Candlesticks and secrets. This is a small side-explanation and summation immediately following the sower parable. What we have here is an explanation of an explanation. The sower parable, itself, was an explanation of a spiritual dynamic, but it was long and complex. Jesus felt the need of an addendum.
Luke 8:16-18, “No man, when he has lit a candle, covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed; but sets it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.
For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
Take heed therefore how you hear: for whosoever has, to him shall be given; and whosoever has not, from him shall be taken even that which he seems to have.”
We often see that Jesus used the commonplace – simple ordinary everyday things – to further illuminate a truth. In this instance, he turns to candlesticks. The dynamic of the sower parable involved taking ownership of one's spiritual qualities and working them to produce more of the same. The dynamic was hidden inside a parable as a secret, and yet, that secret was explained to the disciples.
The addendum was meant to show the disciples that secrets are a part of the overall answer. Lighting a candle is not merely a symbol of light as opposed to darkness, but more to the point, it represents the navigation of that darkness. Darkness, therefore, might be deemed representative of the secrets hidden within while the addition of light may be viewed as a first step toward successful navigation.
One lights a candle to expose the secrets of the dark. It is common to most of us; it is something done daily by millions of people. When I go into a room, I turn on the lights. I want to know where the leg of the couch is so I do not stump my toe. I wish to avoid all stumbling and all tripping over things. I want to see where each step is supposed to go. I may not always remember which side of the room my dresser is on. I may not have a clear mental concept of how high up on the door the lock is found. I could feel around in the dark, or I could better train my memory, but for me and for millions of others, it is simply more efficient to turn on the lights.
We are digging through a drawer in a chest of drawers. It is a drawer of possibilities. Let's see – where is that muscle I wish to add? In the dark, there are secrets; in the light, there are realizations. A seeker's first step of discovery is to turn on the light. How does this apply itself to the dynamic of the sower parable? I want biceps and I am in the gym looking at the exercise equipment. Looking at the equipment is of no use to me, neither is the knowledge of what they are for. Nothing at all will happen until I take that first step.
On a spiritual level, my first step is the light of life. By that alone may I discover, and use, those secrets which otherwise would have only tripped me up. There is something hidden inside of me; I believe it is there, but I cannot see it. I say this about the 'me' I wish to be. What is my first step in becoming that person? Where do I start? I can make a start – but what must I do? Once I see what I want to become and once I see what I have to work with, what can I expect for all my faith and labor? The light of life answers all of these questions.
My personal harvest can only be a better me – that is, more of who and what I already was. When I went digging through my drawer in search of a muscle to exercise, it was not a muscle that I found, rather it was a muscle illuminated. The muscle by itself would have been nothing but a secret shrouded in darkness – unfound and unused. What I found and what I exercised was only possible in the light of life. As it turns out, that light of life is the muscle – and it is the exercise – and it is the 'me' I have wanted all along.
So we fire up our personal candle with the light of life. We do not hide the light, we embrace it as the first step in a battle to wrestle secrets from the dark. The whole point of the light is that we want to see. We want a clear line of sight and a complete vision. We want to find ourselves and know the illumination of who we really are. The more we exercise that illumination the more we become that illumination. The hidden parts of us are rescued from the darkness to be added into our whole illuminated being.
The seed that was planted in our fertile soil was nothing less than the light of life. The muscle that we now exercise is our 'Jesus muscle'. The seeker who seeks truth is actually seeking to become truth. It bears repeating, “Whosoever has, to him shall be given; and whosoever has not, from him shall be taken even that which he seems to have.” What, then, as seekers, is our first step?
Jesus tells us this, “Take heed therefore how you hear.”
That is not 'what' you hear, or 'why' you hear, nor again is it 'when' or 'who' or 'where'. It is only the 'how' that will prove true. Lighting that candle is the how. That is our first step and starting place. It is the commencement of the exercise of illumination. It is the seeker becoming Jesus, and while that may seem a strange and off-the-wall comment to the conservative Christian, Jesus himself declared that truth when he said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Therefore, every soul faces one of only two possible directions in life. What will you choose? Will you choose the exercise of life and light to become life and light, or will you choose to waste away through attrition until you are erased by the darkness of death? My choice is the way, the truth, and the life.
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