Luke 11:33 - 36
33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. What does it look like to hide our lamps from others?
2. What does it mean that our eye is the lamp of our body?
3. How can our eye be healthy or bad?
4. What does it mean that the light in us can be darkness?
5. How can our whole body be full of light? What does that look like?
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2017/06/mark-421-25-21-he-said-to-them-do-you.html says:
ReplyDeletepart of the problem is that we have been lead to believe that our religious faith is a purely personal thing; that is that we should keep it to ourselves. . . .First, we are called to receive the light. . . Second, once we have received the light then we are called to walk in the light. . . Third, we are called to reflect the light.
darkness distorts reality. . . Light reveals things as they really are. . . We cannot live light-filled lives in our society without standing out, without having people notice us. They may not like us, and they may reject us; but they will know that we are there.
Jesus said two things would happen when you shine your light: 1. Men will see your good deeds. . . A watching culture sinking into the hopeless, despairing abyss of its own unchecked desires could not help but notice these Christians had something they needed. . . 2. They give God the credit. . . .That’s how much influence we have. We can point men to God. We can lead them out of dark-ness into the light.
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It is important, however to know that it is not our light, but the reflection of the Light of the world, Jesus Christ Himself, that people will see in us.
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The Gospel is a message of salvation, but it is also a message of confrontation. It is a message that reveals the darkness of the human heart. People are like insects and other creatures of the night, they flee light when it shines upon them. Why? Jesus said it was because “their deeds are evil”, John 3:16-21.
When the light of the Gospel shines into a person’s heart, it reveals all the darkness contained in that heart. That is a painful experience for the lost sinner. Yet, when the darkness is exposed to the light, the darkness will have to flee and salvation will be the result. The first step in coming to Jesus to be saved is having your sins exposed to the light.
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The person who hears the truth and passes it on will see his ability to receive truth expanded. As this kind of person hears the truth and gives it away, the Lord continually reveals more truth to him. He grows in the things of God in ways he could never have imagined. That is the promise to the person who gives away the light!
The person who rejects truth will see his ability to recognize truth diminished. Not only will this kind of individual receive less truth, they will eventually lose their grasp of the truth they once had.
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2017/06/mark-421-25-21-he-said-to-them-do-you.html continued:
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents on the questions:
What should we be sharing? God is light. When we come to Him and submit ourselves to Him, His light shines in us. This is what we should be sharing - this light in us. This leads to the next question: What does sharing this light look like? I believe it's a life filled with thankfulness to God, glorifying God in everything we do. It's living a life that is responding to God's light in us. It spans everything good. That's why there is such diversity between Christians. This light shines in a multitude of ways.
Question 2 dealt with things we should not be sharing. When I formulated the question, I was thinking about truth (which is what I speculated seeds were). I am not sure if "seeds" and "light" are exactly the same thing. In the case of light, I believe that it is not defined as God's truth, but instead God's "being" (or presence or Spirit). It's what invades us when we are saved. God's light is something we should always be reflecting back to Him in praise. That light people will see and respond to.
We always reflect God's light, but we don't always share every truth without consideration of the receptor of truth. That's why I think that light and truth are not synonymous. Truth is something we use (by the guidance of the Holy Spirit) strategically - like Jesus did. Shining God's light is something we do all the time, without regard to people around us.
This answers the question as to how Jesus could constantly shine light but obscure the truth in parables.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-11-commentary says:
ReplyDeleteThe single heart is a heart which is not only changed, converted, and renewed; but thoroughly, powerfully, and habitually under the influence of the Holy Ghost. It is a heart which abhors all compromises, all luke-warmness, all halting between two opinions in religion. It sees one mighty object,—the love of Christ dying for sinners. It has one mighty aim,—to glorify God and do His will. It has one mighty desire,—to please God and be commended by Him. Compared with such objects, aims, and desires, the single heart knows nothing worthy to be named. The praise and favor of man are nothing. The blame and disapprobation of man are trifles light as air.
Watch out that the light in you is not darkness - Jesus anticipates the reaction to His teaching about light, knowing that His hearers considered themselves almost to be "bearers of the light." They felt their spiritual insight was superior and that they understood spiritual truth better than anyone. So here Jesus says "You think you have the light of spiritual insight. You need to be concerned about the fact that your so-called "spiritual light" is in fact spiritual darkness!"
There are two kinds of darkness: (a) that of ignorance, and (b) that of stubborn unbelief. It was that kind of darkness which reigned in the hearts of those who hated Jesus.
Every false religion, every form of heresy, every system in the world apart from the true gospel of Jesus Christ is nothing but another form of darkness. But the sad reality of it is the people think it’s light. This is why Satan disguises himself as an angel of … light. That’s his great deception, to make people think they found the light when in fact it’s the darkness. Listen to the words of Paul, Romans 1:21-22-note, “Even though they knew God, or had the knowledge of God available to them, they didn’t honor Him as God, didn’t give thanks, they became empty in their speculations, their foolish heart was darkened.” That’s why Jesus says you better take another look, watch out, you better look again. What you think is light is darkness.
Jesus alluded to this spiritual blindness to Biblical truth in Matthew (quoting Isaiah's prophecy)
Therefore I speak to them in parables (which are riddles if not explained); because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; (Mt 13:13-14 from Isa 6:9)
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-11-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteLeon Morris of "Defender's Study Bible" has an interesting note: "A mental belief in the facts concerning Christ is not sufficient for salvation. Open confession is an evidence of saving faith (Ro 10:9,10)."
Warren Wiersbe - Many people reject the truth simply because of the fear of man (John 12:42-43). Among those who will be in hell are "the fearful" (Rev. 21:8). Better to fear God and go to heaven than to fear men and go to hell!
http://www.netdevotions.org/Luke%2011,33-36.pdf says:
ReplyDeleteThis famous reading is something of an enigma. Most of us believe we understand what
Jesus was saying when He gave His example of a light being placed on a lamp stand, which
gives light to a whole room. But even before we move on to see what Jesus said about this
illustration, we need to be careful. It is popular to think of this as Jesus’ encouragement to us
to let our faith and our gifts be seen by others in the world. This of course is a fair thought,
for Jesus asked His disciples to ‘go into all the world’ to preach the Gospel and do the things
He did (Matthew 24:19, John 14:12 etc.). But is this what Jesus is talking about here? As we
read on into this famous saying, we need to be a little more careful about our presumptions.
To begin with, Jesus speaks about the lighting of a lamp (11:33). But He goes on to say
more, and describes the eye as the ‘lamp of the body’ (11:34). This is rather mysterious to
us, because we would not quickly spot the similarities between the two. For us, a lamp works
quite differently to an eye; even if they are connected by the concept of light, one is a natural
feature of life, and the other is an organ of the body! Nevertheless, the rest of our passage is
a saying of Jesus, connecting the two together. Fortunately, even if we do not quite
understand why Jesus said ‘the eye is the lamp of the body’, His message is not too difficult
to grasp, at least on the surface. It is about the ‘whole body’ being ‘filled with light’
(11:35,36); and to this is added a strong moral message, in which Jesus speaks about the
‘eye’ being ‘good and honest’, and not ‘evil’ (11:34).
What does all this mean? Certainly, although Jesus began with the famous saying about not
‘hiding your light ... under a bowl’, what He said after it does not fit with the popular message
about the availability of peoples’ faith, gifts and talents in the world. The next few verses are
all about the personal inner light, not about shining one’s light outwardly. It seems that Jesus
wanted to drive home a moral message about being honest and sincere and not letting evil
have a hold within the personal spiritual life. His desire was to see people completely ‘lit up’
with the light (11:36), and it is impossible for us to conclude that the light can be anything
© Paul H Ashby Derby 2012 www.prayerandbiblestudy.org 17/07/2012 page 3
other than the light of God in Christ Jesus! He is the light that must be placed on the lamp
stand of our lives, and not hidden away. We do not lighten up our own bodies, and we
certainly do not do this through our own eyes!
While this is close to the heart of what Jesus was saying here, we are still faced with
something of a mystery about why Jesus spoke about the eye as being ‘the lamp of the
body’. In the first century AD, Jesus’
understanding of the eye was quite different to ours today.
http://www.netdevotions.org/Luke%2011,33-36.pdf continued:
ReplyDeleteNowadays, we regard the eye as a physical organ that lets light in, so that our brains collect
the information this provides and deduce what we see. It is quite difficult to imagine
otherwise! In a non-scientific world, however, people had a number of different ‘views’ as to
the workings of the eye, and we know this from a variety of ancient writings, not least from
passages from the Bible that refer to the eye in a variety of colourful ways (see ‘Going
Deeper’). But one thing is clear, and this is that ancient people had no concept of light being
gathered inside the eye to make sense of the world, as we do. For them, the eye was rather
like a window on the soul joining the individual with the outside world.
Moreover, ancient people believed that just as the eye enabled the individual to perceive
some part of the world around (similar to our idea of letting light in), it also revealed some
part of the inner personality to the outside world.
So with all this in mind, it is possible to put together everything Jesus says here. The lamp
placed on a lamp stand to give light to the whole body (11:33) is Jesus’ illustration of an
important truth. He wants people to take into themselves the truth of His light (11:35f.). In
this way, the eye and the lamp have the same function, to allow light to be spread throughout
a person’s ‘body’.
Jesus adds one interesting thing to this picture, and it is found in verse 34. Here, He says
that when human eyes are ‘good and honest’, they allow the ‘light’ of Jesus to fill the entire
‘body’, but when the eye is evil, ‘the body is full of darkness’ (11:34). So although the light is
pure, it is filtered by our eyes, which have the power to ‘perceive’ things in different ways. He
longs for human hearts to be open to the simple and child-like honesty that accepts God’s
Word and the evidence of Christ’s work on earth at face value. This is the best way for
people to be flooded with the light of God!
http://www.netdevotions.org/Luke%2011,33-36.pdf continued:
ReplyDelete‘Look carefully, then, at whether the light in you is darkness’ (11:35)
This is Jesus message of concern, addressed to the people who were following Him at this
point. Jesus had just been expressing concern at the failure of His fellow countrymen to
respond to the message of God’s love, offered to them in the form of His miracles, signs and
wonders (11:27-32). His conclusion seems to be that their ‘eyes’ are somehow evil, and they
have not allowed the light to penetrate into their bodies where it might illuminate them.
With this in mind, should we interpret Jesus’ first comment about not hiding a light under a
bowl as Jesus’ comment on the works of the Father? God does not hide Jesus under a bowl
– His work is to be shown to the nations on the Cross of Calvary, as Jesus now knows
(9:22,44), it is not to be kept for the Jewish people alone. Moreover, God looks for people
who will receive the light of His revelation in honest truth and simplicity, for this is the only
way that darkness will be dispelled (11:34-36)
Ideas for what to do
There is a certain amount of self examination implied by this passage. At least, we
who read this should examine ourselves as to whether our ‘eye’ is ‘good and honest’,
and whether the ‘light’ within us is enlightening the whole of our lives, body soul and
spirit. Try to make sense of these different aspects of what Jesus says within your
own life.
© Paul H Ashby Derby 2012 www.prayerandbiblestudy.org 17/07/2012 page 7
Ask yourself these things. In what ways is the Light of Christ visible in the world
today? Does God wants us to make His light more visible? Think about them
carefully. I do not want to imply any answer to these questions because we should
each consider them for ourselves.
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. What does it look like to hide our lamps from others?
The question is wrongly worded. We don't have lamps and we don't have light (unless it is the light from being made in the image of God). Jesus Christ is our lamp. We need to keep this straight (and many times we don't). If we view the light as coming from ourselves, we deceive ourselves, and others are going to see us as the hypocrites we are.
Jesus is the light of the world. Our jobs are to point the way to Him. Our jobs are to glorify Him in everything we do. It's not just about evangelism. It's about who, what and how we live our lives.
2. What does it mean that our eye is the lamp of our body?
The ancient world thought that the eye was the interface to the world. It revealed the world to us and it revealed ourselves to the world. I think for this verse, that's a good way to think about it.
3. How can our eye be healthy or bad?
Only Jesus / the Holy Spirit (i.e. God) can make us internally good. Otherwise, we are bad. The eye is the interface to what we refer as our hearts. Once we have been redeemed, God purifies our hearts. If we feed our hearts the things of God, our hearts remain clean. If we feed it impurities, it will become unhealthy.
4. What does it mean that the light in us can be darkness?
I think this speaks to what we let through the eye and into our hearts. The things of Satan can look shiny and bright, and can appeal greatly. But, when we let it into our souls, it turns to darkness. When we allow Jesus in, that darkness is driven off.
5. How can our whole body be full of light? What does that look like?
When we allow Jesus in, He shines light on the darkness in us (this is called regeneration). We come into the light out of the darkness. Everything in us becomes submitted to God. However, when we come to Christ, He often times shines His light on areas of our lives that we then have to deal with, but many times, not all at once (this is called sanctification). Furthermore, as we go along, we allow darkness to enter, which Christ will then shine His light on.
It starts by coming to Christ and being filled with light. It ends when Jesus comes back and finally drives out all vestiages of darkness from us.
I found this statement so powerful " A watching culture sinking into the hopeless, despairing abyss of its own unchecked desires could not help but notice these Christians had something they needed. . . 2. They give God the credit. . . .That’s how much influence we have. We can point men to God. We can lead them out of dark-ness into the light."
ReplyDelete