The Lamp part 3

 The Lamp part 3

Luke 8:16 "No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light."

It is the least intuitive thing in our culture to remember, but to an Israelite of Jesus’ time, the focus was rarely if ever on the individual. Those of us born and raised in the United States have cut our teeth on the American Spirit of independence and rugged individualism, to the point that we completely lose sight of the fact that this concept was foreign to most of the world for most of history.

Most people would have thought of themselves first as a member of their family, their clan, their tribe. Their first thoughts would not have been about their own rights and freedoms, but about their responsibilities to those around them. The people of Jesus’ day were more defined by their relationships than by their jobs or hobbies.

If you ask someone today who they are, you might get a brief family sketch - parents, siblings, spouse. But more than likely, the conversation will quickly move to either what they do for a living or how they fill their spare time. You’ll find out that they are bankers, farmers, lawyers, Braves fans, coin collectors, fishermen, or hunters.

But if you were to ask the average man on the street in first century Jerusalem, you would have heard much more about family history, parents, grandparents, notable ancestors, place of residence and the like.

So, it’s not always easy for us to hear the parables Jesus told, or the letters Paul wrote, or the prophecies of the Old Testament and not immediately make the lessons learned personal. But over and over we see not individual messages and metaphors in the Bible, but corporate ones. Paul speaks of us as being parts of a body, living stones built together into God’s temple, joined together to be Christ’s bride. Jesus did the same, sheep in his flock, branches of his vine, the list goes on.

So, is there some corporate message in the parable of the lamp? Well, maybe.

In exile on Patmos, John saw a vision of seven golden lampstands (among other things). When Jesus explained the vision to him, the lampstands were the seven churches of Asia Minor to whom John was to write letters.

The lampstand is the church. The lampstand isn’t me. It’s us. And in a very real sense, the light of Jesus is going to be seen most clearly when the lampstand is working as a cohesive whole.

Wobbly lampstands are dangerous. If the legs aren’t sound, the lampstand is likely to fall over and light a dangerous fire. If the wicks aren’t properly trimmed, the flame doesn’t burn clear and bright. If the globe isn’t clean and polished, the light is dimmed.

You get the picture. As I said earlier in this lamp series, God doesn’t need me, and He doesn’t need you, but we are the means He has ordained to spread the Gospel. I think we should take that seriously.

When the world looks at the church, all too often what they see is a bunch of people who are so busy fighting each other over which Bible is the right Bible, or how old is the Earth, or when does the millenium start, or do women have to wear dresses or head coverings, or do spiritual gifts still operate today, or a thousand other things.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are some hills worth dying on. But most of the fights that are aired publicly from within the church should never become fights at all, much less public fights. Most of these discussions should be undertaken in private, and with much more charity.

We owe it to a lost and dying world to let the light of Jesus shine bright and clear, without confusion. We also owe it to the One who first loved us.