Daily Devotions

²¹ He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? ²² For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. ²³ Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” ²⁴ And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. ²⁵ For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”  Mark 4:21-25

This week we’ll spend some time listening to Jesus teaching in parables. 

Parables are little word pictures.  As we hear them a little flash happens in our minds and we instantly can “see” what Jesus is saying.  But then, like certain peppers in Mexican food, those pictures start to glow hotter and hotter until it dawns on us that we aren’t really as sure about what Jesus was saying as we thought we were.

FLASH and we see a lamp being carried into a dark room.  We see as much in the room as the lamp reveals.  We see where we are going but we don’t see the dark corners or behind the bed.  We don’t need to see back there.  We just need enough to get to the bed without stubbing our toe.

Yes, it is ridiculous to light a lamp and then cover it with a basket or stick it under the bed.  The nature of the lamp is to give light.  It makes so sense to obscure the light.

But then the parable starts to sizzle and grow.  Very quickly it dawns on us that there are many meanings to words like “light” and “darkness”.  They reach to realities like “sight” and “blindness”, to emotional experiences like “lostness” and “foundness”.  They point out the power of life realities like “secrets” and being “exposed”.

We hear these words and there is no question what we prefer.  We prefer sight to blindness, being found to being lost.  But then again….

Aren’t there certain secrets we prefer to just keep…secret?  Aren’t there some aspects of life we prefer not to have exposed?  Aren’t there some things we would rather not know?  Things we even pretend not to know?  And isn’t it is the case that we believe that “having more” protects us against the more unsavory experiences of life?

And just like that, Jesus has us.  Maybe we don’t have it as “all together” as we think we do.

Let us pray:  Dear Lord, your words penetrate the reality of our lives.  You are the doctor of our souls and we pray that we might be open to your probing, to your diagnosis, to your promise of healing and wholeness.  Light our way in life and help us walk well through the day now before us.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

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