Wednesday 20 January 2016
- Bible Book:
- Mark
“And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’” (vv. 24-25)
Psalm: Psalm 16
Background
From my memories of growing up within the church, verse 25seemed a lot more popular than verse 24 and both were taken to beabout material things. Yet, even with that material view, verse 25is the passive one, it leaves us stuck with the consequences of theprivilege we have. Verse 25 is one that can easily lead us to saygiven that I'm going to cop it later for what I have now I might aswell make the most of it for myself now while I can. Hedonist viewssuch as this appear very common today, even if many who espousethem do not believe in eternal consequences.
On the other hand verse 24 is potentially transforming. We arenot stuck with where we are, or with the consequences of what wehave. Instead we have choices to make with eternal impact. Itappears a far more hopeful position.
However, a completely alternative approach is to take the widercontext and connect these sayings with the preceding parable of thesower (see
Here verse 24 (again) leads us to hope that if we allow theteaching of Jesus to take root (as if we are the fertile soil) thenunderstanding will come. On the other hand without the desire forand effort at understanding, we will lose even what we alreadyknow.
To Ponder
- When considering Christian Unity how might a focus on what Godand God's kingdom is like be more helpful than exactly howindividuals should act in response?
- Do you typically understand verse 24-25 materially or in termsof understanding? Is reflecting on another way of understandinghelpful or not? Why?
- Are you searching for more understanding in some areas of yourlife? How might verse 25 apply to these?