NEWS FROM SANCTUARY:

Next Sunday Feb. 10^th @ 11am immediately following worship, we are all going to walk through Greenwood and do door hangers for the Green Bean to increase our contact and hospitality in Greenwood. We need you all with us…then come on back to the Bean for some treats.

THIS COMING Wednesday, the 6^th, is ASH WEDNESDAY … join us for a special Ash Wednesday, Lenten Preparation Service at the Sanctuary Office @ 8pm. We are located at 312 N. 85^th on the second floor above the WaMu Bank at 85^th and Greenwood. Enter from 85^th Street. All are welcome.

Looking for a small group. Contact Mark Mohrlang mark.mohrlang@gmail.com

PRAYERS:

Lord, we thank you for your goodness to us at Sanctuary as we live our lives in Greenwood and increase our outreach through the Green Bean Coffee House.

Christ, have mercy on all who are ill, lonely, poor or homeless.

Jesus, we thank you for news of several pregnancies in our congregation and we pray that you would watch over mom's and babies in the oven.

We also pray, Holy Spirit, for your blessing upon the many among us preparing for marriage.

God of Grace, bring mercy and peace to our war-torn world, we pray.

REFLECTIONS: on Mark 4:21-25 "light it up"

The recording voted top rock single of the 60's, 70's & 80's was demonstrative of the age of information in which we live, "when I'm driving in my car and a man comes on the radio and he's telling more and more about some useless information, trying to grab my imagination, I can't get no satisfaction."  Mick Jagger was sensing the overload and the lostness of our culture as early as the mid-60's.

And here we are in the midst of the 21^st Century Gluttony of Information. My father in law had shelves full of book on how to live to be 120, how to detox, deoxidize, de-whatever…and shelves full of supplements that we later learned could have dangerous interactions with one another. We buy books full of contradictory information to apply to one's life, with perhaps marginal success. There are finance books on how to get rich while also getting 7 new credit cards in the mail each day..

Lot's of information sources, but who is reliable? We used to have NBC, ABC, CBS – and they all told pretty much the same story. Now, you can watch coverage of a story on CNN, FOX, BBC and you have to ask "are all of these people missing the point and misleading me, or is one of the three mostly accurate and reliable".

In the midst or piles of information and data, confusing viewpoints and counterclaims on everything….is there are simple core TRUTH to which we ought to adhere and hold dear. Is there a center? I think our Lord Jesus teaches us that there is ….and, he tells a somewhat whimsical story to get the idea across.

This story Jesus tells is a parable…A parabola – is a circular, dish-shaped object….A parable is a 'rouned' or 'round about' way to make a truth more true by not actually telling it straight out. It is a metaphor of a greater truth.Parables were used a lot in Jesus time as "wisdom teachings". They were memorable…repeatable…entertaining…and practical because they used the stuff of everyday life. As we get ready to listen to the parable of the light under a basket…imgine just having talked to people in the parable of the sower – about spiritual growth compared to a wheat harvest. Then, imagine him walking into the field owners house with a bin full of very good wheat that has been milled to flour. Now…very practically, in the setting of a house that everyone in Jesus' time can easily visualize…he shares another important parable…

Mark 4:21-25

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."

Observations on this short, but shall we say, illuminating parable. J

This parable was important to Jesus and to his earliest followers and to the Gospel writers. It shows up in 3 of the 4 Gospels. And, it is on of 3 parables of Jesus using light as a theme.

Just a little background here about lamps, lampstands and baskets. Lamps were small urns that burned oil to provide light. There is a cute little grammatical word play in this parable the English translation of the Bible covers up. It literally reads, "does a lamp come into a room to be put under a basket?" Mark's lamp is alive…it moves. This gives us a hint that the light spoken of in the parable is not just a lamp…but a light embodied in the person of Jesus.

Lamps were a household necessity. They were placed on pole-like stands so they would be up off the ground and radiate more light around a darkened room.

And, a "basket" or "bushel" as is used in this text is actually what you and I would know as a "flour bin". This is interesting because this parable of the lamp and the basket follows the telling of the parable of the Sower in all three Gospels it appears in…And…the "basket" or "bushel" spoken of would be the container where the yield of the harvest sown would be stored for use. That's what a flour bin is for.

So, here is the overall picture given in this parable, delivered almost comically ---

Would it look absurd to you to walk into someone's house at night and see that they had lit an oil lamp for light, but then had dumped the fruit of their field – flour – out of their flour bin and put the inverted flour bin over the lit oil lamp??

 --- Of course, you wouldn't see this all that well, because you would be standing in a dark room, perhaps with some powdery flour on the bottom of your shoes wondering, "Could I take you to see someone who can help, my friend?" to the occupant of the house.

The parable then goes a bit crazier – let's say lighting a lamp, covering it with a dumped out flour bin and using lots of resources with no result – no light --- isn't enough for the friend we are visiting --- SEE, I am giving credit – NO ONE here is crazy enough to do this their home! 

So – now taking it up a notch…let's say the light is actually placed under "a bed".  In Jesus time, the word used for "bed" here would be like a couch – this is the kind of place where people ate meals, dining while reclining, around the table.

"Welcome to our house, Bob! Careful, don't bump into that empty candle stand you can't see right there….oh…and come and take a seat here in the sofa made of natural fibers with an oil fire in a lamp burning under it. We call it the hot-seat."

Jesus bottom-line in this story: Jesus' Point: It's absurd to even think of not acknowledging the light, placing it in its right place and living by the Light's illumination…Jesus is the light – and as one commentary says, "The truth to be taught is that all other lights which shine upon truth—natural revelation, reason, intuition, experience—are dim reflections from the brilliance of the Son of God. Thus, a standard is set for judging all other lights."

Jesus Warning: pay attention to what you hear and see from God...Put it to use. People of grace and love like us tend to be really good on "ooh….ahh…yeah…" and receiving stuff…and we can also be really gracious about letting ourselves and others IGNORE the grace we have received. Now…I would much rather be in a gracious community than a JUDGMENTAL one, but this parable is here, perhaps, to balance grace-addicts like ourselves.

The spiritual principal of godly-prospertity is in play in this parable: what you pay attention to in listening to and following Jesus will grow and multiply in you as character and action – and you will be rewarded with yet more and more Christ-likeness and the accompanying love, peace and joy that are products of the kingdom of God.  Ignore this stuff – and you will lose the blessings you have…and you will leave others stumbling around in the dark with you.

Take Aways for you and me

The first thing I notice when I apply this parable to me in a critical sort of way is: The Light (Jesus and His Word and His Spirit) ARE HERE BEFORE ME. I have been given a great, great gift.

This parable makes it clear to me, and I think, all of us…that just having the light and acknowledging it is not enough. An older Bible commentator, Matthew Henry said, "God expects a grateful return of his gifts to us, and a useful improvement of his gifts in us". Isn't that beautiful? God enlightens, warms, saves and sustains us…and we give that back to God by being openly transformed to Jesus way and living that and sharing that with others. At the same time, the use of the Christ-gifts within us as we return them to Jesus, become more powerful and effective over time.

When Jesus speaks of hearing….what he is saying is that we become people who look for an gobble up the light of God as we find it. A man named Warren Wiersbe said, "We must be careful how we hear  and what we hear for this determines what we have to share with others. We do not receive the Word so we can enjoy it by ourselves. We receive that we might share, just as a lamp gives itself to provide light for the house." This also makes clear that our first gift to our world is not our wisdom, common sense, professional degrees, etc….event those these are important…our first and greatest gift to the world is the light of Jesus Christ in and through us. The fate of Greenwood and the world is at stake here. The fate of the world is at stake here. Christ is the hope of the church and of God's people. The church (the Body of Christ) is the hope of the world. Dig it.

Jesus is teaching us in way that calls for us to bring up our intensity of following him and nail it down with REAL ACTION. What is that for you this week? Green Bean? Teaching Kids? Small Group Leadership? Young Life? A co-worker? Neglected family members?

 Bless you and make it a Great Week!!

Much love,

Dr. Randy L. Rowland

2854 NW 59th Street

Seattle, WA  98107

USA

206.953.0909

www.sanctuarycrc.org