PUT NOT THE LAMP UNDER THE BUSHEL.

The lamp under the bushel. Why Jesus speaks in parables.

— Go not to the Gentiles.

— It is not those who are in health who need a physician.

— The courage of faith.

— To carry one's cross. Whosoever would save his life shall lose it.

The lamp under the bushel. Why Jesus speaks in parables.

No one lights a lamp to put it under the bushel; on the contrary, he sets it upon the lampstand, so that it may give light to all who are in the house. (Saint Matthew, chapter V, v. 15.)

There is no one who, after having lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel, or puts it under the bed; he sets it upon the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light; — for there is nothing secret that shall not be uncovered;

nor anything hidden that shall not be made known and appear publicly.

(Saint Luke, chapter VIII, vv. 16 and 17.)

Drawing near, the disciples said to him: Why do you speak to them in parables?

— Answering them, he said: It is because, to you, it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven; but, to them, this has not been given.

[For, to him who already has, more shall be given and he shall be in abundance;

but, from him who has not, even what he has shall be taken away.] — I speak to them in parables, because, seeing, they do not see and, hearing, they do not listen and do not understand. — And in them shall be fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: You shall hear with your ears and shall not listen; you shall look with your eyes and shall not see. — For the heart of this people has become heavy, and their ears have become deaf and they have closed their eyes so that their eyes may not see and their ears may not hear, so that their heart may not understand and so that, having been converted, I should not heal them. (Saint Matthew, chapter XIII, vv. 10 to 15.)

It may cause astonishment that Jesus should say that the light must not be placed under the bushel, when he himself constantly conceals the meaning of his words beneath the veil of allegory, which not everyone can understand.

He explains himself, saying to his apostles: I speak to them in parables, because they are not in a condition to understand certain things. They see, they look, they hear, but they do not understand. It would therefore be useless to tell them everything, for the present. I say it, however, to you, because it has been given to you to understand these mysteries.

He proceeded, then, with the people as one does with children whose ideas are not yet developed.

In this way, he indicates the true meaning of the sentence: “One must not put the lamp under the bushel, but upon the lampstand, so that all who enter may be able to see it.” Such a sentence does not mean that one must inconsiderately reveal all things.

Every teaching must be proportioned to the intelligence of the one whom one wishes to instruct, for there are persons whom a too vivid light would dazzle, without enlightening them.

With men in general happens what happens in particular with individuals.

Generations have their childhood, their youth and their maturity. Each thing must come in its proper time; the seed cast upon the earth out of season does not germinate.

But what prudence commands to be kept silent, for the moment, sooner or later will be uncovered, because, having reached a certain degree of development, men seek for themselves the living light; obscurity weighs upon them.

God having granted them intelligence to understand and to guide themselves among the things of the Earth and of Heaven, they set about reasoning upon their faith. It is then that one must not put the lamp under the bushel, seeing that, without the light of reason, faith fails. (chapter XIX, no. 7.)

If, then, in its provident wisdom, Providence reveals truths only gradually, it is clear that it unveils them in proportion as Humanity shows itself ripened to receive them. It keeps them in reserve and not under the bushel; 2 men, however, who come to possess them, almost always conceal them from the common people with the intent of dominating them. These are the ones who, truly, place the light under the bushel.

It is for this reason that all religions have had their mysteries, the examination of which they forbid. But, while these religions kept falling behind, Science and intelligence advanced and rent the mysterious veil. Having become adult, the common people undertook to penetrate to the depth of things and eliminated from their faith what was contrary to observation.

There can be no absolute mysteries and Jesus is right when he says that there is nothing secret that shall not come to be known.

All that is hidden shall be uncovered one day and what man cannot yet understand shall be successively unveiled to him, in more advanced worlds, when he shall have purified himself. Here on Earth, he still finds himself in full fog.

One asks: what profit could the people draw from that multitude of parables, whose meaning remained impenetrable to them? It is to be noted that Jesus expressed himself in parables only on the in some manner abstract parts of his doctrine; 2 but, having made charity toward one's neighbor and humility the basic conditions of salvation, all that he said in this respect is entirely clear, explicit and without any ambiguity.

Thus it had to be, because it was the rule of conduct, a rule which all had to understand in order to be able to observe it. It was the essential thing for the ignorant multitude, to which he limited himself to saying: Here is what must be done to win the kingdom of Heaven.

Upon the other parts, he developed his thought only to the disciples.

Because they were more advanced, morally and intellectually, Jesus could initiate them into the knowledge of more abstract truths. Hence his having said:

To those who already have, still more shall be given. (chapter XVIII, no. 15.)

Nevertheless, even with the apostles, he kept imprecise about many points, the complete understanding of which was reserved for later times. It was these points that gave rise to such diverse interpretations, until Science, on the one hand, and Spiritism, on the other, revealed the new laws of Nature, which made their true meaning perceptible.

Spiritism, today, projects light upon an immensity of obscure points; it does not, however, cast it inconsiderately.

With admirable prudence the Spirits conduct themselves in giving their instructions. Only gradually and successively have they considered the various parts already known of the Doctrine, leaving the other parts to be revealed as it becomes opportune to bring them out of obscurity.

If they had presented it complete from the first moment, it would have shown itself accessible only to a reduced number of persons; it would even have frightened those who were not prepared to receive it, from which would result that its propagation would be harmed.

If, then, the Spirits do not yet say everything openly, it is not because there are in the Doctrine mysteries into which only a few privileged ones may penetrate, nor because they place the lamp under the bushel, it is because each thing must come at the opportune moment; 5 they give each idea time to ripen and propagate itself, before they present another, and to events the time to prepare the acceptance of that other one. Go not to the Gentiles.

Jesus sent forth his twelve (the apostles) after having given them the following instructions: Do not seek out the Gentiles and do not enter into the cities of the Samaritans;

— go, rather, in search of the lost sheep of the house of Israel; — and, in the places where you go, preach, saying that the kingdom of Heaven is near.

(Saint Matthew, chapter X, vv. 5 to 7.)

In many circumstances, Jesus proves that his views are not circumscribed to the Jewish people, but that they embrace all Humanity.

If, therefore, he says to his apostles that they should not go to the pagans, it is not that he disdains their conversion, which would have nothing charitable about it; it is that the Jews, who already believed in the one God and awaited the Messiah, were prepared, by the law of Moses and by the prophets, to receive his word.

With the pagans, where even the foundation was lacking, everything was still to be done and the apostles were not yet sufficiently enlightened for so heavy a task. It was for this reason that he said to them: Go in search of the strayed sheep of Israel, that is, go sow in ground already broken up, 4 he knew that the conversion of the Gentiles would take place in its time; later, indeed, the apostles went to plant the cross in the very center of Paganism.

These words may also be applied to the adepts and to the disseminators of Spiritism. The systematic unbelievers, the obstinate mockers, the interested adversaries are for them what the Gentiles were for the apostles.

Let them, then, after the example of these, seek, first of all, to make proselytes among those of good will, among those who desire the light, in whom a fecund germ is found and whose number is great, without losing time with those who will not see, nor hear and who resist all the more, out of pride, the greater the importance that seems to be attached to their conversion.

It is better to open the eyes of a hundred blind men who desire to see clearly, than of a single one who delights in darkness, because, by proceeding thus, the number of the supporters of the cause will be increased in greater proportion.

To leave the others in peace is not to give a show of indifference, but of good policy. Their turn will come to them, when they are dominated by the general opinion and hear the same thing incessantly repeated around them. Then, they will think that they accept the idea voluntarily, by their own impulse, and not by the pressure of others.

Then, there are ideas that are like seeds: they cannot germinate out of the appropriate season, nor in ground that has not been prepared beforehand, wherefore it is better that one wait for the propitious time and cultivate first those that germinate, lest it happen that the others abort, by virtue of a too intense cultivation.

In the time of Jesus and as a consequence of the narrow and material ideas then current, everything was circumscribed and localized. The house of Israel was a small people; the Gentiles were other small neighboring peoples. Today, ideas are becoming universalized and spiritualized.

The new light constitutes the privilege of no nation; for it there exist no barriers, it has its focus everywhere and all men are brothers.

But, also, the Gentiles are no longer a people, they are merely an opinion that one meets with everywhere and over which truth triumphs little by little, as Christianity triumphed over Paganism. They are no longer fought with weapons of war, but with the force of the idea. It is not those who are in health who need a physician.

While Jesus was at table in the house of this man (Matthew), there came there many publicans and people of evil life, who set themselves at table with Jesus and his disciples; — which caused the Pharisees, noting it, to say to the disciples:

How is it that your Master eats with publicans and people of evil life?

— Having heard them, Jesus said to them: It is not those who are in health who need a physician. (Saint Matthew, chapter IX, vv. 10, 11 and 12.)

Jesus approached, principally, the poor and the disinherited, because they are those who most need consolation, the docile and good-faith blind, because they ask that sight be given to them, and not the proud who think they possess all the light and need nothing. (See: Introduction, article: Publicans, Tollkeepers.)

These words, like so many others, find in Spiritism the application that belongs to them. There are those who marvel that, at times, mediumship is granted to unworthy persons, capable of using it badly. It seems, they say, that so precious a faculty ought to be the exclusive attribute of those of greater merit.

Let us say, before all, that mediumship is inherent to an organic disposition, with which any man may be endowed, like that of seeing, of hearing, of speaking.

Now, there is none of which man, by effect of his free will, may not abuse, and if God had not granted, for example, speech save to those incapable of uttering evil things, the number of the mute would be greater than that of those who speak.

God granted faculties to man and gives him the liberty to use them, but does not fail to punish the one who abuses them.

If the faculty of communicating with the Spirits were granted only to the most worthy, who would dare to claim it? Where, moreover, is the limit between worthiness and unworthiness?

Mediumship is conferred without distinction, so that the Spirits may bring the light to all layers, to all classes of society, to the poor as to the rich; to the upright, to fortify them in good, to the vicious to correct them.

Are not these last the sick who need a physician? Why would God, who does not wish the death of the sinner, deprive him of the help that can pull him out of the mire?

The good Spirits come to his aid and their counsels, given directly, are of a nature to impress him more vividly than if he received them indirectly.

God, in his goodness, to spare him the labor of going to seek it far off, places the light in his hands. Will he not be far more culpable, if he will not see it? Can he excuse himself by his ignorance, when he himself has written with his hands, seen with his own eyes, heard with his own ears, and pronounced with his own mouth his condemnation?

If he does not take advantage of it, he will then be punished by the loss or by the perversion of the faculty that had been granted to him and of which, in that case, the evil Spirits take advantage to obsess and deceive him, without prejudice to the real afflictions with which God chastises the unworthy servants and the hearts that pride and egoism have hardened.

Mediumship does not necessarily imply habitual relations with the superior Spirits. It is merely an aptitude to serve as a more or less ductile instrument to the Spirits, in general.

The good medium, then, is not the one who communicates easily, but the one who is sympathetic to the good Spirits and has assistance only from them.

Only in this sense does the excellence of moral qualities become omnipotent over mediumship. The courage of faith.

Whosoever shall confess me and acknowledge me before men, I also will acknowledge and confess him before my Father who is in Heaven; — and whosoever shall deny me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in Heaven. (Saint Matthew, chapter X, vv. 32 and 33.)

If anyone is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of man also will be ashamed of him, when he comes in his glory and in that of his Father and of the holy angels. (Saint Luke, chapter IX, v. 26.)

The courage of one's own opinions has always been held in great esteem among men, because there is merit in confronting the dangers, the persecutions, the contradictions and even the simple sarcasms, to which is exposed, almost always, the one who does not fear to proclaim openly ideas that are not those of everybody.

Here, as in everything, the merit is proportioned to the circumstances and to the importance of the result.

There is always weakness in someone's recoiling before the consequences that his opinion brings upon him and in renouncing it; but, there are cases in which this constitutes a cowardice as great as fleeing at the moment of combat.

Jesus reproves this cowardice, from the special point of view of his doctrine, saying that, if anyone is ashamed of his words, of that one he also will be ashamed; that he will deny the one who has denied him; that he will acknowledge, before the Father who is in Heaven, the one who confesses him before men; 5 in other words: those who have been afraid to confess themselves disciples of the truth are not worthy of being admitted into the kingdom of truth.

They will lose the advantages of the faith they nourish, because it is a question of an egoistic faith that they keep for themselves, concealing it so that it may not bring them harm in this world, 7 whereas those who, placing the truth above their material interests, proclaim it openly, work for their own future and for that of others.

Thus will it be with the adepts of Spiritism. Since the doctrine they profess is nothing more than the development and the application of that of the Gospel, 2 to them also are addressed the words of Christ. They sow on Earth what they will reap in the spiritual life. They will reap there the fruits of their courage or of their weakness. To carry one's cross. Whosoever would save his life shall lose it.

Blessed shall you be, when men hate you and separate you, when they treat you injuriously, when they reject as evil your name, for the sake of the Son of man. — Rejoice in that day and be in transports of joy, because a great recompense is reserved for you in Heaven, seeing that it was thus that their fathers treated the prophets. (Saint Luke, chapter VI, vv. 22 and 23.)

Calling near to himself the people and the disciples, he said to them: If anyone would come in my footsteps, let him renounce himself, take up his cross and follow me; — for he who would save himself, will lose himself;

and he who loses himself for love of me and of the Gospel will save himself. — Indeed, of what would it serve a man to gain the whole world and lose himself? (Saint Mark, chapter VIII, vv. 34 to 36 — Saint Luke, chapter IX, vv. 23 to 25 — Saint Matthew, chapter X, vv. 38 and 39 —; Saint John, chapter XII, vv. 25 and 26.)

Rejoice, says Jesus, when men hate you and persecute you for my sake, seeing that you will be recompensed in Heaven. These truths may be translated thus: Consider yourselves blessed, when there are men who, by their ill will toward you, give you occasion to prove the sincerity of your faith, for the harm they do you will redound to your profit. Lament their blindness, however, do not curse them.

Then, he adds: “Let him take up his cross who would follow me,” that is, let him bear courageously the tribulations that his faith brings upon him, given that the one who would save his life and his goods, renouncing me, will lose the advantages of the kingdom of Heaven, while those who shall have lost everything in this world, even life, so that the truth may triumph, will receive, in the future life, the prize of the courage, of the perseverance and of the abnegation of which they gave proof; 3 but, to those who sacrifice the celestial goods to terrestrial enjoyments, God will say: You have already received your recompense.