Jesus Warned About Bowls
The Following is the Script for this Video:
Jesus warned us about bowls. He said, “People [don’t] light a lamp and put it under a bowl.” He attached this caution to our identity as his followers in the world.
He said, “You are the light of the world.” Notice he did not say “You are A light in the world.” Instead, he said, “You are THE light of the world.” The only light. Either the people of Jesus shine, or the world sits in the dark. If the world is light-deprived, maybe we Christians should ask: What bowls are blocking or dimming the light?
“You are the light of the world,” Jesus said. “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Here in Matt 5:14 and 16, Jesus answers three questions that will help expose “bowls” that deprive the world of light. Those questions are: (1) Who is the light? (2) Where should the light shine? And (3) What carries the light?
From what Jesus says in these verses, “Who is the light?” The wrong answer here can work like a light-hiding bowl. Is it Jesus? His 12 disciples? Or is it us?” Some songs say Jesus. “Shine, Jesus, Shine. Fill this land with the Father’s glory.” Oops. Sorry! The buzzer says no. Yes, Jesus did say, “I am the light of the world.” But he also said, “As long as I’m in the world, I’m the light of the world.” But he returned to his Father, Jesus is no longer physically present here.
So let’s try again—same question. Technically, the second one is correct. Matthew 5:1 makes it clear that originally, Jesus spoke the words in these verses to his disciples. But they all died. Seeing them as today’s light of the world would also leave the world would light-deprived. So, sorry, but no.
So the light-of-the-world role belongs to us, the contemporary followers of Jesus.
Sadly, though, Christians often self-identify not as light but as laypersons. The language long-used in church circles presses Christ-followers into either-or categories. You are either clergy or laity. Pulpit or pew. These terms all point inward to describe what happens in church meetings. This creates a virtual building bowl.
In these Matthew 5 verses, Jesus addresses a second question: “Where should the light shine?” First, let’s first ask a question that has an obvious answer. Which scene needs more light? The scene on the left? Or the scene on the right?
So how does Jesus answer the question, “Where should the light shine?” He answers that in two ways. First, he explains that we are the light of . . . the world.
The world, though, is both large and dark. What might lurk in its murky corners? Going into them to shine is frightening. We find it safer and easier to huddle off to the side in bowls filled with lighted people. So we have our own alternative health care plans, gymnasiums, church sports leagues, music, movies, and so on. One blogger, recognizing this Christian subculture, wrote: “My whole world was church.”
Jesus also answers the where-to-shine question this way: “Let your light shine before others.” In other words, our out-shining should be right in front of them, visible to them. For most of us, the three main groups that observe us regularly are: family members, neighbors, and coworkers. Primarily, then, these people make up the bulk of the world into which Jesus sends us to shine.
And yet these people are often the most difficult to deal with. When we see danger signs on the road ahead, the path of least resistance looks like the best choice. By detouring around difficult encounters or conversations, we divert the light into a bowl of avoidance.
Asking yet a third question about Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:14 and 16 may help identify another light-blocking bowl: “What carries the light?” In other words, how does the light get from you to those who need it? Jesus explained it this way: “. . . let your light shine . . . that they may see your good deeds.” Notice that the shining must become something others can see. And Jesus identifies that something as “good deeds.”
That word “deeds” comes from the Greek word ergon. And it means work, task, job, activity, or action. In short, it means acting in ways others can see. And it is through the lenses of our good doings that the light shines.
But if we think only words can carry the light, it can push us to create another bowl—a word bowl. Of course, the gospel must be spoken and heard in words. But if we suppose gospel light travels only through words, we may hide that light in a bowl heaped to overflowing with a surplus of words.
But preachy words—too many and too soon—can smother and dim the light. We cannot argue or pressure people into God’s Kingdom. Jesus said light shines through visible action. Those nearest us—our children, neighbors, and coworkers—need to see gospel lit up in the ways we act. This prepares them for the right words at the right time.
In Ephesians 5:8, Paul—like Jesus—says Christ-followers “are light in the Lord.” In verse 11, he cautions us against “deeds of darkness.” Later, in the same chapter, he describes how to shine among families and coworkers through deeds of light. Much of what he says fits neighborhoods, as well.
But what does light look like when projected through what we do? Here, in a few key words, is how Paul tells husbands, wives, children, employees, and bosses to act. Love. Yield. Obey. Train. Instruct. Respect. Serve. Be Fair. These, of course, are just a tiny sampling of what light looks like in action.
But Jesus warned us about bowls—light-blocking bowls. We’ve seen the bowl of churchy inwardness. Terms like clergy and laity, pulpit and pew, focus our attention on identities in church buildings rather than on our identity as world-lighters.
We’ve seen the avoidance bowl—the one that lets us detour around frightening spots in the dark world into which Jesus sends us. When tough issues arise in family, neighborhood, or workplace, we find ways to take ourselves—we who are the light—out of the way.
And we’ve seen the word bowl, the one that relies too heavily on speaking the gospel and forgets what Jesus said about the light-carrying power of our deeds, our actions, our work.
God is light. We are light in the Lord. As those made in his image and likeness, we have been honored with a high calling—to shine for him inside our sin-darkened world, and to shine . . . without bowls.
CURING SUNDAY SPECTATORITIS
Because they do little to equip Christians to shine in the world, church meetings as spectator events can become light-quenching bowls.
