Mark 4:21-25--A Lamp Under a Basket

Mark 4:21-25
English Standard Version
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A Lamp Under a Basket
21 And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

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A lamp as a purpose that is part of its identity--it exists to be lit and to give light.  Since a lamp works on the principle of "line of sight," then it is most useful and sticking closest to its intended "meaning" when it is elevated up above any objects which could block line of sight.  That way it gives light to all that are in the room.

It would be foolish, counter-productive, and against the very nature of the lamp if someone were to light a lamp and then cover it up so that the light would not be seen.  The lamp might as well be unlit at that point.  The parable here uses the examples of hiding the lamp under a basket or under a bed.  Not only is the light hidden there, but putting the lamp in such a place would be dangerous as there is much potential to catch the basket or the bed on fire.  Eventually, the existence of the lamp would be made known one way or another--either it provides light as it was intended to, or it starts a destructive fire because someone intended to hide its light which cannot be hidden.

Jesus then makes the connection that the only reason that people try to hide a light source is because they are trying to sneak around and don't want people to see what they are doing.  He speaks clearly about this in John 3, starting in verse 19, "19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Then several other parables are summed up in short quips.  Be careful what you listen to!  By whatever measure you measure out to others it will be used to measure back to you!  (Be generous to others--also this has to do with whatever measure we use to judge others and the same measure being used by others to judge us).  The one with many talents who has been entrusted with much and is faithful with it will be entrusted with even more, but the one who was unfaithful with the little that he was entrusted with, even that little will be taken away and entrusted to someone more faithful (the Parable of the Talents).

It is assumed that we will know the context of these teachings without needing to give the entire parable, but if you need to see the parables, most of them are in Matthew and Luke.  Mark's gospel is going to focus specifically on the parables that have to do with the "kingdom" and the "gospel."  We'll talk about a couple of other short parables in the next couple of journal articles.