4. The importance of responding to the light 11:33-36

This exhortation concluded the controversy about signs (vv. 16, 29-33) as Jesus' teaching about the importance of obeying God's Word (vv. 27-28) concluded the controversy about casting out demons (vv. 14-26). Both conclusions called on Jesus' hearers to respond to His teaching rather than continuing in the darkness of ignorance.

 The parable of the hidden lamp 11:33 (cf. Matt. 5:15)

This was another parable that Jesus evidently used repeatedly during His itinerant teaching ministry. In Matthew's account He used it to encourage the disciples to bear witness publicly (cf. Luke 8:16). Here He used it to illustrate His own role as someone who dispels darkness.

 The parable of the bad eye 11:34-36 (cf. Matt. 6:22-23)

11:34 Jesus also used this parable, at least the negative part of it, in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus compared the human eye to a lamp in both situations, not in the sense of their being sources of light but as vehicles through which illumination comes. In Matthew's Gospel He taught that a person's attitudes can affect his ability to "see"(i.e., comprehend spiritual truth) with the emphasis on the eye. Here the emphasis is on the light and the point is the importance of admitting the light, in this case the gospel message, by accepting Jesus' teaching. Failure to receive Jesus' teachings results in spiritual blindness.

11:35 If a person rejects Jesus' light for another so-called light, he or she will discover that that other light brings no true illumination. Normally people's eyes respond to light by admitting it, and the result is their illumination. That is how Jesus wanted His hearers to respond to His teaching because the result would be spiritual illumination.

11:36 This verse presents the alternative to the situation described in the preceding verse. It concludes Jesus' exhortation on a positive note. Jesus, of course, used the body to represent the whole inner person, the personality, in the parable. The person who believes all of Jesus' teaching will experience full illumination.