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Office Of Readings | Week 28, Wednesday, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Discourses Of Saint Maximus The Confessor Addressed To Thalassius | The Light That Enlightens Every Man
‘The light that illumines all men.’
Saint Maximus the Confessor interprets Christ’s saying about the lamp set upon a lamp stand (Matthew 5:15; Luke 8:16) as a theological statement about the Incarnation and the Church. The ‘lamp’ is Christ himself — the eternal Word of the Father, who has taken human nature and become visible within creation. The imagery unites revelation and embodiment: divine wisdom, formerly hidden, is now manifest through the humanity of Jesus.
Maximus identifies the lamp stand as the Church, which bears and displays the light of Christ to the world. The Church, by preaching the word and living according to the commandments, makes visible the truth that enlightens all people. Thus the metaphor extends from Christ to his body: what Christ is by nature, the Church continues by grace.
The text contrasts two forms of concealment. The first belongs to the time of the Law, when the divine word was ‘under a bushel’ — veiled beneath the literal sense of Scripture and perceived only dimly. The second form of concealment occurs when believers restrict divine truth to external observance or intellectual possession. For Maximus, to interpret Scripture or faith only in a literal or material way is to hide the lamp once again, withholding illumination from both oneself and others.
He therefore distinguishes between the letter and the spirit. When the word of God is understood only through the letter, it remains confined to human categories and cannot enlighten the mind. When it is received in the Spirit, it becomes a source of knowledge and transformation. The lamp burns truly when contemplation and action are joined — when the believer’s life embodies what the intellect perceives.
Maximus thus presents the light of Christ as dynamic and participatory. The divine word enlightens by being proclaimed, enacted, and understood. The Church is the setting of this light, not as a structure of control but as the place where truth is communicated through faith and life. Illumination is not confined to private understanding but shared through teaching and witness, so that ‘all in the house’ — the world — may be enlightened.
A Reading From The Discourses Of Saint Maximus The Confessor Addressed To Thalassius | The Light That Enlightens Every Man
The lamp set upon the lamp stand is Jesus Christ, the true light from the Father, the light that enlightens every man who comes into the world. In taking our own flesh he has become, and is rightly called, a lamp, for he is the connatural wisdom and word of the Father. He is proclaimed in the Church of God in accordance with orthodox faith, and he is lifted up and resplendent among the nations through the lives of those who live virtuously in observance of the commandments. So he gives light to all in the house (that is, in this world), just as he himself, God the Word, says: No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Clearly he is calling himself the lamp, he who was by nature God, and became flesh according to God’s saving purpose.
I think the great David understood this when he spoke of the Lord as a lamp, saying: For God delivers us from the darkness of ignorance and sin, and hence he is greeted as a lamp in Scripture.
Lamp-like indeed, he alone dispelled the gloom of ignorance and the darkness of evil and became the way of salvation for all men. Through virtue and knowledge, he leads to the Father those who are resolved to walk by him, who is the way of righteousness, in obedience to the divine commandments. He has designated holy Church the lamp stand, over which the word of God sheds light through preaching, and illumines with the rays of truth whoever is in this house which is the world, and fills the minds of all men with divine knowledge.
This word is most unwilling to be kept under a bushel; it wills to be set in a high place, upon the sublime beauty of the Church. For while the word was hidden under the bushel, that is, under the letter of the law, it deprived all men of eternal light. For then it could not give spiritual contemplation to men striving to strip themselves of a sensuality that is illusory, capable only of deceit, and able to perceive only decadent bodies like their own. But the word wills to be set upon a lamp stand, the Church, where rational worship is offered in the spirit, that it may enlighten all men. For the letter, when it is not spiritually understood, bears a carnal sense only, which restricts its expression and does not allow the real force of what is written to reach the hearer’s mind.
Let us, then, not light the lamp by contemplation and action, only to put it under a bushel – that lamp, I mean, which is the enlightening word of knowledge – lest we be condemned for restricting by the letter the incomprehensible power of wisdom. Rather let us place it upon the lamp stand of holy Church, on the heights of true contemplation, where it may kindle for all men the light of divine teaching.
Christian Prayer With Jesus
Light of the Father,
who became flesh to reveal truth to the world,
set our minds upon your word
and place within us the brightness of your wisdom.
May your Church, the lampstand of your presence,
shine with integrity and understanding,
that all who dwell in this world
may see your light and walk in your way,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Glossary Of Christian Terms
Lamp – A symbol of Christ as the Incarnate Word, revealing divine truth within the created order.
Lampstand – The Church, which holds and displays the light of Christ through preaching and witness.
Letter and Spirit – A distinction between the outward, literal sense of Scripture (letter) and its inward, spiritual meaning (spirit).
Contemplation and Action – The twofold movement of Christian life: contemplation seeks knowledge of God, and action expresses that knowledge in conduct.
Illumination – The enlightening of the human mind and heart by divine truth, a central theme in patristic theology.
Incarnation – The act by which the eternal Word of God became human in the person of Jesus Christ.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa, a 4th-century Cappadocian Father and key architect of early Christian theology, offers in this Eastertide reading a profound and poetic meditation on the transformative power of the Resurrection. Rooted in the joy of Easter, the sermon explores the cosmic and personal implications of Christ’s rising from the dead. Gregory’s theology is deeply mystical, sacramental, and steeped in scriptural imagery, and this piece reveals the vast scope of the Christian vision of renewal [ … ]
In the Bible, a miracle is an event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore attributed to a divine agency. Miracles are often seen as a sign of the intervention of God in the affairs of human beings. In the Old Testament, the most famous miracles are the Ten Plagues of Egypt, in which God punished the Pharaoh for refusing to release the Israelites from slavery, and the parting of the Red Sea, in which God allowed the Israelites to escape from the pursuing Egyptians by opening a path through the sea. In the New Testament, the miracles of Jesus are a central part of his ministry and are seen as evidence of his divinity. These include healings, such as the restoration of sight to the blind and the raising of the dead, and acts of nature, such as turning water into wine and walking on water. Is There A Theological Significance To Jesus’ Miracles? In the Christian tradition, the miracles performed by Jesus are seen as a manifestation of his divinity and as proof of his authority to teach and heal. Many of these miracles are described in the Gospels of the New Testament, which are the primary source of information about the life and teachings of Jesus. The purpose of the miracles, according to the Gospels, was to demonstrate Jesus’ power over natural forces and to show that he had the authority to forgive sins and offer salvation to those who believed in him. Why Did Jesus Ask To Keep His Miracles Secret? ‘Tell No One Of This.’ In the Gospels, there are a few instances where Jesus tells people not to tell others about what he has done for them. For example, in the Gospel of Matthew, after Jesus healed a man who was possessed by demons, he told the man, ‘See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a proof to them’ (Matthew 8:4). In this case, it seems that Jesus was concerned that the man’s testimony might not be believed or might be misunderstood, and so he asked him to keep the experience to himself for the time being. It is difficult to say for sure why Jesus might have asked someone to keep quiet about a miracle without knowing the specific context in which the request was made. However, some possible reasons that come to mind include: To avoid drawing unnecessary attention to himself. In the Gospels, Jesus often tries to avoid drawing too much attention to himself, especially from the authorities who are hostile to him. Asking someone to keep quiet about a miracle might be one way of avoiding unwanted attention and allowing Jesus to continue his ministry without interference. To allow the person who was healed to experience the transformation for themselves. In some cases, the person who was healed might have been skeptical or unsure of what had happened to them. Asking them to keep quiet about the miracle might have given them time to reflect on the experience and come to their own understanding of it without being influenced by others. To test the person’s faith. In some cases, Jesus might have asked someone to keep quiet about a miracle as a test of their faith. If they were truly grateful for what Jesus had done for them, they would be willing to follow his instructions and trust that he had a good reason for asking them to keep quiet. These are just a few possible reasons why Jesus might have asked someone to keep quiet about a miracle. It is important to remember that the Gospels are ancient texts and that we must be careful not to impose our own interpretations on them without considering the historical and cultural context in which they were written. To avoid creating conflict or division. 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This statement is often seen as indicating that Jesus was aware […]
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