The combination of these two very short parables is absolutely astounding. With these two simple, succinct teachings, Jesus outlines for us our mission as Christians and our future before God. Both of these teachings come with an added injunction from Jesus to pay special attention: If you have ears, listen! That makes it clear that these teachings are especially important.
The Church, each Christian family and each individual Christian has the mission to be a sign of faith and hope in the midst of the dark, despairing culture around us. Being Christian is not just for our own personal benefit but rather a mission to share our joy and hope with others, to be a point of orientation for everyone else. Our personal salvation and relationship with Jesus are not just for ourselves. That light in our lives serves as a point of orientation that draws others to Christ. They see the light of the risen Christ in us. Jesus says very clearly that one does not light a lamp to hide it. Faith is not to be locked away, treasured in a personal, private place in our heart, or hidden from public view. On the contrary a Christian faith is lived out as an open, public mission to show people how to get to Jesus. Any attempt to hide the Christian life or make it completely personal would be absurd, like putting a lamp under a bed or under a bushel. Christians are light for the good of everyone else.
Having established the purpose of our lives as Christians, Jesus then comes the second point – judgement. Now in general this is a difficult issue for most pagan cultures and even for folks of faith who have lapsed into natural religiosity due to lack of catechesis or practice. In those mind sets, the gods are usually seen as some sort of severe judge. Those gods tend to be whimsical and capricious in their ways of judging humans. Even the Old Testament is full of so many regulations and rules that it would be hard to understand how we are going to be judged and which rules will be important at our final judgment. In those pagan cultures and from a natural religiosity point of view, overall, one looks at one’s final judgement with a lot of confusion, uncertainty, and fear.
Jesus announces something different. Our life with God will continue on into the future and through our moment of final judgement based on how we live out our lives now with others and with God. If we are generous about our Christian mission and life, we will receive generosity. Generosity produces more generosity and abundance of life. If we are stingy, greedy, and selfish we will receive stinginess. Greed and selfishness produce the opposite of life, a reduction in life.
Each day we measure out how we will be judged on the last day. Each day we are knitting out the tapestry of the rest of our life and our participation in God’s life later. The end result of our lives is not so much an external judgement by an unknowable, capricious god, but rather a continuation in the love of God, the Father of Jesus, based on how we ourselves have decided to live in that communion through our life with God and with others. Faith, hope and love have to be practiced and lived to grow into the future and beyond our day of judgement.
To the one who has, more will be given;
from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
Image: https://ebarnetbaptist.org.uk/sermon/the-lamp-mark-4v21-25/