We’re still working our way to Luke 8:18: “Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him” (Luke 8:18; Jesus speaking).
After the Parable of the Sower, Jesus makes three distinct statements in Luke 8:16-18, the first of which we looked at yesterday: “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light” (Luke 8:16).
I compared His teaching here with His calling believers “the light of the world” in Matthew 5:14. And I used the example of you and a friend having gone for a hike and gotten separated. You – the one with the flashlight – could use that light to not only locate your friend, but to show him where he was and how to get out of that place.
This is precisely what we are to do with “the Light of the World.” The Jesus in us should show lost people: (1) where they are – separated from the One who loves them; and (2) how to get out of where they are – that putting their trust in Jesus Christ will give them the strength to either change their circumstances or live above them.
And now we come to Jesus’ next statement: “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open” (Luke 8:17).
Just after the religious leaders bring a woman “caught in adultery” (John 8:3) to Jesus, He tells His listeners, “I am the Light of the World” (John 8:12). I think there’s an interesting overlap between what happened in John 8 and Jesus’ statement in Luke 8:17. Remember how the religious leaders who were ready to stone the adulterous woman suddenly backed off and disappeared after the Lord “started to write on the ground with His finger” (John 8:6)? No one knows for certain what Jesus was doing, but many scholars think Jesus was writing the specific sins of the men in that group.
I think we can apply Luke 8:17 in two ways: (1) There is “nothing hidden” from the Lord. Even if you have “secret sins” that other people don’t know about, your Heavenly Father knows and those sins that go unconfessed “will… be… brought out into the open” on the day you stand before the Lord. (2) “The mystery of the Gospel,” as it’s called many times in Scripture – see Ephesians 6:19, for example – cannot remain “hidden.” Not in a believers’ life. Not in any place where the Holy Spirit dwells.
If you know Jesus, you’ll bring “the mystery of the Gospel” “out into the open.” You won’t hide it. You won’t ignore it. And you’ll realize the urgency of telling others.
“All the world would be Christian if they were taught the pure Gospel of Christ!” (Thomas Jefferson)
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (NIV).
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