Year 2 Day 91
Read - John 8:12, Mark 4:21-23
Message - Alan Burke
There are many days I wonder what will be flung back at me from what truth is contained in these devotions but I think I’m fairly safe with this one, you ready for it? Light, it’s essential for life. This week we continue on in Mark’s gospel but as we read Scripture we must let scripture interpret Scripture, so to help us on Wednesday think of what Jesus is teaching in the parable of the lamp under a basket (Mk 4:21-24) we need to have some context. In the beginning God created the lights in the sky, the sun, the moon and the stars (Gen 1:14-16), but before that there was light. For in the beginning God said, “let there be light” and there was light and God saw that the light was good (Gen 1:3-4), light was there before anything other source of light for as 1 John 1:5 reminds us “God is light”, for He is light itself.
Throughout the Old Testament light is often associated with God and his word, I’m going to pick a few out here. The words of David in Psalm 27 “The LORD is my light and my salvation” (27:1), again David in 2 Samuel “For you are my lamp, O LORD and my God lightens my darkness” (22:29) and probably the best known one that many of us learnt in Sunday school, holiday bible clubs etc is Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”. You get the idea.
Now think to John’s gospel where we are told… Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn 8:12). The lamp and light are a metaphor for God himself, Jesus himself said he was the light. Now think to how the prologue of Mark’s gospel opened where were are told, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). As we read Mark’s gospel and understand that it is all about Jesus, as we understand who Jesus is the son of God, the light of the world, then we read this passage and as we read the lamp, we understand so much more of what Jesus is saying; for he is saying that he is the lamp of God who has come to bring light and revelation of the kingdom of God, he is the lamp of this parable that enlightens and reveals (Jn 1:5; 8:12).
Jesus is this lamp who has entered the world, the one who had come and went into Galilee in order to preach the gospel, to provide illumination to the people, to bring light, to bring the kingdom of God (1:38). These parables are about the secret of the kingdom of God that is now being revealed, the kingdom of God that is present in the person of Jesus and to many who are on the outside, remains veiled, unknown, they do not understand, they cannot hear. Yet the purpose in Jesus coming, just as the purpose in a lamp or a light in our home is not to keep things hidden, but instead to illuminate.
Q94 What is baptism?
Baptism is a sacrament, wherein the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, (Matt. 28:19) doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’ s. (Rom. 6:4, Gal. 3:27)