Reflective Bible Study

Of the metaphors and illustrations Jesus used during His time preaching and teaching, He seemed to return periodically to the idea of light and that we should not hide the light that we have been given. Several weeks ago, we touched on one of these passages, and in our episode for this week, we turn our attention onto another time Jesus uses this metaphor.

However, unlike the last time we read about Jesus using this metaphor, this time Jesus shares a different conclusion and He emphasizes a different truth that we should learn.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 8, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 16, Luke tells us Jesus taught:

¹⁶ “Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light. ¹⁷ For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. ¹⁸ So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”

In these few verses, while Jesus shares a similar visual picture of not hiding a lamp after lighting it, the truth Jesus concludes with is powerful and unique. Jesus shifts our focus away from shining our light and onto the truth that nothing we think is secret will ultimately remain secret. And like Jesus teaches about in other parts of the gospels, we should be intentional about how we listen, and we should be intentional about what we have been given.

What do secrets, listening well, and being responsible have to do with lighting a lamp? On the surface, it would appear as though these ideas don’t readily align with each other. For example, keeping a secret is more logical in some cases than exposing the secret, while the metaphor of lighting a lamp implies keeping a secret is illogical and fundamentally impossible in the long run.

However, Jesus placed these seemingly opposite ideas together for a reason, so let’s discuss why He may have done this.

First off, what would be the biggest examples of secrets that should remain hidden? While it might be logical to lump activities like theft, moral failures, sexual sins, coveting, lust, lies, and/or other less reputable activities into being secrets that we might believe should remain hidden, there are much fewer actual examples of secrets that shouldn’t be exposed.

A secret about harm being done to someone needs to be exposed, because by exposing it, potential future harm can be avoided. A secret where someone felt hurt or experienced loss needs to be exposed for the same reasons.

Very few types secrets benefit society when they stay hidden. This is simply because secrets separate people. While two people might feel closer when they have a secret that is hidden from everyone else, outside observers will eventually notice that those with secrets will start to pull away from the community. When the members of a community isolate themselves, the community suffers.

In this passage, Jesus doesn’t focus on keeping secrets. The emphasis is on exposing secrets and shining light on them. The clear truth Jesus emphasizes is that we don’t have the choice about whether a secret will stay a secret. All we can do once a secret is present is choose to reveal it on our terms, or let time expose it outside of our terms.

The destiny of secrets is ultimately for them to be revealed, and when we honestly think about it, nothing is truly a secret, especially when we bring God into the picture. It is foolish to think we could keep a secret from God, who knows everything, and sees everything, and who understands our thoughts better than we do. The best-case scenario is that a secret is kept between one or more people and God – except that through Jesus, God has challenged us with the truth that all secrets will be revealed.

We don’t have the choice of whether a secret will ultimately be revealed. The choice we do have for a limited time is exposing the secret on our own terms.

While this would be a great place to finish off our episode, I want to take a few more minutes and share two other ideas regarding secrets.

The first idea is that when discussing secrets, there is a close cousin to a secret we call a surprise. While secrets have a negative reputation, surprises generally have a positive one. However not all secrets are negative and not all surprises are positive. So what is the difference?

In my own mind, we should define a surprise as a secret that is designed to be revealed and as a secret that when it is revealed uplifts all of those present. A surprise party is a good example. While those who the party is for don’t usually know all the details, or perhaps even any of the details, of the party, they get to enjoy the event and after the surprise has been revealed, the secret-surprise is no longer a secret. A surprise party is a temporary secret.

Another example is when a couple learns they are pregnant. There are many weeks that the gender of the child is unknown, and even when they reach the point of learning the gender for themselves, they can choose to keep it a secret from others, or they can choose how they want to share their great news with their friends.

However, the nature of this secret also demonstrates the temporary nature of secrets and surprises because there will be a point that a birth occurs and those in the baby’s life will learn the new arrival’s biological gender.

Secrets pull people apart because they never want to be revealed to others. Surprises can draw people together because of the release that happens when the news is shared.

The other idea that is worth sharing is that it is possible – and perhaps even desirable – to live a life where secrets aren’t even necessary. If we lived our lives knowing that our history would be turned into a biography or a novel, would we change how we lived? If we lived our lives knowing that everything we do, think, and say was being recorded for our family, friends, and community to review, would we choose to live differently?

If we would live differently knowing that others knew something about our lives, then we have the opportunity to change how we live now, and we have the opportunity to avoid a secret from forming or getting worse.

The goal of a life with integrity is that both the public and private areas of life match up, and when we talk about integrity as a characteristic of our character, we see both the public and private areas of our life as something that we are not embarrassed of if they get revealed to others.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always do, the first challenge is to seek God first and to continue placing Him first in your life. If you have secrets hidden in your life, choose the best way to move forward. Know that eventually, the secret will be exposed, and that makes the opportunity you have right now one where you can expose the secret on your own terms. While I don’t know what your secrets are, know that God does know, and if you are fearful of how to move forward, take your fear to God and let Him lead and guide you with how to move forward.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and Bible study, we can grow our personal relationship with God and we can let Him give us the courage to face our fears and let Him help us step into the plan He has for our lives.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or hide yourself away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

While several of the other gospel writers include an event like this much later in Jesus’ ministry, John shares with us a time very early on in Jesus’ ministry when He goes to the temple and clears out the commerce. However, while John’s gospel includes this event, what fascinates me more than Jesus kicking the merchants and moneychangers out of the temple is what John tells us happened next.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 2, and we will read it from the New International Reader’s Version. Starting in verse 13, John sets the stage saying:

¹³ It was almost time for the Jewish Passover Feast. So Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courtyard he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves. Others were sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So Jesus made a whip out of ropes. He chased all the sheep and cattle from the temple courtyard. He scattered the coins of the people exchanging money. And he turned over their tables. ¹⁶ He told those who were selling doves, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered what had been written. It says, “My great love for your house will destroy me.”

Pausing briefly, while we might think Jesus challenged those in the temple because they were cheating people and being dishonest, nothing in John’s description of this event suggests dishonesty. Instead, John frames Jesus’ actions as being against cheapening God’s house and making it like any other marketplace. This challenge is one that says God’s house should be a place where the focus is on God and not on anything else.

This challenge also strongly suggests that God’s house shouldn’t be a place where money is exchanged. Giving money as tithe or offering is different. The big issue I see in Jesus’ actions and words is against exchanging money for goods or services in God’s house because treating where we worship as a marketplace cheapens the holiness of where we come to God to worship Him.

However, Jesus’ actions don’t sit well with the Jewish leaders. Continuing in verse 18, John tells us:

¹⁸ Then the Jewish leaders asked him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do this?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “When you destroy this temple, I will raise it up again in three days.”

²⁰ They replied, “It has taken 46 years to build this temple. Are you going to raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But the temple Jesus had spoken about was his body. ²² His disciples later remembered what he had said. That was after he had been raised from the dead. Then they believed the Scripture. They also believed the words that Jesus had spoken.

Pausing again, whenever I read this brief discussion Jesus has with the Jewish leaders, I chuckle a little because I am confident Jesus answered the way He did in order to be truthful but misunderstood. Jesus intended the Jewish leaders to misunderstand Him.

I suspect that Jesus did this intentionally because if He had spoken in a way that was more clear, they probably would have tried to kill Him on that spot.

Also very interesting to me is exactly what Jesus says in His response. In verse 19, Jesus tells these religious leaders, “When you destroy this temple, I will raise it up again in three days.”

When I casually read this, and John’s explanation that Jesus was referring to His body and to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, I might be tempted to understand it instead as “When you destroy this temple, [God] will raise it up again in three days.”

However, Jesus does not tell us that the Father would resurrect Him, but that He would resurrect Himself. John, chapter 10, verses 17 and 18 also emphasizes this point when Jesus tells the religious leaders and those present that, “The reason my Father loves me is that I give up my life. But I will take it back again. No one takes it from me. I give it up myself. I have the authority to give it up. And I have the authority to take it back again.”

While I don’t believe we can understand the full nuances present in Jesus’ statements about His power to restore Himself, and while we cannot understand exactly how He was able to do this, we do know from all the gospel records that Jesus was crucified and that He returned to life on the third day!

However, our passage isn’t finished yet. John has one more thing to tell us about this event. Continuing reading in verse 23, John tells us that:

²³ Meanwhile, he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast. Many people saw the signs he was doing. And they believed in his name. ²⁴ But Jesus did not fully trust them. He knew what people are like. ²⁵ He didn’t need anyone to tell him what people are like. He already knew why people do what they do.

In this final portion of our passage, John emphasizes how Jesus gave the people signs from God and that this prompted people to believe in Him. However, John quickly follows up with an interesting framing of Jesus’ response. John tells us that Jesus did not fully trust people. Jesus did not fully trust sinners. This is significant because as followers of Jesus, we should clearly and wholeheartedly trust God, but we shouldn’t blindly trust sinners.

At the same time, we shouldn’t distance ourselves from sinners, because we would live a lonely life, and because we might even go crazy trying to get away from ourselves. Whether we like admitting it or not, we all are sinners.

Jesus came to redeem a world full of sinners living in active sin. He came to fulfill God’s plan for the redemption of His people. Jesus triumphed over sin and over Satan. Jesus succeeded God’s mission for His life because He didn’t push sinners away and because He didn’t blindly trust them either. Either option is a trap that could have derailed Jesus off of His mission, and we face the same two traps if we let people’s opinions take precedence over God’s plan for our lives.

As we move forward through life, remember to keep God’s plan first and to trust God exponentially more than sinners in every area of our lives.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first and place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him. Choose to trust God, have faith in Jesus, and move forward leaning on the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance. Choose to protect the places where you worship God and keep them special and free from distraction.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and step into the person God has created you to be. Through prayer and Bible study, discover how much God loves you and how much He has given to show you His love. Jesus came for you, and God wants to redeem you personally out of sin.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or fall away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!