The reading follows upon the Parable of the Seed and the Sower (Luke 8:4-15). In these passages, Luke follows the order already set in Mark 4:21-25), but omits Mark's verse 24 [a passage which Luke employs in two other places of his Gospel]. The words of Jesus once comprehended must be allowed to shine forth. Those in the educational sector would recognize in here the idea that the cognitive must pass on to the psychomotor level. Church language speak of witnessing, living out the Word. Here, Luke, following Mark, employs the image of the lamp. It would be totally nonsensical if the lamp is not allowed to shine. The Words of Jesus is like a flame that lights up the lamp from within; those who have accepted that flame must allow its radiance to break forth where it is needed (e.g. a darkened room).
Putting it in another way, the evangelist switches to the contrast between secret and public knowledge. What Jesus reveals in secret to the disciples must be made known; they must come to light faneroV. The adjective phaneros is related to fwV (phoslight, in v.16b), and means "to shine out", Hence the translation, "to come to light."
What follows is a caveat: "Take heed how you hear..." If hearing requires attention in faith, and the effort to comprehend what has been said, it will also require allowing what has been comprehended to bear fruit a hundredfold. The power is in the seed that is shown, as the flame is energy inside the lamp. But the soil must have a certain quality that will allow the seed to grow and mature. The lamp too must have oil and a wick to be able to let the flame that is received shine forth. From the one who receives the Words of Jesus, there must correspond an effort to cooperate with the Word. Otherwise, what one thinks to have received, "even that will be taken away."
Matthew uses the imagery of the lamp within the context of the Sermon on the Mount. There, the stress is on the quality of Christian presence in the affairs of men: like a well lighted city that serves as a beacon for the lost wayfarer. In Mark, the stress is on "bearing fruit" "Bearing Fruit" in New Testament language is to have a life in consonance with one's membership among God's people. Paul speaks of bearing fruit in the spirit. John, in speaking of the True Vine, explains that the measure to which one adheres to the commandment of Christ and to His Person, to that measure one will bear fruit. Luke, as does Mark, puts together the images of a seed bearing fruit, a lamp shining in the dark, and a secret that is made manifest to explain how the Good News proclaimed by the angels and displayed in power by Christ, is proclaimed in the lives of the disciples.
"Take heed how you hear..." Discipleship is not different from the mechanics of learning in an ordinary school. Cognitive elements must pass on to the Affective and translated into Psychomotor Activities. The passage from understanding to life, however takes some time and practise. But no matter how much time it takes, like the germination of a seed, what has been learned must be allowed to permeate one's humanity so that it becomes part of one's way of interacting with the world and other human beings.
