Light of the World

Mark 4: 21- 25
24 July 2011

A few weeks ago, a king in waiting graced us with His visit – along with his wife, of course. One comment that came back time and again is this. How simple and how ordinary they seemed. They talked to people. They looked genuinely interested in what people were telling them. They dressed like most people – Katherine actually wearing the same dress twice. To royal observers, William and Katherine are the hope for a new, better, accessible and up-to-date monarchy.

Having met Prince Andrew before, I wonder if it is not us, commoners, who are putting the royal family on a pedestal, thinking they are something they are not. I wonder if we do not make their life more complicated by making them something they are not.

It is the same with Christianity. Sometimes, as I sit in my office and read a book or an article towards a sermon or another ministry facet, I ask myself, “Does Christianity has to be so complicated?” There are so many ideas out there, it seems, trying to further explain what it means to be a Christian and what it means to live out one’s faith. I would be curious to know how many books are published on Christianity every week. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was not a dozen or so throughout the world. No wonder Christianity seems complicated.

As I read today’s passage and reflected on it, I don’t think it was Jesus’ intention to make following Him so complicated. Sometimes I wonder if the simplicity of His message is, well, just too simple for us. We have to make it more complicated so as to make it more sophisticated. We try to explain things away which cannot be explained except to say that they are mystery. Or we try to explain things so that Jesus’ words would be more appealing and not so startling.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus revealed a secret. If we want our faith to grow we have to trust God fully. And to trust God is more than just knowledge and more than just hearing the Word. It is to put into practice what Jesus taught and follow the example He gave us in His life. I mentioned that the message of the Good News is understandable. However, putting it into practice is another matter. If we want to grow, be strong and be fruitful, we have no choice but to cultivate the soil of our soils and put into practice God’s word.

Jesus makes the point of this simple secret in the passage we will look at today. It is found in Mark 4: 21- 25. “He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lamp stand? For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ 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. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’”

What Jesus is saying here is different from what He says in Matthew. In Matthew, Jesus is calling each of us to be a light into a dark world. In this particular instance, Jesus is referring to himself. He is the light and He did not come to be hidden under a basket or a bed. He came to be seen and to show clearly and plainly.
This reinforces what He says through the parable of the sower. In that parable the sower throws the seed liberally, everywhere. Jesus tells us that He came as the light to do the same. He didn’t come to be hidden. He came to shed the light of God’s kingdom all over this world. He came to be put on a lamp stand.

That is pretty easy to understand. It is quite obvious that Jesus did not try to hide the Good News of God’s kingdom during his three years of ministry. The four gospels record that very well. What does that have to do with us understanding what Christianity is all about, you may ask?

I think that when people first heard Mark’s gospel, they understood what or rather who the stand was meant to be. It was them. They were the ones who would hold Jesus high for all to see. And that is another aspect of the Kingdom of God that not all can see or understand.

“’Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ And Jesus 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. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’”

These words of Jesus are connected to the parable of the sower. For the more we cultivate our hearts so that the seed of the Good News can grow, the better our soil gets and the more fruitful and strong our faith becomes. Jesus continues that thought by saying that the more we lift up the light of Christ to shine, the higher we are able to let it shine.

You see, I think that the point Jesus is making in this statement is that we are not the light. The light is Jesus Himself. God will make Jesus shine no matter what because this is His plan – that the Good News will be known and will be seen. The challenge that Jesus issues us is this. We are in possession of light. What will we do with it? Will we attempt to hide, extinguish, aim it or let it shine wherever it may?

We have been entrusted with the Good News of the kingdom of God which tells us that God can be trusted for all that we need. The question is, what do we do with this knowledge? Do we live by that trust or do we live, not really trusting that God can and does provide?

What I mean is this: We all have heard that God has promised to provide for our needs. But what kind of provisions do we want? Do we want provisions like that of our neighbour? Are we looking for material provisions so that our lives can be enriched?

We who live in this land of plenty, how would we respond to the people who find themselves in the turmoil of civil war and drought like Somalia? What is the Good News for these people? How would we respond to people who live in China, working long hours, earning little and having to live in industrial cities far away from their homes and are so polluted that it is always hazy outside? What is the Good News there? And what about the farmer in South America who is asked to grow food using chemicals that are harmful to his and his family’s health, cannot read enough to know how to better protect himself and who will never earn enough money to send his children past elementary school? What is the Good News for them?

We who live in Canada are part of the world that cherishes everything that is material. When we think of the Good News, we think of it mostly in terms of benefit. It is something that is bound to give us an advantage, an edge that we wouldn’t have otherwise. And we most often think of the benefit as being material, and if not immediate, then something which will profit us fairly quickly. We are raised to think of the Good News as something that will make us happy and should prevent hardship. We think of the Good News in terms of success as either increasing our knowledge, our possessions and even our status. And the Good News does have a tendency to give us that in this part of the world primarily because of all the potential that exists here.

But Jesus did not address people for the sake of the material world. He addressed people for the sake of the eternal Kingdom. For sure, the Kingdom of God has an impact on the way we live in this material world. But the greater impact is on why we live in this world and what the next world has to offer. This is where justice and equality will ultimately conquer. This is where everyone will be judged according to what they have done with the seeds that were planted in their hearts. This is where it will be measured how well we allowed the light of Christ shine.
For two thirds of the world, this is the Good News. This is what really matters. For our third of the world, we who have been given much materially, I think in many ways we are the ones who have the least because we so quickly lose sight of the eternal message of the Good News. And we lose sight of what it means to truly trust in the providence of God.

May we truly hear what Jesus is saying about His kingdom and what it means to be one of God’s children in this world. May we lift up the light of Jesus high as we endeavour to learn and live as He has taught us.