Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” Mark 4: 21-23, NKJV.
Heavenly Father, today we will wait patiently for a word from You. You are asking us not only to hear, but to “pay attention,” and do the things we learn that we might receive more knowledge. By Your grace, please help us to be obedient. In the holy name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
The counsel in God’s Word for us today is quite clear: If you use the knowledge given you, you will receive more knowledge; if you do not, then even what you have will be taken away from you. The reason: because light is given to us not to be hidden from view, but to be used. That is the summary, let us expand on this thought.
Jesus begins the parable by asking a question: “Why do people bring a lamp into a room? Will they put it into a basket? Or, under a bed?” What would be the logic behind such behavior? Then He Himself answers the question in the form of another question: “Wasn’t it brought into the room to be set on a lampstand so that its light could extend further?
Now He gives His hearers a reason for bringing light into the room – light is brought into a room to make evident the things that would otherwise not be evident. It is brought in to expose those things that are hidden. When we use the word expose, it usually has a negative connotation. But if we read the text carefully, we realize that far from being negative, it can be very positive in the life of the person who is being exposed. For example:
Let us divert somewhat from the lamp scenario and using the same premise, let us go into the Radiology department of a clinic or hospital. A person experiences a pain in his or her side. He or she goes to their doctor, who requests a Ct scan or a MRI for that person. The test exposes a life-threatening situation. It exposed, or as the saying goes, “shed light” on his or her condition. This can be helpful or not, depending on what the patient chooses to do with the information he or she received.
This brings us to the second-to-last part of the parable. Jesus says “pay attention to what you hear. Depending on the use you make of the knowledge you received, more knowledge will be given to you.” The more use you give to the lamp, the more you will discover in the room. The more tests that are run on the patient, the more information the physician will have on the patient’s condition.
Jesus ends the parable with a statement, that to many sounds unfair, or even contradictory to the “Gospel of Jesus Christ.” “To the person who has, more will be given; and the one who has less, the little he or she has will be taken from them and given to the person who has more.” Of course if you take this premise out of its context and allow it to stand alone, it would be unfair. But within the parable it makes all the sense in the world.
Students who use all the information they receive from their instructors naturally acquire more knowledge than the student who does not even use what has been given to them, and makes no effort to learn all that he or she can on their own. Did someone rob them of your initial knowledge? Of course not. They simply did not apply, increase, or share what had been given them. They did not use what they had received. As a result, the lessons learned were soon forgotten. It is a proven statement that “What we do not use, we lose.”
God does not send us the light of truth to bring us to shame, but to lead us to salvation! Let us not voluntarily remain in darkness.
The year is still new. We still have time to add to our list of resolutions the following: By God’s grace, I will not only be a hearer, but a doer of God’s words!” Have a blessed day!