The Measure You Bring
Parables hide only to reveal, and the measure we bring to them—trust or tight-fisted control—shapes what we’ll receive in return.
4:21 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open
Jesus pivots from seeds to lamps: “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?” Everyone nods—it’s obvious. Light is meant to be revealed, not hidden. But then he adds: “For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.”
Here’s the paradox: Jesus is using parables to hide the truth of the kingdom, but only so it can be revealed. His riddles aren’t about concealing God forever; they’re about undoing our warped understandings so that God can be seen afresh. The parables don’t clarify—they destabilize. They crack our false images of God so the real God might shine through. Lamps are meant to shine, and what’s hidden is meant to be found. But first, we have to let go of the boxes and covers we’ve stuffed him under.
23 If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”
24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
Then Jesus switches metaphors again, this time to measuring grain in the marketplace. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.” In other words, your scales matter. If you come to the parables clinging to your own man-made images of God, you’ll get exactly that in return—nothing more than a God made in your image, as lifeless as the scales you brought. And eventually, even that will be taken away.
But if you come with empty scales—open, receptive, willing to trust—then the mystery of the kingdom floods you with more than you bargained for. “Whoever has will be given more.” In God’s upside-down economy, fullness comes through emptiness. We lay down our mismeasurements, our homemade gods, and in exchange we receive the overflowing life of the real kingdom.
Reflection Question
What kind of “measure” are you bringing to Jesus right now—control and certainty, or trust and openness—and how might that be shaping what you’re able to receive?
