Thursday: 3^rd Week in Ordinary Time-B

I Reading:

Cycle I- Hebrews 10:19-25: Let us keep firm in the hope we profess and be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love.

Cycle II- 2Samuel 7:18-19.24-29: Who am I Lord, and what is my House?

Gospel: Mark 4:21-25: A lamp is to be put on a lamp-stand. The amount you measure out is the amount you will be given.

The Parable Dealing with Truth: Truth and Man’s Duty

The light reader and surface thinker will not understand what Jesus is saying. This very fact is the point Jesus was making. Grasping and knowing the truth takes time and effort and energy, and man has a twofold responsibility toward the truth (see Lk 8:16-18 for more discussion).

1.    Share the truth (v.21-23)

a.    The fact: lamps are to be placed on a lamp stand

b.    The warning: all things will be revealed, nothing is hidden-except temporarily

c.     The exhortation: man/woman had better hear

2.    Mark the truth (v.24-25)

a.    Pay attention, make sure you hear the truth

b.    The reason: how much man/woman pays attention determine his/her reward

i.                The reward of more truth

ii.              The judgement of losing all

Thought: God gives the light of the truth to believers for a specific purpose: that it might be shared. God wants others to see and know the light, the truth and the purpose of life. The believer must make sure that h/she does not hide or misuse the light of the truth. Every person is given some light and some truth (Rom 1:20-23; 12:3-8; 1Cor 2:12; 12:7f; Jn 8: 32; Eph 4:7). Each person is responsible to use what light and truth h/se has. He/she is not to hide or misuse it. He/she is held accountable for what he/she has, for what God has given him (2Cor 5:10).

God expects a person to seek after the truth. He abhors laziness, selfishness, indulgence, uselessness, worldliness, and ignorance. If a person is filled with junk, he/she is responsible for the junk.

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