Luke 8:16-18

4 th. Luke 8:16-18. Practical Conclusion. “ No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. 17. For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest; neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. 18. Take heed therefore how ye hear; for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. ”

Bleek can perceive no connection between these reflections and the preceding parable. But they are closely connected with the similar reflections in Luke 8:9-10. There is even a designed antithesis between the growth of the light (Luke 8:16-17) and the increase of the darkness (Luke 8:10). Jesus is speaking to the disciples. The word which is translated candle denotes simply a lamp, just a saucer filled with oil in which a wick is placed the mode of lighting most used in the East. It may therefore be placed without any danger under such a vessel as a bushel, which serves at once for measure, table, and dish amongst the poor, or under the divan (κλίνη), a bench furnished with cushions and raised from the floor from one to three feet, on which it is customary to rest while engaged in conversation or at meals. Beds properly so called are not used in the East; they generally lie on the ground, on wraps and carpets. The lighted lamp might denote the apostles, whom Jesus enlightens with a view to make them the teachers of the world. Covering their light would be not putting them into a position of sufficient influence in regard to other men; and setting it on a candlestick would signify, conferring on them the apostolic office, in virtue of which they will become the light of the world. Those who see the light on entering the house would be their converts from the Jews and heathen. Luke 8:17 would be an allusion, as in Luke 12:3, to that law according to which truth is to be fully revealed to the world by the apostolic preaching. Lastly, the 18th verse would refer to that growth of inward light which is the recompense of the preacher for the faithfulness of his labours. But it is just this last verse which upsets the whole of this interpretation. For, 1. With this meaning, Jesus ought to have said, not: Take heed how ye hear, but, how ye preach. 2. To have, in the sense of the 18th verse, is not certainly to produce fruits in others, but to possess the truth oneself. We must therefore regard the term λύχνος, the lamp, as denoting the truth concerning the kingdom of God which Jesus unveils to the apostles in His parables. If He clothes the truth in sensible images, it is not to render it unintelligible (to put it under a bushel); on the contrary, in explaining it to them, as He has just done, He places it on the candlestick; and they are the persons who are illuminated on entering into the house. All will gradually become clear to them. Whilst the night thickens over Israel on account of its unbelief, the disciples will advance into even fuller light, until there is nothing left in the plan of God (His mysteries, Luke 8:11) which is obscure or hidden (Luke 8:17). The heart of Jesus is lifted up at this prospect. This accounts for the poetical rhythm which always appears at such moments. Here we see why it behoves the disciples to hear with the greatest care; it is in order that they may really hold what He gives them, like the good soil which receives and fertilizes the seed (Luke 8:18). He alone who assimilates His teaching by an act of living comprehension, who really hath (the opposite of seeing without seeing, Luke 8:10), can receive continually more. Acquisitions are made only by means of, and in proportion to, what is already possessed. The Spirit Himself only makes clear what has been kept (John 14:26). If, therefore, any one amongst them contents Himself with hearing truth without appropriating it, by and by he will obtain nothing, and at last even lose everything. Mark (Mark 4:21-25) says: that which he hath; Luke: that which he thinketh he hath. It comes to the same thing; for, as to what is heard without comprehending it, it is equally true to say that he hath (in a purely external sense), or that he thinks he hath (in the real sense of the word have). Comp. Luke 19:26. This very apophthegm is found several times in Matthew. It expresses one of the profoundest laws of the moral world.

Baur and Hilgenfeld thought they found in the word δοκεῖ, thinks he hath, a censure of Luke on the haughty pretensions of the Twelve! Our evangelists could never have anticipated that they would ever have such perverse interpreters.

Nothing could more effectually allay any undue elation which the sight of these multitudes might excite in the minds of the disciples, than their being reminded in this way of their responsibility. The similar reflections in Mark (Mark 4:25) are too different in form to have been drawn from the same source.

Mark goes on to narrate the parable of the ear of corn, which he alone records. In Matthew there are six parables respecting the kingdom of God given along with that of the sower. They form an admirable whole. After the foundation of the kingdom described in the parable of the sower, there follows the mode of its development in that of the tares; then its power, presented under two aspects (extension and transformation) in those of the grain of mustard seed and the leaven; next, its incomparable value in the parables of the treasure and the pearl; lastly, its consummation in that of the net. Is this systematic plan to be attributed to Jesus? I think not. He was too good a teacher to relate in this way seven parables all in a breath. On the other hand, did He only utter on this occasion the parable of the sower? Certainly not, for Matthew says respecting this very time (Luke 13:3): “ And He spake many things unto them in parables, ” and Mark (Mark 4:2): “ He taught them many things in parables. ” Probably, therefore, Jesus spoke on this day, besides the parable of the sower, that of the tares (Matthew), and that of the ear of corn (Mark), the images of which are all taken from the same sphere, and which immediately follow the first, the one in one Gospel, the other in the other. As to the other parables, Matthew has united them with the preceding, in accordance with his constant method of grouping the sayings of our Lord around a given subject. Such different arrangements do not appear compatible with the use of the same written document.