30 January 2025

Daily prayer in Christmas 2024-2025:
37, Thursday 30 January 2025

‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?’ (Mark 8: 21) … lamplight at night in the Market Square, Stony Stratford (Photographs: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This is the last week in the 40-day season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation on Sunday (2 February 2025). This week began with the Third Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany III, 26 January 2025).

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Charles, King and Martyr (1649). But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?’ (Mark 4: 21) … a lighting lamp in the Boot and Flogger in Southwark (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 4: 21-25 (NRSVA):

21 He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. 23 Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ 24 And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. 25 For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’

Lichnos in Piskopianó stood out as a light on a hill in Crete, visible for miles below and out to sea (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Chapter 4 in Saint Mark’s Gospel is the ‘parables chapter,’ recalling parables that make this chapter the central teaching section of this Gospel. Christ is in a boat beside the sea teaching a very large crowd who are listening on the shore (see Mark 4: 1-2). In this morning’s reading (Mark 4: 21-25), he compares speaking out with ensuring a light is used to its best purpose (verses 21-22) .

When I was back in Piskopianó in Crete last Spring, I was disappointed to see that one of my favourite tavernas, Lichnos, has been closed for some time now.

The name Lichnos comes from the Greek word λύχνος (lychnos), meaning a lamp or a light. The restaurant stood on a precipice on the north side of the village, close to Mika Villas, where I stayed regularly in the 1990s. Lichnos was perched on the edge of the hill, and from its balcony and roof garden there were panoramic views across Hersonissos below and out to the Mediterranean. At night, Lichnos stood out as a light on a hill, visible for miles below and out to sea.

The parable of the lamp under a bushel is told all three Synoptic Gospels (see Matthew 5: 14-15, Mark 4: 21-25; Luke 8: 16-18). In Saint Matthew’s Gospel, this parable continues the discourse on salt and light in the Sermon on the Mount. But Saint Mark and Saint Luke connect it with Jesus’s explanation of the Parable of the Sower.

The word λύχνος (lychnos) means a light, lamp or candle. But it is also used figuratively for a distinguished teacher, as when Jesus describes Saint John the Baptist as ‘a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light’ (John 5: 35).

This parable is also the source of the aphorism about hiding one’s light under a bushel.

The original Greek in Matthew (5: 15) and Mark (4: 21) is μόδιος (modios), usually translated as ‘basket.’ A modius was a Roman measure for dry things such as grain and equivalent to about a peck 8.75 litres.

However, Saint Luke uses the word σκεῦος (skeuos), meaning a vessel or utensil for containing anything. Saint Paul uses the same word when he refers to σκεύη ὀργῆς and σκεύη ἐλέους, vessels of wrath or vessels of mercy, when referring to individuals visited by punishment or visited by divine favour (see Romans 9: 22-23). This word is also used to describe the vessel or frame of the human individual (I Thessalonians 4: 4; I Peter 3: 7). Saint Luke also uses the word κλίνη (klinē) for a couch or bed.

The word bushel , meaning a bowl, was used in William Tyndale’s translation: ‘Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it lighteth all them which are in the house.’

The key idea in this morning’s parable is that light or truth is not to be hidden or concealed. This light has been understood as Jesus, as his message, and as the believer's response to him and to his message.

In their writings, Hilary, Ambrose, and Bede understood that the light of the Gospel was not to be confined to Judaea, but to illuminate all nations.

But to hide one’s light under a bushel has come to mean saying little about one’s own skills and abilities, one’s own core values and beliefs, instead of being confident and telling others about them.

When do we hide our lights under bushels, or under a bowl?

When are we reluctant to be beacons in the darkness, shining out for true values when light is needed?

Do I speak up often enough about injustice, oppression and violence and racism, war and prejudice?

Or do I keep my views to myself at those crucial moments, hiding my light under a bushel?

The view from Lichnos in Piskopianó across Hersonissos and out to the north coast of Crete and the Mediterranean (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 30 January 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘A Reflection on 2 Timothy’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by the Revd Canon Dr Nicky Chater, Chair of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Friendly Churches and Chaplain for these communities in the Diocese of Durham.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 30 January 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord, grant us compassion for people who have no secure place to live, including Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers. Help us to understand how much our wellbeing rests on knowing somewhere as home, and how participating in healthcare, employment and education relies on where we live.

The Collect:

King of kings and Lord of lords,
whose faithful servant Charles
prayed for those who persecuted him
and died in the living hope of your eternal kingdom:
grant us by your grace so to follow his example
that we may love and bless our enemies,
through the intercession of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr Charles:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?’ (Mark 4: 21) … lit candles in the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?’ (Mark 4: 21) … evening in a restaurant in York (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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