crop up! Am I therefore being inaccurate in my writing? Is the record of my thoughts somehow corrupted because I may repeat the same thoughts now and again, may explore the same issues and examples? Of course not. Neither do the different uses and applications of these parables offer any proof of inaccuracy or fabrication.
What they do offer is a clear view of just how rich these parables are. As I have said in looking at the parable of the Sower, there are many potential meanings and applications for that parable. Jesus, when asked, was gracious to explain sufficiently the particular application He intended in this case. I wonder, though, does that restrict the parable to this one meaning alone? Seeing how Jesus Himself used the same parable to teach different points, I conclude that His examples are sufficiently rich in wisdom that more than one application is to be found there. It is not carte blanche to find any meaning I choose, however loosely I must interpret the image. It is not a permit to pursue the course of the Gnostics. However, as I explored in that prior study, there are a number of points, all well supported by the Scriptures as a whole, that can be seen.
Looking at that matter of giving and taking, there is something in Luke’s account that deserves a bit of attention. When he reports these words from Jesus, he writes that whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him (Lk 8:18). Now, I don’t see that clause ‘even what he thinks’ in any of the other places where this message is spoken. Yet, it is surely clear that you can’t take from a man what he doesn’t have. If he has only a little, that can be taken. But, if he has nothing? What is there to take?
Here again, some will claim that Luke is adding to the message. I think not. Both Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels give record of Jesus speaking this same point on multiple occasions, and not necessarily the same occasions. It is entirely possible that this one time, Jesus actually did add the explanatory phrase to make the point more clear. I am put in mind of Paul telling his readers that when he speaks to those who are as we would say ‘babes in Christ’, he speaks to them in such simple terms as they can understand. However, when he speaks with those who have matured in their faith, he speaks to them in more advanced fashion. Would it be that shocking to think that the master Teacher was likewise inclined to shape His message to His audience?
There’s really nothing shocking about that. When I am discussing a particular issue at work, I will describe it in the simplest possible terms if, perchance, I should be discussing it with my wife. She has almost no frame of reference for what I’m saying, so I must keep it simple if I would have her understand anything about the topic. If I am discussing it with my manager, I will still tend to simplify the issue because, while he has a stronger general knowledge of the project and the concepts involved, he is not in there dealing with the details on a daily basis. To try and present something on that detail level would waste his time and mine. Such detailed discussions of the issue will be reserved for those who are involved in the details, who understand the intricacies and can both benefit and provide benefit in such a conversation.
As a teacher, I am likewise required to shape my lessons to my students. If my home group is composed solely of mature Christians of long standing I can present some of the harder, more challenging concepts that arise in pursuing a well defined theology and doctrine. If there are new believers in the group, I must take care to explain what might seem to me to be assumed knowledge. I cannot just refer to a particular event from the Scriptures and assume everybody knows what I’m talking about. Jesus, to a large extent, could get away with this, because in the culture of the time, a sound knowledge of Torah could be assumed. It was part of the culture to know the Scriptures and to have been trained in them from a young age. If He alluded to something from the prophecies of Isaiah or Jeremiah, nobody was likely to miss the point. When the message of the Gospel began to leave the region of Israel, though, those who bore the message took on the responsibility of explaining such assumed knowledge to those who had no reason to have known.
So, here, I find it reasonable to think that Jesus, knowing the mixed crowd who stood on the shore listening, might provide an extra bit of information to keep them from wandering down the wrong road. In such a crowd, how many would immediately be distracted by trying to figure out how you could take away what somebody didn’t have in the first place? So, He makes it clear. It is not that they have nothing, it is that they think they have something that they don’t really have. Well, that changes things.
Clearly, Jesus is discussing matters of understanding, particularly spiritual understanding. In conjunction with that, He is bringing forward a point about righteousness and evangelism here. That light which we are to shine is the light of righteousness. Lest we miss that point, He says that we should live such that men may see our good works and glorify God. Those works are evidence of the righteousness within, or they ought to be. Of course, too many people then and now had a habit of doing what looked good so as to be seen as good. They used works as a thin veneer to cover the shameful state of their inner, spiritual life. Jesus is moving things in the opposite direction. He does not do away with works. He admonishes His followers to let those works flow as evidence of the inner reality.
It is with all this in sight that we come to that message: More shall be given to him who has, all will be taken from him who only thinks he has. There were those poseurs who played at righteousness wherever they felt they might be seen, but who quickly slipped into unrighteousness in their private moments. Such as these, Jesus said, might think they had done what was necessary, might think they had something by which to commend themselves to God, but it would be stripped away. They would be exposed in the end. Nothing remains hidden. Those whose works were the outflow of an inner reality, rather than a mask to hide it, would find righteousness on the increase as the Spirit continued His work in them. Eventually, as Paul informs us, when we come before Him on that last day, the work that has been ongoing for a lifetime will find itself complete in Him.
Reputation will not be enough. We are called to live our lives in such a fashion that even those who belittle us for our faith will have to acknowledge the righteousness that was in us. Even those who have falsely accused us in life will have to confess our righteousness in God’s sight on that last day. Don’t give your Accuser any valid claims to bring before the Judge! Don’t do well just to hide the rot on your soul. Let your actions reflect your inward condition. Let your deeds prosper even as your soul prospers. Let that light shine. If all you have is a reputation without the reality, you already have nothing and in the end even that reputation will be stripped away.
As I have been saying, the parables of Jesus are rich. They are mines to be delved into that we may bring out quantities of profitable understanding from them. Here, in the parable of the lamp upon the lampstand, we have already explored the need for that light that shines from us to be a true light, reflective of a true inner condition. However, at least in the context of Jesus’ sermon, there remains another point more germane to the discussion. If I am allowed to conflate things as we find them in Matthew’s account, the point is made clear: You are the light in this world, so shine in such a way that all men can see the glory of God. That’s what your works are for. They’re not to prove your own righteousness but to manifest God’s own glory. If you’ve made your works about you, they’re no longer good, for nothing about you is good.
Let it be said that the greatest of good works we can hope to do in this world will not be found in feeding the poor, or seeking out justice for the downtrodden. The greatest good work we are given to do is to bring forth the Gospel. If we will bring Jesus onto the scene, He will see to these other matters. He is the one who has taught us to seek first the Kingdom, knowing that all these other needs of life on earth will be taken care of by Him who created the earth. We have enough trouble buying into that message on a personal level, but I don’t think we’ve even begun to comprehend it on a social level.
Somewhere back in the sixties or seventies the Church went wandering off after the social gospel, as they called it. Oh! The church wasn’t about preaching Jesus, it was about helping people. There is some truth to the idea that the Church ought to be helping people. The problem with that whole movement is that they took some truth and tried to make it the whole truth. Before long, Jesus was all but out of the equation. He was a nice marketing phrase, but if He was keeping people away, well, we’d leave Him out of the picture. As long as the poor are being fed... Yes, and you could even turn to James to support the move. After all, isn’t this how he defined true religion? Yes, he did. However, the definition can only be applied when those acts of love flow from a heart of devotion to Christ. To divorce the act from the motive destroys the whole thing. Seek first the Kingdom! Preach first the Gospel! Then, all these other social programs will flow naturally. Then you will have taught them to fish rather than just handing them a morsel. Then, you will have given them the keys to eternity rather than kept them going for one more day in a living hell.
We dare not become a church devoid of good works, but we mustn’t let the doing of works overtake the declaring of the Gospel. The Gospel is our great treasure. However, as this parable seeks to teach us, that treasure is not something for us to hide away. It is not that sort of treasure that we must protect from thieves. In truth, we should be showing it readily to thieves in hopes that they, too, will reach for that treasure and take it to heart. The Gospel is given to be shared. The world wants us to allow our faith to be a private matter, but faith in Christ was never designed to be a private matter. It’s whole purpose is to be made publicly manifest. It is not a show. It is not a ‘look at me’ sort of manifestation. It is the simple, undeniable evidence of a life lived in accord with the Christ we confess. There is that great quote from Francis of Assisi to the effect of, “preach the Gospel everywhere, and use words if you must.” This might be the Christian equivalent of, “actions speak louder than words.” Notice that Jesus does not tell us to go out and get in everybody’s face with the news of the kingdom – at least not in this passage. What He instructs us is to let the light shine in a way that all can see through your good deeds. Don’t just preach it. Live it! And, inasmuch as it is in you to do so, live it consistently. That is the Gospel preached with power.
You can be as devoted as you like to the ideas of Christianity, but if you are simply squirreling away the wisdom you garner from the pages of the Bible, you are rejecting the most fundamental instruction. Go, therefore, and make disciples. You certainly cannot do that by avoiding all discussion of your faith. You might be able to teach disciples, speaking of your faith only where it’s safe and accepted. But, you cannot bring somebody to a Christ you never speak of. The call of Christ is a call to evangelism. What we have made an official position and rank in the church was never intended to be so. We are all supposed to function in that role. Let your light shine. The light that is in you is the Christ and the Gospel which is His revelation. How shall it shine if you won’t speak of it? How shall they be saved who have not heard, and how shall they hear except somebody preach the good news to them (Ro 10:14)? It’s well and good to send out missionaries. It’s well and good to support those who are proclaiming the kingdom, but what about you? What about me? How worthy is our support of others if we are making it an excuse to ignore our own duties?
We are called to be beacons of true knowledge and wisdom, to be clear and undeniable evidence of God’s glory. The darkness that our light is to shine into is the darkness of ignorance – not stupidity, ignorance. Just like Israel before us, we are set out by God to be light to those who sit in great darkness. Stupidity may not be curable, but ignorance can be eliminated by knowledge. Israel was sent with this mission, but opted to keep the light to themselves. Instead of correcting the ignorance of those around them, they essentially declared the ignorant too stupid to understand the light. They rejected their purpose and in time, God rejected them. If He ran out of patience with His own chosen people, what might we expect as those He has adopted? Will He be any less pleased with us if we decide to keep the Truth to ourselves? He was not willing to leave us in our ignorance. As His ambassadors we ought to be just as unwilling to leave those around us in theirs.
Understand that ignorance is no excuse for sin. Just as ignorance of the laws of the nation are not an acceptable excuse for breach of that law, so it is in God’s kingdom. Paul reminded the church in Rome that there was no man with an excuse for his ignorance of God. What is known of God is manifest even in the unbeliever, because God sees to it that it is manifest. From the very dawn of creation, what we could not see of Him directly was obvious in the nature of His creation. The ignorant are without excuse (Ro 1:19-20). This is at least a portion of the answer to those who wonder at the justness of condemning those who have never heard the Gospel, for how could they believe what they haven’t heard (Ro 10:14)? That question should motivate us to get out there and be the light. Perhaps that is even why God leaves us in this particular quandary. Rather than debate the fairness of mandating the One Way to heaven when so many never hear of that Way, we ought to be out there shining, doing our best to make sure that nobody is left in the dark, never hearing.
Although Jesus, in His days on earth, restricted His own ministry to Israel, He never intended for the ministry He was beginning to end there. God never had such an intention. A quick survey of the Old Testament prophets ought to make it clear that the God of Israel never intended to be only the God of Israel. He created the whole world, and He clearly intends to be God of the whole world. He will brook no competing claims. He will suffer no partners. He made it. He owns it. He shall rule over it.
Recall that, at least by the order of presentation I am following, this parable follows on the heals of the lesson of the seed sower. That parable, as we come to understand it, is a message to the messenger: Be profligate in sowing. The seed is the Word of God, and don’t you go being selective about who you cast that seed to. Don’t you go trying to figure out which life is going to hear you and change, and which will reject you. Rejection is no reason not to speak. This parable continues that thought and augments it.
It rather explains Jesus’ reaction when they came asking what the parable meant. You have to understand the first one to fully grasp how those that follow build in that start. Here, it is seen in the image of that city on a hill. Such a city cannot be hidden. It is simply an impossibility. In our day, we know of cities that, while not necessarily built on a hill, have in their own way built and become the hill. Living outside Boston, I know that from many approaches that city is visible as much as twenty or thirty miles away. The ‘hill’ of the towers makes clear where the city is. They cannot be hidden.
I might add that a city built in such a fashion is built intentionally. This would have been particularly true in the time of Jesus and His hearers. There were those cities that were intended as ‘beacon’ cities. There, in times of crisis, a signal fire could be built that no effort of the approaching enemy could hide from sight. Of course, such a city was built on a hill. Of course, it was set high to maximize visibility. That visibility was no accident. It was the purpose. So, too, with us. We are, Jesus is saying, set in this world like beacon cities. We are designed to be seen. Our lives are intended to shine like warning beacons. We are, as it were, the watchmen on the towers. We are not set there to shout warnings at the people below. That image people have of the crazy Christian running around shouting, ‘Repent, for the end is near!’ is not what we are being called to here. No, He is telling us our lifestyle, our example, is the effective way to shine. Shine in such a way that they can see your goodness – not the ostentatious display of the Pharisee, but the simple, pure reality of a life devoted; the clean outworking of the indwelling Holy Spirit: shine such that this undeniable evidence may convict and convince them that there is still a God in heaven. And only One!
This image is made most clear when we keep in mind that it is connected with the parable of the sower and the seed. A sower that doesn’t sow, but keeps his seed in the sack is of no use to anyone. He isn’t helping himself nor is he helping anybody else. So it is with the light in this parable. Thinking back to that question that Jesus had when His disciples came to Him for explanation, it seems to me to be more clear what He meant. “If you don’t understand this one, how will you connect with the rest” (Mk 4:13)? The sower and the seed sets the theme that this parable continues: Preach freely. Spread the Word indiscriminately and boldly. Don’t hide away your faith, share it with anybody and everybody who will sit still long enough to hear it. Watchman, declare the warning. If they won’t listen, that is no reflection on you, but if you give them nothing to hear, what sort of watchman have you been?
Last thought: Mark’s account includes the familiar, “let the one with ears hear” at the close of this quick parable. Such a familiar refrain that is to us that we almost cease to hear it ourselves. It becomes almost cliché. Like the “Verily, verily,” that introduces so many of the conversations John records, we tend to skip right over it to get to the meat of the story. Yet, there is something in those words that we ought not cease to lay hold of. Even as we continue in our walk with the Christ of God, we can find ourselves at a point where we have stopped listening – if only for a time. It is in those times that these words come to us. They are a wake-up call. It’s like the teacher who raps the desk with his ruler to snap his students out of slumber. “You’re not listening! Snap out of it!”
Here at the start, it’s easy to hear that warning being cried out towards the unbeliever. It’s not for us, it’s for them. What we forget is that ‘they’ were the ‘us’ of that time. Lest we fail to notice that, I see that the Lord of the Church cries out the same warning at the end of His Testimony. And, lest we fail to recognize who He’s addressing that warning to, He specifically mentions the Church. “If you have ears, hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church” (Rev 3:6, Rev 3:13, Rev 3:22). Three times that warning is given. Sardis! Wake up! Remember your purpose and get after it, or you will miss My return. Philadelphia! Hold fast! Don’t give up. I am coming, and I will keep you. Laodicea! Make up your mind! Are you Mine or not? Stop waffling and commit yourself one way or the other. You have become blind to your need, so I must discipline you. Repent and return, for I AM standing here knocking at your door. Let the Church hear these warnings, if it is still awake and alive.
Is the Church listening? Certainly there is a remnant that still hungers after His voice. Certainly there remain those who will hear His voice and His voice alone. Oh, but look around. How many have wandered off on their own agenda and left the Lord of the Church behind? Nor can we leave this at the level of the corporate body. Each one of us who lays claim to the honorable title of Christian is the Church. We cannot hear the cry to the Church and think it somehow doesn’t apply to us. It’s a warning shouted to all of us: Are you still listening to Me? Are you still committed to Me? Is My bride true to Me still? Remember your purpose, My bride. Don’t give up, I AM coming. My wedding day approaches swiftly. Make up your mind. Either you are Mine and you are devoted to being as prepared as I AM for that day, or you are no longer mine, and ought not to pose as My bride any longer. Choose you this day. Commit or deny. Half measures won’t amount to anything. It’s an all or nothing decision.
