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"No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him."
Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd. And it was told Him by some, who said, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You." But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."
Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake." And they launched out. But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!"
- Luke 8:16-25
Yesterday, we read that at this stage of His ministry, Jesus went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities -- Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance. And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold." When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Then His disciples asked Him, saying, "What does this parable mean?" And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that 'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience."
"No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him." Jesus has just finished telling the parable of the Sower; that is, the story of Himself, the One who sows the seeds which are the word of God. And He has emphasized how we hear. That is, whether or not we are capable of grasping this word, even hidden in parables. We must protect our spiritual ears, keep them grounded in the word. All of this will come to light, we'll bear fruit in our lives -- we can't keep the light from this word hidden. If our eyes and ears are open, more will be given. Those who persist will enter more deeply into the meanings of the word, the light that is there. He has just taught us about patience and persistence, bearing the word of God with a "good and noble heart." Here He teaches that without that patience, we might lose what we have, our ability to truly hear and to understand the things of God that are there for us to grasp, and grow into.
Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd. And it was told Him by some, who said, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You." But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it." My study bible suggests that it wasn't Christ's will to deny His mother and brothers, but rather to correct everyone as to His own identity. John Chrysostom writes that both His family and His hearers must be given "the right idea concerning Himself," that the family of His Kingdom "is not by nature but by virtue." We note the consistent emphasis on the word of God, this key to membership, and kinship, in the Kingdom. No one is exempt, but all are welcome.
Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake." And they launched out. But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!" My study bible says that Christ deliberately permits this windstorm to arise when He's sleeping so that He can perfect the disciples' faith and rebuke their weaknesses, so that they will be eventually unshaken by life's temptations. Here, it says, their faith is still mixed with unbelief. "They showed faith when they came to Him, but unbelief when they said, 'We are perishing.'"
All this emphasis on the word of God is evident in today's reading. As we've noted above, Jesus has told the parable of the Sower, a story about Himself -- the Sower who sows the seeds which are the word of God. Everything depends on how we take on that seed, and those who truly bear fruit are the ones who "hear the word with a good and noble heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience." The mysteries of the Kingdom, also mentioned by Jesus in yesterday's reading, when He explains the parable to His disciples, become things that we enter into, light that can't be hidden, all the things that are "secret" (the meaning of the word "mystery" from the Greek) but will be revealed. It is in this "light" that He says we must take care how we hear, we must cultivate our prayer lives, our capacity for hearing, and for sharing in these mysteries -- such as when we take the Eucharist, which is also a "mystery." This is how the word of God becomes something that bears fruit, it grows in us. It develops into concepts into which we enter and which also fill our own lives, our hearts, our minds, and souls. Our daily lives become imbued with this word and all the ways that "word" can add meaning to us, and to what we do. Every gesture may become filled with a meaning derived from faith, given by the word of God so that our own lives and the ways in which we interact with others become illumined thereby. When Jesus "greets" His family with a strong statement about just who His family really is, and who "family" embraces, it's with the power of the word of God and how we live that word we keep in heart and mind. In this sense, He's not at all rejecting His family, but expanding and building the concept of what His family is and means. He emphasizes the central meaning and power of the word of God that shapes and brings together that family from all over the world, and every time and place. This is how we may understand ourselves. The example then comes of the disciples on the boat, and we again note the emphasis on faith in the word of God. It doesn't matter what they think they see, that they may feel they are perishing; what's important is reliance on the word of God, the faith in what they have been told, and it's a great metaphor for us all. An illustration that sets us in a place where we can understand the upheavals of life, the things that throw us into emotional turmoil, and tremendous doubt, becomes a way of showing us -- through the experience of the disciples -- what it may mean for us to hold firm to the word of God. Those seeds of the Sower, in yesterday's parable, are the things that give us life. They are the things that define us as His. They continue to give light, to spread and grow, to bear fruit, to change and shape us, to define themselves via the "mysteries" that come to light of what it means to bear this faith in the world, and the ways we come to rely on the word of God in our faith as we go along this journey of patience, and bear that word "with a good and noble heart." It's an illustration that teaches us that we can't underestimate the power of the word of God.
