Context Matters - Gospel of Mark #18 - September 15, 2024

If you spend any time studying the bible, it won't be long before you learn that everything needs to be understood in context. Context matters! We need to make sure have good answers to a series of questions:
Who is the author writing to? Why are they writing about this particular topic? What did they just say? What are they saying next? How does this passage fit into the paragraph/chapter/book it is in? Is this piece of writing a letter, or a poem? Is it a prophecy, or a narrative? We ask those questions, and so many more.
Today we're going to look at one parable Jesus shared - the parable of the lamp. It turns out that this parable is used three different times and has three different meanings, and the only way that we can determine why he's using it is by looking at the context. And, if we're willing to look closely enough, we might be surprised what we find.