Parables PT. 2

Let’s Review:

What have we learned so far threw the Gospel of Mark?

Jesus has started His Ministry, He was Baptized, He was Tempted in the Wilderness for forty days and nights, Called His disciple; made them Apostles, Has been confronted by the Pharisees, and Has begone teaching in Parables.

A Lamp under a Basket

English Standard Version (Chapter 4)

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.”

So before we jump in what are parables?

Parables are stories that are told by Jesus to help teach lessons on the nature of God, aspects of Heaven, and life lessons.

So why does Jesus start speaking in Parables?

He did it because we need to want to learn about God and be truly seeking Him. That’s why he states “‘they may indeed see, but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ” (MK 4:12 ) We are suppose to work and want to have a relationship the difference between seeing and perceiving is that perceiving requires a person to actively try to find what you are looking for. And the same is for the hearing and understanding. You have to actively try to understand something why you hear everything passively.

So know that we have gone over some of the basics let us jump into the verses.

Where do you put a lamp?

We see that Jesus is talking to a crowd of people and He is using another Parable. So Jesus is starting this parable by mentioning a lamp, now lamps what type of lamp did people use to use back in Jesus’s time.

They used oil lamps some of the most common in the average person’s homes looked like a small tea pitcher or a gravy bowl, and was typically made out of clay. A person would then open the led that was on top and would fill it with oil, then they would light it at a small mouth point at the front of the lamp where it would then slowly burn and give light.

This would have been something that anyone and everyone wold have been familiar with within this time. It was something that everyone could easily see picture and know what He was describing.

Now why would Jesus use something that everyone knows what it is?

He would use objects that people would commonly know that way people could more easily relate to the lesson in which Jesus was teaching with this parable.

This brings us back to the question of what is the purpose of a lamp?

the purpose of a lamp is to give light and to illuminate rooms, to chase away the darkness

So everyone listening would have already known what a lamp did and then they knew that you would not hide the lamp under something.

Why wouldn’t you hide or cover a lamp

For a lamp gives off light so if you cover it it will not work.

We see Jesus explain that nothing is hidden.

In verse 22 Jesus gives us the answer. when he says MK 4:22 “For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light.”

So what does Jesus mean by this?

Jesus is saying that with the light anything that needs to be made known will become known. and that there is know secret that the Light cannot make known.

So what is the Light?

The Light is The