“No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel…” ~ Lk 8:16a

Today, it’s a buy one get 2 free kind of day. I encourage you to reread the Today’s gospel and see what new ideas come up after reading this note.

#1 – The Lamp of Our God-Given Talents

In the days of Jesus, people lived in single room houses. Lighting a lamp would illuminate the entire “house.” There would be little reason to hide it. Nowadays, most houses need multiple lights to cover the space; and the multiple rooms allow us to have our special corner of privacy. And our digital devices gives us all the entertainment we need without needing another person.

Here’s where I get creative.

What if the lamp is the gifts and talents God gave you?
What if that’s the personal mission the kingdom of heaven needs you to fulfill?
What if that’s the light you are supposed to shine on those that cross your path?

How easy it is to lurk in the crowd and let someone else speak the message of love. How easy it is to dim our light with the…I’m not good enough, who am I to do that, and someone else is better than I.

The world is busier and technology makes it even easier to hide our gifts.

I don’t know about you but my most common to reject the mission God gives me is to hide behind the guise of humility. To me, there’s a fine line between humility and hiding.

Now, more than ever, you and I need to stop hiding, and faithfully spread God’s love through what we do best.

Notice I used “faithfully” not courageously. Courage, in this context, implies that it’s up to us to for fruit to grow. Our job is to plant seeds, maybe water it, and then trust God to take care of the rest.

Hiding is Futile: Transparency in Faith

The Jewish communities of Jesus’ days valued transparency. Closing your windows and doors meant you were trying to hide something and gave the impression you were skimming dangerous things. Hence, the doors and windows stayed opened during the day so everyone could see each others doings.

Verse 17 is Jesus way to create a visual that to God nothing is secret.

What am I covering up by kneeling just a little longer?
How much does my behavior change when I know someone of influence is close by?
Who am I trying to impress with all my volunteering?
What am I seeking by leading a stewardship ministry?

I like using this examples because I find it easy to fall into thinking great things are happening because of me rather than God acting through me.

It’s easy to think I am better than someone else because I have multiple devotional disciplines and actively engage in Church activities.

Several times Jesus states the importance of noticing where is our heart whenever we claim to be doing something for God.

So, the question is: what’s hiding in my heart?

Hearing Beyond Words: How vs. What

Verse 18 has been quoted many times, and it’s regularly used in the context of justices and riches. To the farmers of the 1st century, those getting richer are the land owners and tax collectors; and the poorer, those collecting debt.

What I find interesting is that we ignore the 1st sentence of the verse, “Take care, then, how you hear”.

While Jesus was likely asking the disciples to pay attention, I’d like to think he was warning us about properly listening to the word of God.

Recall this reading is placed right after the parable of the seeds falling in different soil.

The operating word is “how” not what. There’s a distinct outcome when reflecting on how am I hearing to God voice versus what am I hearing.

Too often, I get caught debating words rather than the message. I somehow think that the perfect word will make God’s voice better. Am I seeking for insight and wisdom or am I looking to be right and win debates?

Let’s not forget the Pharisees and Sadducees, knew the law backwards and forwards and still managed to miss Christ’s message and intent.

I’m taking today’s Gospel as Jesus saying, to those who can hear God’s word with a pure and open heart, more guidance and understanding will be given; and to those stuck in theirs ways, whatever they think they have will be taken away because they never understood it in the first place.

My apologies for the longer ramble but today’s Gospel got my wheels turning.

Feel free to share what insights came as you reviewed the readings or read this note.

In peace,

~Juan