Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 4:21
And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?
21. Is a candle brought ] Rather, The lamp is not brought, is it? The article here points to the simple and indispensable furniture in every Jewish household. The original word means not a candle but a lamp. Wyclif renders it, “Whera lanterne come, that it be put vndir a bushel?”
to be put under a bushel ] The original word Modius denotes a dry measure containing 16 sextarii, or about a peck. The English equivalent is greatly in excess of the Latin, as is noted in the margin.
a candlestick ] Rather, the lamp-stand. “Do not suppose that what I now commit to you in secret, I would have concealed for ever; the light is kindled by Me in you, that by your ministry it may disperse the darkness of the whole world.” Erasmus.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Is a candle brought … – A candle is not lit up to be put immediately under a measure or a bed, where it can give no light. Its design is to give light. So my preaching by parables is not designed to obscure the truth, but to throw light on it. You should understand those parables, and, understanding them, should impart the truth to others also, as a candle throws its beams upon a dark world.
Bushel – The word here used in the original means a measure for grain containing about 12 quarts.
Bed – A couch, either to sleep on at night or to recline on at their meals. Probably the latter is here meant, and is equivalent to our saying a candle is not brought to be put under the table, but on it. See the notes at Mat 23:6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mar 4:21
Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed?
The extension of the kingdom
The kingdom, as it appeared in its beginning, is like the little grains of wheat cast into the damp soil in the chilly days of spring. To the mature Christian of today it is like the city which John saw, filling all his vision, let down out of heaven from God, glowing with strange opaline light, so that neither sun nor moon were longer needed, with jasper walls and pavements of transparent gold, and great gates, each a single pearl, and at each gate a glorious angel. This parable teaches us that one of the agencies bringing about this result is mans work in the kingdom.
1. To make known its character and the conditions of entrance into it. Even the smallest taper is lighted in order that it may give light. The youngest disciple is to shine for the guidance of others. The rays of one little lamp, piercing through miles of gloom, have saved noble ships from destruction, with all their precious living freight. It may have been only such a lamp as lights one little room; but it was surrounded by powerful reflectors, which sent its rays afar, and multiplied its influence a hundredfold.
2. To give his mind and heart to increase his knowledge and experience of the truth by which the kingdom grows. The lighted lamp must have oil to feed upon. We cannot be making known the character of the kingdom unless our knowledge of it is growing. Alas for him before whose eyes the vision of the heavenly city, once seen, is allowed to fade and disappear! On the other hand, the more brightly we shine, the more eagerly we seek and the more fully we receive that which keeps the light burning. The more generously we give to others what we know of the gospel, the more clearly it will be revealed to us. (A. E. Dunning.)
The Word not to be hidden
This reproves those who hide their knowledge of the Word, and keep it to themselves only, shutting up this light within their own breast, as it were, as in a close and private place, that it cannot be seen of others, and so as others have no benefit by it. They do not shine to others by the light of that knowledge which is in them; they show forth no fruits of it in a holy conversation; neither are they careful to communicate their knowledge to others by instruction of them in the ways of God. What is this but hiding the candle under a bushel, or setting it under a bed, when it should be set upon a candlestick, that the light of it might be plainly seen by those in the house? Let such consider how great a sin it is to hide the spiritual gifts bestowed on us by God, and not to employ them well to the glory of God and the good of our brethren. If thou hast never so much knowledge in the Word, and yet dost hide it only in thine own breast, and in thine own head, and dost not shine to others by the light of it, then thy knowledge is no sanctified and saving knowledge; for if it were, it could not thus lie hid and buried in thee, but it would manifest itself toward others for their good: it would not only enlighten thy mind, but also thy whole outward life and conversation, causing thee to shine as a light or candle unto others. (G. Petter.)
Sharing our light
It might seem a superfluous thing to urge the communication of gospel hopes and comforts, but there is none more needed. For one person who puts the candle on a candlestick, there are twenty that put it under a bushel-a dull wooden measure that keeps in all the light. There are many sorts of bushels.
1. One very bad one, and much employed to cover the light, is modesty (falsely so called). Modesty pretends to be not good enough or wise enough to speak, and turns the soul into a dark lantern.
2. Selfishness is another bushel for the light; forbidding men to take the trouble to shed it.
3. Indolence.
4. Fearfulness.
5. Despair of people heeding.
6. A narrow doctrine of salvation.
7. Sometimes a little scientific knowledge, creating conceit, makes a bushel; men being so anxious to mix the earthly with the heavenly light that the grave, sweet light of godly knowledge cannot get though the mistiness of the earthly mixture. (R. Glover.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 21. Is a candle – put under a bushel!] The design of my preaching is to enlighten men; my parables not being designed to hide the truth, but to make it more manifest.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The import of this verse may be learned from Mat 5:15,16, where the words are, and applied by an exhortation to holiness, being an argument drawn from the end for which men receive gifts and grace from God, which is not only for their own advantage, though (like the husbandman) those that have it reap first of their own fruit, but for the good and advantage of others also. Some think that Christ here speaketh of himself, who is the Light of the world, and therefore opened this parable unto them. But the context in Matthew guiding us to the true sense of the words, I see no reason for us to busy ourselves in searching out another, especially when the connexion is so fair with the foregoing words, where he had been describing the good ground by bringing forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred fold. What therefore the sowing the seed in the good ground, mentioned in the parable, is, that is the lighting up of a candle in this verse; and the light showed by the lighted candle, not put under a vessel, or a bed, but in a candlestick, is the same thing with the fruit before mentioned.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. And he said unto them, Is acandleor “lamp”
brought to be put under abushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?“thatthey which enter in may see the light” (Lu8:16). See on Mt 5:15, of whichthis is nearly a repetition.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he said unto them,…. At the same time, after he had explained the parable of the sower; for though the following parabolical and proverbial expressions were delivered by Christ at other, and different times, and some of them twice, as related by other evangelists; yet they might be all of them expressed or repeated at this time, by our Lord, showing why he explained the above parable to his disciples; and that though he delivered the mysteries of the Gospel in parables to them that were without, yet it was not his design that these things should be always kept a secret, and that from all men: for as the Gospel might be compared to seed, so likewise to a candle, the design and use of which is to give light to men: wherefore he asks,
is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not to be set on a candlestick? when a candle is brought into a room, in the night, where company are together, to converse, or read, or work; is it proper that it should be covered with a bushel, or any other hollow vessel? or when brought into a bedchamber, is it right to put it under the bed? is it not most fitting and convenient, that it should be set in a candlestick, and then it will be of use to all in the room? so the Gospel, which is the candle of the Lord, he had lighted up in the evening of the Jewish world, in the land of Judea; it was not his will that it should be always, and altogether, and from all men, covered with parables, and dark sayings, without any explanation of them; but that the light of it should be communicated, especially to them his; disciples, who were to be the lights of the world, and which were to shine openly before men, for their good, and the glory of his heavenly Father; see Mt 5:14.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Gradual Advance of the Gospel. |
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21 And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? 22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. 23 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. 24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. 25 For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. 26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; 27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. 28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. 29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. 30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: 32 But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it. 33 And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. 34 But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.
The lessons which our Saviour designs to teach us here by parables and figurative expressions are these:–
I. That those who are good ought to consider the obligations they are under to do good; that is, as in the parable before, to bring forth fruit. God expects a grateful return of his gifts to us, and a useful improvement of his gifts in us; for (v. 21), Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? No, but that it may be set on a candlestick. The apostles were ordained, to receive the gospel, not for themselves only, but for the good of others, to communicate it to them. All Christians, as they have received the gift, must minister the same. Note, 1. Gifts and graces make a man as a candle; the candle of the Lord (Prov. xx. 27), lighted by the Father of lights; the most eminent are but candles, poor lights, compared with the Sun of righteousness. A candle gives light but a little way, and but a little while, and is easily blown out, and continually burning down and wasting. 2. Many who are lighted as candles, put themselves under a bed, or under a bushel: they do not manifest grace themselves, nor minister grace to others; they have estates, and do no good with them; have their limbs and senses, wit and learning perhaps, but nobody is the better for them; they have spiritual gifts, but do not use them; like a taper in an urn, they burn to themselves. 3. Those who are lighted as candles, should set themselves on a candlestick; that is, should improve all opportunities of doing good, as those that were made for the glory of God, and the service of the communities they are members of; we are not born for ourselves.
The reason given for this, is, because there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested, which should not be made manifest (so it might better be read), v. 22. There is no treasure of gifts and graces lodged in any but with design to be communicated; nor was the gospel made a secret to the apostles, to be concealed, but that it should come abroad, and be divulged to all the world. Though Christ expounded the parables to his disciples privately, yet it was with design to make them the more publicly useful; they were taught, that they might teach; and it is a general rule, that the ministration of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal, not himself only, but others also.
II. It concerns those who hear the word of the gospel, to mark what they hear, and to make a good use of it, because their weal or woe depends upon it; what he had said before he saith again, If any man have ears to hear, let him hear, v. 23. Let him give the gospel of Christ a fair hearing; but that is not enough, it is added (v. 24), Take heed what ye hear, and give a due regard to that which ye do hear; Consider what ye hear, so Dr. Hammond reads it. Note, What we hear, doth us no good, unless we consider it; those especially that are to teach others must themselves be very observant of the things of God; must take notice of the message they are to deliver, that they may be exact. We must likewise take heed what we hear, by proving all things, that we may hold fast that which is good. We must be cautious, and stand upon our guard, lest we be imposed upon. To enforce this caution, consider,
1. As we deal with God, God will deal with us, so Dr. Hammond explains these words, “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you. If ye be faithful servants to him, he will be a faithful Master to you: with the upright he will show himself upright.“
2. As we improve the talents we are entrusted with, we shall increase them; if we make use of the knowledge we have, for the glory of God and the benefit of others, it shall sensibly grow, as stock in trade doth by being turned; Unto you that hear, shall more be given; to you that have, it shall be given, v. 25. If the disciples deliver that to the church, which they have received of the Lord, they shall be led more into the secret of the Lord. Gifts and graces multiply by being exercised; and God has promised to bless the hand of the diligent.
3. If we do not use, we lose, what we have; From him that hath not, that doeth no good with what he hath, and so hath it in vain, is as if he had it not, shall be taken even that which he hath. Burying a talent is the betraying of a trust, and amounts to a forfeiture; and gifts and graces rust for want of wearing.
III. The good seed of the gospel sown in the world, and sown in the heart, doth by degrees produce wonderful effects, but without noise (v. 26, c.) So is the kingdom of God; so is the gospel, when it is sown, and received, as seed in good ground.
1. It will come up; though it seem lost and buried under the clods, it will find or make its way through them. The seed cast into the ground will spring. Let but the word of Christ have the place it ought to have in a soul, and it will show itself, as the wisdom from above doth in a good conversation. After a field is sown with corn, how soon is the surface of it altered! How gay and pleasant doth it look, when it is covered with green!
2. The husbandman cannot describe how it comes up; it is one of the mysteries of nature; It springs and grows up, he knows not how, v. 27. He sees it has grown, but he cannot tell in what manner it grew, or what was the cause and method of its growth. Thus we know not how the Spirit by the word makes a change in the heart, any more than we can account for the blowing of the wind, which we hear the sound of, but cannot tell whence it comes, or whither it goes. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness; how God manifested in the flesh came to be believed on in the world, 1 Tim. iii. 16.
3. The husbandman, when he hath sown the seed, doth nothing toward the springing of it up; He sleeps, and rises, night and day; goes to sleep at night, gets up in the morning, and perhaps never so much as thinks of the corn he hath sown, or ever looks upon it, but follows his pleasures or other business, and yet the earth brings forth fruit of itself, according to the ordinary course of nature, and by the concurring power of the God of nature. Thus the word of grace, when it is received in faith, is in the heart a work of grace, and the preachers contribute nothing to it. The Spirit of God is carrying it on when they sleep, and can do no business (Job 33:15; Job 33:16), or when they rise to go about other business. The prophets do not live for ever; but the word which they preached, is doing its work, when they are in their graves, Zec 1:5; Zec 1:6. The dew by which the seed is brought up tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men, Mic. v. 7.
4. It grows gradually; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear, v. 28. When it is sprung up, it will go forward; nature will have its course, and so will grace. Christ’s interest, both in the world and in the heart, is, and will be, a growing interest; and though the beginning be small, the latter end will greatly increase. Though thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, yet God will give to every seed its own body; though at first it is but a tender blade, which the frost may nip, or the foot may crush, yet it will increase to the ear, to the full corn in the ear. Natura nil facit per saltum–Nature does nothing abruptly. God carries on his work insensibly and without noise, but insuperably and without fail.
5. It comes to perfection at last (v. 29); When the fruit is brought forth, that is, when it is ripe, and ready to be delivered into the owner’s hand; then he puts in the sickle. This intimates, (1.) That Christ now accepts the services which are done to him by an honest heart from a good principle; from the fruit of the gospel taking place and working in the soul, Christ gathers in a harvest of honour to himself. See John iv. 35. (2.) That he will reward them in eternal life. When those that receive the gospel aright, have finished their course, the harvest comes, when they shall be gathered as wheat into God’s barn (Matt. xiii. 30), as a shock of corn in his season.
IV. The work of grace is small in its beginnings, but comes to be great and considerable at last (v. 30-32); “Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God, as now to be set up by the Messiah? How shall I make you to understand the designed method of it?” Christ speaks as one considering and consulting with himself, how to illustrate it with an apt similitude; With what comparison shall we compare it? Shall we fetch it from the motions of the sun, or the revolutions of the moon? No, the comparison is borrowed from this earth, it is like a grain of mustard-seed; he had compared it before to seed sown, here to that seed, intending thereby to show,
1. That the beginnings of the gospel kingdom would be very small, like that which is one of the least of all seeds. When a Christian church was sown in the earth for God, it was all contained in one room, and the number of the names was but one hundred and twenty (Acts i. 15), as the children of Israel, when they went down into Egypt, were but seventy souls. The work of grace in the soul, is, at first, but the day of small things; a cloud no bigger than a man’s hand. Never were there such great things undertaken by such an inconsiderable handful, as that of the discipling of the nations by the ministry of the apostles; nor a work that was to end in such great glory, as the work of grace raised from such weak and unlikely beginnings. Who hath begotten me these?
2. That the perfection of it will be very great; When it grows up, it becomes greater than all herbs. The gospel kingdom in the world, shall increase and spread to the remotest nations of the earth, and shall continue to the latest ages of time. The church hath shot out great branches, strong ones, spreading far, and fruitful. The work of grace in the soul has mighty products, now while it is in its growth; but what will it be, when it is perfected in heaven? The difference between a grain of mustard seed and a great tree, is nothing to that between a young convert on earth and a glorified saint in heaven. See John xii. 24.
After the parables thus specified the historian concludes with this general account of Christ’s preaching–that with many such parables he spoke the word unto them (v. 33); probably designing to refer us to the larger account of the parables of this kind, which we had before, Matt. xiii. He spoke in parables, as they were able to hear them; he fetched his comparisons from those things that were familiar to them, and level to their capacity, and delivered them in plain expressions, in condescension to their capacity; though he did not let them into the mystery of the parables, yet his manner of expression was easy, and such as they might hereafter recollect to their edification. But, for the present, without a parable spoke he not unto them, v. 34. The glory of the Lord was covered with a cloud, and God speaks to us in the language of the sons of men, that, though not at first, yet by degrees, we may understand his meaning; the disciples themselves understood those sayings of Christ afterward, which at first they did not rightly take the sense of. But these parables he expounded to them, when they were alone. We cannot but wish we had had that exposition, as we had of the parable of the sower; but it was not so needful; because, when the church should be enlarged, that would expound these parables to us, without any more ado.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Not to be put on the stand? ( ;). First aorist passive subjunctive of with (purpose). The lamp in the one-room house was a familiar object along with the bushel, the bed, the lampstand. Note article with each. in the Greek expects the answer no. It is a curious instance of early textual corruption that both Aleph and B, the two oldest and best documents, have (under the lampstand) instead of , making shipwreck of the sense. Westcott and Hort actually put it in the margin but that is sheer slavery to Aleph and B. Some of the crisp sayings were repeated by Jesus on other occasions as shown in Matthew and Luke. To put the lamp under the bushel () would put it out besides giving no light. So as to the bed or table-couch () if it was raised above the floor and liable to be set on fire.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
A candle [ ] . Properly, the lamp, as Rev.
Brought [] . Lit., cometh. Doth the lamp come? This impersonation or investing the lamp with motion is according to Mark’s lively mode of narrative, as is the throwing of the passage into the interrogative form. Compare Luk 8:16. The lamp : the article indicating a familiar household implement. So also “the bed” and “the stand.”
Bushel [] . The Latin modius. One of Mark’s Latin words. See on Mt 5:15. The modius was nearer a peck than a bushel.
Bed [] . A couch for reclining at table.
Candlestick [] . Rev., correctly, stand; i e., lamp stand. See on Mt 5:15.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
PARABLE OF THE CANDLE, V. 21-25
1) “And He said unto them,” (kai elegen autois) “And He quizzed them,” His disciples, using the question and, answer method of teaching, as also related, Mat 5:15-16: Luk 8:16; Luk 11:3.
2) “Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel?” (hoti meti erchetai ho luchnos hins hupo ton modion tethe) “That it does not come to be that a light is brought and placed or located under a bushel,” does it? The term (Gk. luchnos) means a candle, or a portable light, one that can be moved about, put under a peck-size container.
3) “Or under a bed?” (e hupo ten klinen) “Or under a bed, or couch,” does it? God’s children must avoid hiding or concealing their light, in slothful, shabby living, Pro 19:15; Eph 5:14; Rom 12:11; Heb 6:12.
4) “And not to be set on a candlestick?” (ouch hina epi ten luchnian tethe) “And not in order that it be put on a lampstand?” or instead of being placed on a lampstand. Such is not becoming, is it? The inferred answer is, that the light of the bearer, the influence of God’s children of light, is to be reflected in and through, and from His church, to a sin-darkened world, 1Ti 3:15; Act 1:8; Joh 8:12; 1Th 5:4-6; Mat 6:23.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Mar. 4:21. We lose much of the significance, if we think of the modern candle and candlestick carried about in the hand. On the contrary, it is the lamp of the house put upon the lampstand, or candelabrum, which is so elevated that any lamp upon it can lighten up all the interior.
Mar. 4:22. Which shall not be manifested.But that it should be manifested. To be read in close connexion with Mar. 4:11-12, on which these words shed a flood of light. Gods purposes are always merciful; His hidings are revealings in disguise.
Mar. 4:24. Take heed what ye hear.There is a discipline of ear, as well as of tongue, hand, etc. Men are held responsible for the opportunities to hear good that they neglect, and for the voluntary exposure of their minds to evil influences. With what measure ye mete.According to the attention bestowed in hearing the truth, and the diligence used in obeying its behests, will be the profit derived from it. Or there may be a special reference to the duty of handing on to others the spiritual knowledge we have acquired ourselves, and the clearer insight that the instructor himself gains while so doing. The last clause of the verse should probably read simply, And more shall be given to you: God is ever a liberal paymaster. If ye diligently endeavour to do all the good you can, and teach it to others, the mercy of God will come in to give you both in the present life a sense to take in higher things and a will to do better things, and will add for the future an everlasting reward.
Mar. 4:25. The principle enunciated here is one that applies to every department of life. Nothing succeeds like success, or fails like failure. One thing leads the way to another of the same kind, whether it be triumph or defeat, gain or loss, etc. In the spiritual sphere, in particular, he who possesses the hearing ear and the understanding heart, will find them improve by use; while he who does not cultivate them is in danger of losing them altogether.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mar. 4:21-25
(PARALLEL:Luk. 8:16-18.)
Mar. 4:22. The manifestation of hidden things.This is a proverbial saying, applied in various senses, according to the occasion. Before treating it in a general way, we may glance at it in connexion with the particular occasions on which we find it employed in Scripture.
1. Mat. 10:26. Our Lord is there warning His apostles of the enmity and persecution which they must expect to encounter in the discharge of their duty. My doctrine, He seems to say, must by all means, and in spite of all attempts to suppress it, be proclaimed abroad. There is nothing now hid which shall not be revealed; nor has there anything passed in secret between us which shall not be generally made known. Fear not, therefore, but proceed to execute the task assigned you, not by the method of private communication, which is suited only to the instruction of a few confidential disciples, but in whatever way may best serve to spread the gospel abroad.
2. Luk. 12:2. A warning against dissimulation. There will come a day when all hypocrisy will be laid bare, and every man will appear in his true character.
3. The text. As a candle is meant to be elevated on a candlestick, so Christians should not lead a life of seclusion and retirement, but rather let their light shine before men.
I. Perhaps the first case which occurs to one, on hearing this saying, is that of great and atrocious crimes, of which the perpetrators are unknown; acts of violence or wanton mischief, committed under cover of night or remote from observation. A short time usually brings to light the deed; but the author and the circumstances remain a mystery. Such is the case of an uncertain murder, for which the Mosaic Law made a remarkable provision (Deu. 21:1-9). Even in this world it is wonderful how things come to light, often with the result of bringing the guilt home to the right door. But for the complete fulfilment of the text we must wait till the Day of Judgment, when no darkness will hide the evil-doer, and there will be no need of pursuers to track him to his hiding-place; his own iniquities, etc. (Pro. 5:22). Then it will be useless for one of the party to come forward and betray his accomplices; for whatsoever the conspirators of mischief have spoken in darkness, etc. (Luk. 12:3). A necessary consequence of the exposure of guilt will be the manifestation of innocence. Now, in our ignorance of the real offender, suspicions fall upon many innocent persons, who, if they cannot perfectly clear themselves, continue under a cloud all their lives. This is a sore trial; but the Day of Judgment will set it right. See Isa. 58:8; Psa. 37:6.
II. Another great heap of hidden things, one day to be revealed, are the thoughts of mens hearts, and the secret springs of their actions. At present everything connected with the inner working of the mind is a mystery. Of all covered things none is so close and impenetrable as the heart of man (Jer. 17:9). But, happily, all things are naked, etc. (Heb. 4:13). God is able to unlock the doors of this cabinet, and expose all the secret drawers, recesses, and hiding-places contained in it. And when we see the multifarious furniture of a single heartthoughts, desires, motives, passions, and affectionsransacked and sifted before the eyes of the universe, we shall perceive an additional propriety in the text. What a disclosure! Who could have imagined that those who preserved so amiable and sanctified an exterior should in their hearts be proud, covetous, sensual, devilish? But where gross hypocrisy is not chargeable, yet what a miserable figure will the very best and purest exertions of human virtue make, when manifested, with all their blemishes, in the searching light of Gods countenance! Which of us will then appear to have walked before Him and been perfect? to have loved Him with all our heart, etc.? to have set up no idols, no rebellious wills, no carnal affections?
Mar. 4:24. How to hear sermons.Take heed what ye hear really means Take heed how ye hear, in what spirit ye hear, with what attention, with what profit, as appears from the words which follow.
I. Ways in which men bring upon themselves spiritual hurt and loss by their manner of hearing Gods Word.
1. If they hear without attention or feeling or desire, then they become so used to the words by hearing them often, they so harden their hearts by their careless, godless practice, that they become like the hard-beaten road from which the devil catches away the seed directly it has fallen. They have this of not attending, that they cannot attend; of closing their ears, that they lose the power of hearing even when they would listen; and often they go down to the grave deaf to Gods warnings, deaf to the sound of preacher or angel or the voice of Christ, to be awakened from that deafness by the voice of the archangel, and by the trump of God calling to judgment.
2. Men hear and pay attention; they are moved by what is said or by what they read: but they rise up and forget; or they begin to act and leave off with failing zeal and sinking interest; or their sins or the world choke the seed, and it becometh unfruitful.
3. God withdraws His Spirit from those who neglect His grace; and without that Spirit no man can draw near to Him.
II. The great danger of not heeding how we hear in respect to sermons.
1. It will avail a man nothing to listen in a judging, criticising spirit. On the contrary, it will make the service an exercise of pride to him instead of humility: he will learn nothing, because he has not the spirit of a learner, but the feeling of a teacher, a judge, and a superior.
2. It will serve a man nothing if he listens to a sermon without applying it to himself.
3. If any person delights in the manner or words of a sermon, or in the preacher of it, rather than in the matter, the thing preached will profit him nothing. Such an one loses the kernel in admiring the shell.
4. A man who talks much about a sermon after it is over is not one most likely to profit by it. It has been well said that the best sermon is that which sends a congregation away not talking, but thinking. Those who feel most speak least. St. Augustine went to preach to some barbarous people in order to persuade them to abandon a cruel custom to which they were used. I preached mightily, he says, to the best of my power to pluck out so cruel and unchristian a custom from their hearts and minds, and to banish it by my exhorting. I did not think, however, that I had accomplished anything when I heard them applauding, but when I saw them weeping. For they shewed by their applause that they were instructed and pleased, but by their tears that they were turned.
5. Many people think that they require a sermon several times a week to keep them in the right way, and to fill them with heavenly thoughts. They are mistaken; they require no more preaching than they can hear upon the Lords Day, except at particular seasons and for particular instruction. But what they do require is thought. It is want of thought that makes sermons useless, and afflictions useless, and warnings useless.W. E. Heygate,.
Mar. 4:25. How progress is possible.The law laid down is this: that when we use powers and faculties, we gain more power and more faculty; that when we neglect to use them, they decrease, and at last perish. Such is the case with bodily organs, but such is still more the case with mental organs. Practice makes perfect, it is said. But notice this: it is not undirected practice, or the random use of any power, but it is the carefully arranged practice which improves it. In other words, it is practice directed towards an end. Robert Houdon, the celebrated French juggler, tells us how he acquired one element of his power, an extreme quickness and accuracy of observation. His father took him through one of the boulevards of Paris, crowded with people, and led him slowly past a shop window, in which were exhibited a great multitude of different articles, and then made him tell how many he had been able to notice and recollect. This practice so strengthened and quickened the perceptive powers, that at last he became able to recollect every article in a large shop window by only walking past it a single time. The more he exercised the faculty, the easier it became. The more he had of this quickness of observation, the more was given to him. In the same way acrobats and gymnasts, by careful and systematic training, develop herculean strength of limb and power of equipoise. As one improves any power by careful training, he gets more. He has much, and more is given him. But if we neglect to exercise our powers, they degenerate, and at last disappear. The fishes in the Mammoth Cave have lost their eyes by not using them in that Egyptian darkness. So if men do not employ any power, they at last become incapable of using it. The gland which does not secrete diminishes in bulk; the nerve that does not transmit impressions wastes away; the muscle which does not contract withers. The intellectual and moral organs, like the physical, are liable to atrophy, from disease. If a person does not take pains to observe, and to remember what he observes, the power of seeing and remembering gradually decays. He who does not think seriously on anything will become frivolous, and not be able to apply his mind at all. To him who hath knowledge more shall be given, and he shall have abundance. Knowledge in the mind is such a vital and vitalising power, that it makes the intellect active to see, to learn, to remember. Whoever travels with an empty, untaught mind comes back nearly as ignorant as he went; but the geologist, the artist, the man who has read geography and history, or who knows well any industry or manufacture or art, is able to see something new wherever he goes. Just as the merchant must send out some freight in his vessel in order to bring back a cargo, the traveller must take some knowledge with him abroad if he wishes to bring any with him home. We have heard of persons who have stayed in their house and avoided society until it became impossible for them to leave their home or the room. We owe something to society; we all can be of use to others by some kindly, cheerful companion ship; but these people have buried their talent in the earth, until at last it is taken from them. Solitary confinement, when inflicted as a punishment, is considered a very severe one; but these persons inflict it on themselvesliving for years alone, and at last unable to go out, even if they wish to do so. So people who do not give lose at last the power of giving. Let us never forget the epitaph on a tombstone, which teaches the true law on this subject: What I spent, I had; what I kept, I lost; what I gave, I have still. So likewise those who do not care to see the truth lose at last the power of seeing it. I have known lawyers to whom justice and truth were supremehonourable, high-minded men, who never condescended to any low cunning, but only used those arguments to convince others which were convincing to themselves. Such men, as they grow older, grow wiser, stronger, greater. They love truth, and truth is given to them, and they have abundance. But we have known others, members of this same grand profession, whose only object was to win their cause, and that in any way. They said, not what they believed true, but what they thought they might make seem true to others. Their object was, not to convince; but to deceive, to confuse, to bewilder, to mislead, to win their cause by appeals to prejudice, to ignorance, to passion. And so at last they confuse their own sense, and lose the power of distinguishing between truth and falsehood, right and wrong. They have buried their talent in the earth, and it is taken from them. We may state the law thus: Any habitual course of conduct changes voluntary actions into automatic or involuntary actions. This can be illustrated by the physical constitution of man. Some of our bodily acts are voluntary, some involuntary; some, partly one and partly the other. The heart beats seventy or eighty times a minute all our life long, without any will of ours. The lungs, in the same way, perpetually inhale and exhale breath, whether we intend it or not; and if the lungs should suspend their action, we should die. But we can exercise a little volition over the action of the lungs; we can breathe voluntarily, taking long breaths. Thus the action of the lungs is partly automatic and partly voluntary, while the mechanical action of the heart is wholly automatic, and the chemical action of the digestive organs is the same. But some acts, voluntary at first, become, by habit, automatic. A child beginning to walk takes every single step by a separate act of will; beginning to read, he looks at every single letter. After a while he walks and reads by a habit, which has become involuntary. So also it is with mans moral and spiritual nature. By practice he forms habits, and habitual action is automatic action, requiring no exercise of will except at the beginning of the series of acts. The law of association does the rest. So to him who hath shall be given. As voluntary acts are transformed into automatic, the will is set free to devote itself to higher efforts and larger attainments. If it were not for some such law of accumulation as this, the work of life would have to be begun for ever anew. Formation of character would be impossible. We should be incapable of progress, our whole strength being always employed in battling with our first enemies, learning evermore anew our earliest lessons. But, by our present constitution, he who has taken one step can take another, and life may become a perpetual advance from good to better. This is the one and sufficient reward of all virtue, the one sufficient punishment of all wrongdoing, that right actions and wrong actions gradually harden into character. The reward of the good man is, that having chosen truth and pursued it, it becomes at last a part of his own nature, a happy companion of all his life. The condemnation of the bad man is, that when light has come into the world he has chosen darkness, and so the light within him becomes darkness. Do not envy the bad mans triumphs and worldly successes. Every one of them is a rivet fastening him to evil, making it more difficult for him to return to good, making it impossible but for the redeeming power of God, which has become incarnate in Christ, in order to seek and save the lost. The highest graces of allfaith, hope, and loveobey the same law. By trusting in God when we hardly see Him at all, we come at last to realise, as by another sense, His Divine presence in all things. Faith in God, at first an effort, at last becomes automatic and instinctive. Thus, too, faith in immortality solidifies into an instinct. As we live from and for infinite, Divine, eternal realities, these become a part of our knowledge. Socrates did not convince himself of his immortality much by his arguments. But by spending a long life in intimate converse with the highest truths and noblest ends, he at last reached the point where he could not help believing in immortality. The moral of all this is evident. Every man, every woman, every child, has some talent, some power, some opportunity, of getting good and doing good. Each day offers us some occasion of using this talent. As we use it, it gradually increases, improves, becomes native to the character. As we neglect it, it dwindles, withers, and disappears. This is the stern but benign law by which we live. This makes character real and enduring; this makes progress possible; this turns men into angels and virtue into goodness.J. F. Clarke.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Mar. 4:21-22. Christian life.
I. As a revelation.
1. It is to be luminous.
2. It is to be properly placed in the midst of society. The gospel is a great revealing power. In all truth there is power of exposure and judgment; how much more in the highest truth of all!
II. As a responsibility.
1. Stewardship in doctrine.
2. Stewardship in action.
III. As a law.
1. Usefulness is productiveness.
2. Indolence is ruin. The kingdom of Christ is thus shewn to be founded on law. Man never becomes more than a subject: Christ never less than a king.J. Parker, D.D.
Mar. 4:21. Usefulness.The duty which no one can disclaim, the test which no one may evade, and the praise which no one will despise are all included in the homely word usefulness.
I. The inevitableness of usefulness for every one who is in spirit, as well as profession, a true disciple of Christ. The use of light, as well as its function, is to shine. So a Christian is a Christian, not merely for the personal object of his individual salvation, but that he may glorify God in saving others. True, he must divest himself of self-consciousness. Also, he must be constantly on his guard against religious priggishness. But he is to shine as a light in the world, if he would not be missing one of the chief ends of his salvation.
II. The scope of a Christians usefulness is very wide. Before men, Christ said, His disciples were to make their light shine. But there are several spheres of usefulness, in their order of importance and necessity, more or less open to us all.
1. Wherever else we may or may not be useful, let us, above all things, endeavour to be useful at home. Our first duties are with those who are nearest and dearest to us.
2. In society we can be very useful, if we are only earnestly bent on it, and cultivate tact, modesty, and self-effacement.
III. The method of usefulness.
1. All our usefulness, whatever it may be, must depend on our character. Christ in the heart must precede Christ on the lips.
2. The discharge of our daily duty will immensely affect our influence with others.
3. Friendship gives another scope for usefulness.
4. For each one, if he cares to trust it and to use it, Christ offers some special service, according to capacity, age, and gift.Bishop Thorold.
Christs methods in revelation.He is the person that lights the candle or the lamp; and in explanation of His teaching by parables He says in effect: Do not think that I would be so foolish as to defeat and counterwork My own purpose, by bringing any arbitrary or needless obscurities into My teaching. I do not light My lamp of revelation, and then put it away under a bushel of dark sayings, which might have been made light and clear. But the parable, which is a veiling of the lightwhich is, if not a putting it under a bushel, at least putting a bit of coloured glass between you and itthe parable is given for the distinct purpose, not that the light that streams through it may be hidden, but that the light may be manifested. If there is any darkness, be sure that it is darkness which is intended to help the spread of the light. And if there be obscurities, they are meant, by stimulating thought to search, by arresting attention, and by a hundred other effects on us to whom the revelation comes, to make us more vigorous in our pursuit after the truth; and on Gods side are adopted, not in order that He may ensnare us and give Himself excuses for punishing, but that He may temper the light to the weak eye, and so make it capable of becoming strong enough to bear more light.A. Maclaren, D.D.
The guiding light.What does a man light a candle for? That it may give light. What has God given me my conscience and my power of spiritual perception for, but in order that it may be the guiding light of my whole nature, not that it may be put under a bushel or under a bed? The light which is in us falls under the same laws as the light without us in the revelation of Jesus Christ. Nay, more, the light which is in the Christian soul is Christ. For it is the conscience illuminated by His indwelling, and the spirit made capable of perceiving the truth because it possesses Christ within, of which He is here speaking. And what He says is this: I kindled the light in your heart and mind and conscience, not that it might be quenched and darkened, but that it might be your guiding star and perpetual inspiration. And you falsify and contradict the very purpose for which Christ has come to you, unless you let the light of His will burning in your will, and the light of His truth flaming in your understanding, and the light of his righteousness illuminating your conscience, be your supreme and sovereign guides.Ibid.
Hidden lights.Some Christian men darken and obscure the light of Christ within them by their carefulness about earthly necessities, possessions, and treasures, which are represented by the bushel of commerce; and some of them do the same thing by sheer slothfulness and indifference in the religious life, which are represented by the bed on which men stretch themselves at ease for sleep.Ibid.
Mar. 4:22. The day of manifestation.Though now it is often hard or impossible to distinguish between those in whom the good seed is springing up freely and healthfully, and those in whom its growth is checked and stunted, or trodden out; yet remember a time is coming when all shall be made plain and manifest, when mans responsibility shall be fully acknowledged, and his shortcomings shall be fearfully avenged. Then shall the reckoning be. Then shall it be clearly seen and brought to light how the good seed has been plenteously and continually sown in many a heart, and scarcely sown before lost for ever, how opportunities and calls have been neglected, graces and mercies slighted, warnings and examples lightly put aside; in a word, the mans struggle against grace through a whole lifetime shall be laid bare, step by step, and feature by feature, then, when the time of grace shall be no more.Dean Butler.
Mar. 4:24. Take heed what ye hear.Never was this warning more needed than now. Men think themselves free to follow any teacher, especially if he be eloquent, to read any book, if only it be in demand, and to discuss any theory, provided it be fashionable, while perfectly well aware that they are neither earnest inquirers after truth, nor qualified champions against its assailants. For what, then, do they read and hear? For the pleasure of a rounded phrase, or to augment the prattle of conceited ignorance in a drawing-room. Do we wonder when these players with edged tools injure themselves, and become perverts or agnostics? A rash and uninstructed exposure of our intellects to evil influences is meting to God with an unjust measure, as really as a wilful plunge into any other temptation, since we are bidden to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the spirit as well as of the flesh.Dean Chadwick.
Unprofitable hearers.Some can be content to hear all pleasant things, as the promises and mercies of God; but judgments and reproofs, threats and checks, these they cannot brook; like unto those who, in medicine, care only for a pleasant smell or appearance in the remedy, as pills rolled in gold, but have no regard for the efficacy of the physic. Some can willingly hear that which concerns other men and their sins, their lives and manners, but nothing touching themselves or their own sins; as men can willingly abide to hear of other mens deaths, but cannot abide to think of their own.R. Stock.
With what measure ye mete.His hearers would at once understand the allusion. When grain is brought in quantities, it is brought in bags which are always measured again by a person whose trade it is to do this. Squatting cross-legged on the ground, he fills the grain with his hands into a tinneh, which he shakes when it is full, to make the contents solid. He then refills it, twists it round scientifically, and makes a second settling of the grain, afterwards refilling it. He then presses down the whole with his hands, and at last, when he cannot make it hold more, raises as high a cone as possible on the top; only this being thought good measure.C. Geikie, D.D.
The law of compensation.At present you have, as men say, the law in your own hands. You can do nearly as you will. There is no compulsion laid upon you. You can measure out to God what measure you will. If you choose to profit, to let His words sink into your hearts, to bring forth fruit to His glory, it is, through His grace, in your power to do so. Under the influence of that life-giving Word the rocky soil may become deep, rich, staple; the roadside shall no more be trodden; the thorns shall be rooted out. Not even deep sin can hinder it. The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose: it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. Such is its marvellous efficacy within the heart that gives itself to its control, that the publican becomes an apostle, the shameless sinner a deeply-loving penitent. Therefore you are now the meters. You may, as you will, refuse or accept, i.e. develop or utterly stifle the results of the heavenly sowing. Only remember, that as you deal now with God, in this measure will you be dealt with hereafter.Dean Butler.
The nature of Christs teaching is such as that, if a man, with sharpened ear and attentive spirit, listens and takes into his heart what he does understand, and lives thereby, the amount of what he understands is sure to grow, and endless progress in the apprehension of the light that lives in the thickest apparent darkness will be his. Just as when we step out of a gaudily lighted room, and look up into the depths of the heavens above us, all seems obscured. But, as we gaze, the focus of the eye changes, and we see sparkling points which we shall one day know to be magnificent suns in the far-off vault, which at first seemed unrelieved darkness. So, because the lamp is not hid under the bushel, take heed what you hear, and recognise in the very form of the revelation of Gods love and will in Jesus Christ a provision for the certain progress in knowledge and perception of every faithful, listening soul, and a provision for the as certain darkening into unrelieved blackness and midnight obscurity of the glimmering light neglected.A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mar. 4:25. Christian attainment.According to the interest, the attention, the practical purpose, the sympathy with truth which you bring to the hearing will be the gifts which your Teacher will bestow, and the accessions which you will carry away; and every such accession will be itself a foundation for higher attainment, for he that hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. What importance is thus added to every measure of Christian attainment! It is no longer to be estimated by itself, but in relation to ulterior progress, as a qualification for the further steps by which we may grow up into Him in all things who is our Head, even Christ. Valuable and blessed as every such attainment is in itself, that value and blessedness will be largely increased by what we may call the tendencies and potentialities which belong to it, and which show themselves as new opportunities arise. A man has a certain interest in the things of God: it is well; but we are chiefly thankful for it because it will dispose him to hear, to inquire, to consider, and so to profit by the teaching which the providence of God may present to him. He has certain convictions: we rejoice, but most because these convictions decide him to break with things that were hurtful, and to throw himself among things that are profitable to his salvation, taking his place among those who would learn of the heavenly wisdom, watching daily at her gates, waiting at the posts of her doors. He has a certain knowledge of Divine truth, and what he knows will interpret to him what he knows not, enabling him, when he hears a higher teaching, to apprehend and appreciate instructions which, to those less advanced, are done in parables. He has a certain experience in the spiritual life, and that experience qualifies him to pass with increasing profit through subsequent dispensations which might else have perplexed or offended or crushed him. Till the time shall come which will enlighten the obscure histories of human life, none can say to what a degree this system of sequence is maintained and administered in the kingdom of God. Enough of it is declared, and enough is visible, to solemnise our view of passing things, and to make us feel how neglect or refusal of what is offered us at one period may propagate its fatal influence through successive stages of spiritual loss, or how a firm hold laid upon some gift of grace may prove to have put us in possession of ever-accumulating treasures.J. D. Burns.
The earnest find that they grow; the triflers find that their powers rust and fade.A. Maclaren, D.D.
Gods benefits come not alone, but one is the pledge of another. The grant of a mite is the assignment of a talent. A drop of dew from heaven is a prognostic of a gracious shower, of a flood, which nothing can draw dry, but ingratitude (Jas. 1:5; Jas. 4:6).A. Farindon, D.D.
Gods dealings.This verse represents Gods dealings in a very encouraging light. Many who wish to be true Christians despair of ever reaching such a lofty attainment; the distance seems too great, the path too difficult. Let them remember, for their comfort, that, no matter how far, it is only one step at a time, and, no matter how difficult, to him that hath the will shall be given the power; he shall go from strength to strength, and from grace to grace, till before the God of gods he appears in Zion.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4
Mar. 4:21-22. The Christians light.This statement of Christs is well illustrated by the story of the Calais lighthouse keeper, who, when boasting of the brilliancy of his lamp, was asked what would happen if it were allowed to go out, or if the reflectors became dim. Impossible, he replied, for yonder, where nothing can be seen by us, there are ships sailing to every harbour of the sea; if to-night I failed in my duty, some one might be shipwrecked. No; I like to think that the eyes of the whole world are fixed on my light. This man could appreciate what Christ taught His disciples when He said that they were to be like Safed, the city set upon a hill which could not be hid, and to remember that, inasmuch as they were the light of the world, they must shine before men.
Influence.A man once said, I have no more influence than a farthing rushlight. Well, was the reply, a farthing rushlight can do a good deal: it can set a haystack on fire; it can burn down a houseyea, more, it will enable a poor creature to read a chapter out of Gods Book. Go your way, friend; let your farthing rushlight so shine before men, that others, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father which is in heaven.
A good life.Julius Drusus, a Roman tribune, had a house so situated that several of its apartments lay exposed to the view of the neighbourhood. A person came to him, and offered for five talents so to alter it as that it should not be liable to that inconvenience. I will give thee ten talents, said Drusus, if thou canst make my house conspicuous in every room of it, so that all the city may behold in what manner I lead my life.
Mar. 4:22. Hidden, to be revealed.Many things are concealed, both in nature and by art, though the concealment is by no means designed to be permanent. Look, e.g., at the almost measureless beds of coal, hidden for ages in the bowels of the earth, but designed by Providence to be revealed when necessity should arise. The precise time for the unveiling it is not always easy to decide, because mans knowledge is finite, but we rest assured that it will coincide with the need for its use. It is a principle worth bearing in mind when human efforts fail; for it is encouraging to know that such a result may be due simply to the fact that we have tried unconsciously to anticipate the fore-appointed time.Dean Luckock.
Mar. 4:24. No loss by giving away.During the summer a clergyman called on a lady who had a very fine collection of roses. She took him out to see them and began plucking right and left. Some bushes with but a single flower she despoiled. The clergyman remonstrated. You are robbing yourself, dear madam. Ah, she said, do you not know that the way to make the rosebush bear is to pluck its flowers freely? I lose nothing by what I give away. This is a universal law. We never lose anything by what we give away.
Influences of evil.Sir Peter Lely made it a rule never to look at a bad picture, having found by experience that, whenever he did so, his pencil took a taint from it. Apply this, adds Bishop Horne, to bad books and bad company. Lord Collingwood, writing to a young friend, said, Hold it as a maxim that you had better be alone than in mean company, for the worth of a man will always be ruled by that of his company. The converse of course is only true, for nothing is of greater value than the influence of good surroundings and noble friends. The Persian poet Saadi has a lyric in which a clod of clay is asked how it has come to smell so sweet. The clay replies, The sweetness is not in myself, but I have been lying in contact with a rose.
Mar. 4:25. The law of compensation.We see in some office two or three young men. They seem to be of equal abilities, but one has a small fortune bequeathed him. On this account, when a partnership is vacant, the opening is offered to him. By-and-by some public appointment is vacant; because this man is possessed of some wealth he is thought to be a responsible man, and so is chosen. To him that hath shall be given. This is the ordinary way in which things work in the world around us. But observe that the same rule exhibits its sway in the spiritual world. Here is a man with a very little knowledge of religion, who has been, perhaps, much neglected in his youth, but he has some idea of Gods greatness and power, and that it is his duty to go to church. In the house of God he comes under good influences, and his conscience is enlightened. He becomes a regular attendant, and then a communicant. To him that hath shall be given. Or let the other part of the saying be taken up. There is a child who gets some slight knowledge of the facts of Christianity in a Sunday-school class, but that knowledge is very slight, for the child is restless and careless, and disinclined to listen to anything which requires attention. Soon the lad goes to work for his bread, and thinks himself too much of a man to go any longer to Sunday school. The little learning he received soon fades away, and from want of practice even the half-learnt art of reading is lost. He goes now and then to church, but is ashamed to be unable to read as others do around. And so at length, though living in a Christian land, he becomes as ignorant and indifferent as a heathen. From him that hath not, etc. A young man begins to feel, as he grows up, the Divine life stirring within him. He wants to do something to help in efforts for good around him, to take his share in bearing burdens. But he goes into business or enters a profession or devotes himself to society, and by degrees all the pulses of Divine life beat more slowly; he loses an aspiration herehe loses a scruple therehe makes an excuse about that; and his life begins to dwindle, and, after a bit, he becomes like a bicycle going downhillthe law of accelerated motion asserts itself, and in the day of trial or of opportunity he is found wanting and useless. From him that hath not, etc. If only he had taken up some little bit of self-denying work, if only he had given himself to one thing in which he could help others, if only he had had the self-forgetting element within him, then in him too the law to him that bath shall be given would have asserted itselfhe would have been saved in the truest sense.R. Eyton.
Service no loss.An eminent merchant of St. Petersburg supported, at his own expense, a number of missionaries in India. Some one asked him how he could afford to do so, to which he replied, Before my conversion, when I served the world and self, I did it on a grand scale and at the most lavish expense; and when Christ called me out of darkness, I resolved that He should have more than I had ever given the world. At my conversion I promised I would give a certain percent of what my business brought me. Since that time it yields double as much. So it is in our service for Christ. God never allows any capital to lay idle, and, if we do not use the talent given us, He takes it, and gives it to him who will use it. How often do we see poor, lean Christians fretting and fuming and praying for more faith and more strength, when they sit still and will not use what they have!
The treasure only for the pure.There is an old church in Germany with which a singular legend is connected. In this church, at certain times, a mighty treasure is said to become visible to mortal eyes. Gold and silver vessels, of great magnificence and in great abundance, are disclosed; but only he who is free from sin can hope to secure the precious vessels. This legend shadows a great truth. In the temple of God, in the Word of God, are riches beyond gem or gold; but only the sincere, the pure in purpose, can hope to realise the Divine treasure. There must be in the truth-seeker a moral susceptibility and passion for the light.
Moral increase.There is an Eastern allegory which teaches the same lesson as this parable. A merchant, going abroad for a time, gave respectively to two of his friends two sacks of wheat each, to take care of against his return. Years passed; he came back, and applied for them again. The first took him into his storehouse, and shewed them to him; but they were mildewed and worthless. The other led him out into the open country, and pointed out field after field of waving corn, the produce of the two sacks given him. Said the merchant, You have been a faithful friend; give me two sacks of that wheat; the rest shall be thine.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
C. THE PARABLE OF THE LAMP 4:21-23
TEXT 4:21-23
And he said unto them, Is the lamp brought to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, and not to be put on the stand? For there is nothing hid, save that it should be manifested; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light. If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 4:21-23
177.
When was this parable given? before or after the explanation of the parable of the sower?
178.
Who is represented by the lamp?
179.
Isnt there something humorous about the location of the lamp? Why use it?
180.
Jesus states a strange purpose for hiding somethingexplain.
181.
What is the main point of this parable?
COMMENT
TIMEAutumn A.D. 28. At the same time as the first parable.
PLACEIn a boat in the Sea of Galilee, the crowd on the shore.
PARALLEL ACCOUNTLuk. 8:16-17.
OUTLINE1. The purpose of the lamp, Mar. 4:21. 2. Items are hidden for the purpose of later being revealed, Mar. 4:22, a. 3. Secrets are made to be told, Mar. 4:22 b. 4. Those who can should understand, Mar. 4:23.
ANALYSIS
I.
THE PURPOSE OF THE LAMP, Mar. 4:21.
1.
Not under the bushel.
2.
Not under the bed.
3.
On the stand.
II.
ITEMS ARE HIDDEN TO BE REVEALED. Mar. 4:22 A.
III.
SECRETS ARE MADE TO BE TOLD, Mar. 4:22 B.
IV.
THOSE WHO CAN SHOULD UNDERSTAND, Mar. 4:23.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
I.
THE PURPOSE OF THE LAMP, Mar. 4:21.
21. And he said unto them, Is a (or the) candle brought to be put under, etc.
22. For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested (or, save that it should be manifested).
These verses must be taken together, and their meaning seems to be something of this sort. The Lord had for certain wise, and, we believe, merciful reasons, adopted a new role of teaching, in which He veiled His meaning from the multitude under parables, but this was not because He intended their meaning to be permanently hidden from the world, but because He intended that it might be the better known to the world when the fitting time was come. To his end He made known the interpretation to His Apostles, not for themselves, but for the world. His truththe truth of the Gospelwas the lamp; this lamp of truth He intended not for a corner of the world, or for a select few, but for all men of all nations, who would turn their faces towards it and receive it, and so He gave it now to the Apostles, who, after Pentecost, were to make it known to all nations for the obedience of faith.
II.
ITEMS ARE HIDDEN TO BE REVEALED. Mar. 4:22 A.
God does not conceal any mystery, any religious truth, merely for the sake of concealing it. If He conceals any truth it is that He may ultimately make it better known. This very parable is an illustration of this, If any truth ever shone forth upon the lamp-stand of the Church it is that which is taught us by this parable, that the word of the Gospel is efficacious or not, according to the state of heart of the recipients; so that men must in very deed take heed as to how they hear and what they hear. This meaning is still more clearly enforced by the true reading of the first clause of Mar. 4:22. There is nothing hidden, save that it should be manifested. So we have this parable given in full in three out of the four Gospels, and we may safely say that, with the exception of that of the returning prodigal, there is none which has been more expounded and enforced by preachers in all ages. The meaning, however, of Mar. 4:21, is much obscured by deficiency of translation. We lose much of the significance if we think of the modern candle and candlestick carried about in the hand. On the contrary, it is the lamp of the house put upon the lamp-stand, or candelabrum, which is so elevated that any lamp upon it can lighten up all the interior.
III.
SECRETS ARE MADE TO BE TOLD. Mar. 4:22 B.
The reader will notice that the Lord uses this aphorism here with quite a different significance to that which He gives to it in Mat. 10:26.
IV.
THOSE WHO CAN SHOULD UNDERSTAND. Mar. 4:23
23. If any man have ears to hear, etc. If this was said not in the hearing of the multitude, but to the Apostles, or to those select ones to whom He had just expounded the parable, then it implies that there are still deeper mysteries of grace which require, for their apprehension, a more effectual opening of the souls ears, and a deeper preparation of heart. Men have ears to hear certain fundamental, or practical truths, who still have not as yet ears to hear certain deep mysteries. (M. F. Sadler).
FACT QUESTIONS 4:21-23
210.
Why interpret Mar. 4:21-22 together?
211.
What is the lamp of the parable?
212.
When was the lamp hidden? Why?
213.
When was it put on the stand?
214.
Show how this parable relates to the parable of the sower.
215.
What deficiency in translation has hindered our understanding?
216.
If Jesus spoke Mar. 4:23 to the apostles, what does it mean?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(21) Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel?See Note on Mat. 5:15. St. Mark, it will be noted, omits all the other parables that follow in St. Matthew, and connects with that of the Sower sayings more or less proverbial, which in St. Matthew appear in a different context. Looking at our Lords method of teaching by the repetition of proverbs under different aspects and on different occasions, it is not unlikely that this of the candle was actually spoken in the connection in which we find it here. Their knowledge of the meaning of the parable was not given them for themselves alone, but was to shine forth to others. We probably owe to the saying so uttered the record of this parable given in three out of the four Gospels.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Hidden Truth Is Meant To Be Revealed and Experienced (4:21-23).
The sayings in this next section are repeated in Matthew and Luke in different contexts. This reminds us that, as with all preachers, Jesus would in His ministry use the same illustrations again and again, even sometimes with different emphases depending on context. See for example, Mat 5:15; Mat 7:2; Mat 10:26; Mat 13:12; Mat 25:29; Luk 6:38; Luk 8:16-18; Luk 12:48; Luk 19:26. A good illustration is always worth repeating.
Note how the words here balance out those in Mar 4:11-12. There the problem was those who heard and did not understand, here it is those who see and do not perceive. The idea is very similar to that in the parallel of the sower. The difference lies in that there the emphasis was on the condition of the receptor, here the emphasis is on what the receptor does with what he receives.
Analysis.
a
b “For there is nothing hidden except for the purpose of it being openly revealed” (Mar 4:22 a).
b “Neither was anything made secret but that it should come to light” (Mar 4:22 b).
a “If any man has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mar 4:23).
Note that in ‘a’ the lamp is put on the stand so that men may see by it, and in the parallel the one who has ears to hear, must hear. In ‘b’ we have two comparisons which parallel each other demonstrating that God’s purpose for His secrets is that they might come out into the open and be understood.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘And he said to them, “Does the lamp come to be put under the corn measure, or under the bed, and not to be put on the stand? For there is nothing hidden except for the purpose of it being openly revealed, neither was anything made secret but that it should come to light. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.” ’
The picture is a straightforward one. It is growing dark and the small house is therefore in growing darkness, and then the master of the house takes and trims the lamp and brings it in. And what does he do with it? Hide it under the bed – dim light? Put it under the corn measure – no light? Or put it on the lampstand – light for all? He could do any of these but the real purpose is to lighten the house. (There could of course be a time when it was prudent to hide the light or make it dim).
The point of these words is that God does not want His truth to remain a secret. He want all to know and understand it. It is not due to His failure that the truth is not known, it is because of what men do with it when they receive it. Some put it under a bucket, others put it under the bed, but the wise put it where all may see it, and where they can benefit from the light. In two cases it may as well not have been there, but in the third case it is life transforming. The point therefore is that when His word comes to us we must use it wisely and not hide it away where it is ineffective.
An interesting question here is as to whether these words are spoken to those who have sought Him out to find out the significance of the parable, or to the crowds at large. The former situation makes more sense and makes clear why there is no contradiction between this statement and the fact that parables were a veiled form of teaching. The words ‘to them’ support this suggestion. Contrast Mar 4:26; Mar 4:30. Matthew and Luke have the words in a different context (Mat 5:15; Luk 11:33) and Luke in the same context (Luk 8:16-18).
The truth was that parables were both intended to require thought and be puzzling and yet at the same time to be illuminating to those who solved the puzzle, and the latter was finally their purpose. The lamp was intended to shine out, not to be hidden under a corn measure. The hiding may be necessary to prevent superficial response, but it was not the final purpose. Things were hidden so that at the right time they might be openly revealed. God’s secrets were intended eventually to come to light. By this Jesus was encouraging these seekers not to be deterred but to go on seeking. God did want them to know the truth in full. He wanted the light to shine.
‘Does the lamp come –?’ ‘Come’ is an unusual verb for a lamp. This suggests that Jesus wanted them to see that He had ‘come’ as a lamp (compare Joh 8:12) and wanted to make Himself known, but only to the discerning viewer and with great care. Like the parables He was a mystery, being made known to those who responded.
‘For there is nothing hidden except that it should be openly revealed.’ This stresses that indeed for a time the lamp is hidden, but only so that it might be openly revealed to those willing to see at the right time. This was a time of spiritual enlightenment. Here the shining of the lamp may have in mind the word of the Kingly Rule of God which was now here and was slowly being revealed to men and women as their eyes and ears were opened, or it may have in mind the truth about Jesus Himself as His self-revelation continues. Both are, of course, simply aspects of the same wonderful truth.
‘If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.’ Compare Mar 4:9. Again Jesus stresses the need for men to listen and consider carefully. There are those open to hear. There are sadly those who will not hear. They do not ‘have ears to hear’. The lamp is shining, but men love darkness rather than light (thus they want the lamp to be kept under a corn measure) because their deeds are evil (Joh 3:19).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Parable of the Light Under the Bushel (Our Indoctrination) ( Luk 8:16-18 ) In Mar 4:21-25 Jesus gives us the illustration of the light hid under the bushel as way of explaining how hearing and receiving God’s Word works in our lives. He explained that if we will hear and obey what we know to do, more understanding would be given unto us.
The Parable of the Light Under the Bushel teaches us that as the light of the Gospel shines forth into our hearts, we become indoctrinated with God’s Word; and we are not to hide this light and hold back our testimonies of God’s goodness in our lives, but are to continue sowing seeds of God’s Word to others. This light is symbolic of our indoctrination into the Word of God, which follows our justification after having received God’s Word.
As we examine this parallel passage in Luk 8:16-18 we gain further insight into the meaning of this parable. As the Gospel is preached, the hearts of men are exposed to the light and their true qualities identified (Luk 8:17). For those who repent, their hearts are transformed so that they can receive more light. However, for those whose hearts are hardened and reject what little light they have been given, their hearts are darkened even more (Luk 8:18).
Mar 4:22 Comments God desires to reveal all things to His children; but He must do it in His time and in accordance with His divine plan of redemption for mankind. He would have revealed all things to Adam had he not fell from His presence through sin.
Mar 4:24 Comments If we will hear and obey God’s Word to us today, He will continue to reveal more to us so that we can bear more fruit, as Jesus describes in the Parable of the Sower.
Scripture Reference – Note other parallel passages.
Mat 7:2, “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
Luk 6:38, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
Mar 4:25 For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.
Mar 4:24-25
2Co 2:14-16, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Responsibilities of the Christians:
v. 21. And He said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed, and not to be set on a candlestick?
v. 22. For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested; neither was anything kept secret but that it should come abroad.
v. 23. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. There are two reasons why Jesus introduces this thought here which He had also used in the Sermon on the Mount. The knowledge which He here transmitted to His disciples was a part of their equipment as preachers, to be used by them for the benefit of their hearers. Mere general statements as to the will of God and the salvation of mankind may, under circumstances, be very obscure, in fact, unintelligible to the average audience. And therefore such explanation is demanded as will make the meaning plain and bring the fact of God’s plan of salvation home to every man. Besides, it is true, in general, that the fruit which God expects in the Christians is such as will make itself felt in the world, as will wield an influence in the every-day affairs in the Christian’s neighborhood. The light does not come, it is not brought by the bearer, in order to be placed beneath an inverted bushel-measure or under a sofa, such as were used when reclining at the table, but it should be placed on a candlestick. Then it may give light to all that are in the house, Mat 5:15. This Christ emphasizes: That which is now yet hidden, will surely be revealed; that seems to be a definite law; the person that conceals something, does so with the intention of bringing it out of the hiding-place at some future time. “This is universally true. Things are hid because they are precious, but precious things are meant to be used at some time and in some way. ” It is the same thought that the Lord teaches Mat 10:27. The doctrine of the Gospel, the good news of the free justification of all sinners through the merits of Jesus Christ, that is hidden before men, no man knows anything of its beauty or of its comfort, and a great many so-called Christian preachers relegate it to a dismal background. But this mystery shall be revealed before the eyes of all men, both through Bound Gospel-preaching and through Bound Gospel-living. The Lord has a very good reason for adding His warning cry concerning the understanding of His words.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mar 4:21-22. Is a candle brought, &c. candlestick? Is a lamp, &c.stand. Campbell. When Jesus had ended his interpretation of the parable of the sower, he did not direct his discourse to the people, but continued speaking to the apostles, shewing them, by the similitude of a lighted lamp, the use that they were to make of this, and ofall the instructions which he should give them. As lamps are kindled to give light unto those who are in a house; so the understandings of the apostles were illuminated, that they might fill the world with the light of truth. He told them further, that though some of the doctrinesof the Gospel were then concealed from the people, on account of their prejudices, he had revealed them to his apostles, that they might all in due time be preached openly and plainly through the world; for which reason it became his apostles, to whom God had given both a capacity and an opportunity of hearing these doctrines, to listen to them with attention.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mar 4:21-23 . Comp. Luk 8:16 f. Meaning (comp. Mat 5:15 ; Mat 10:26 ): “the light, i.e. the knowledge of the , which ye receive from me, ye are not to withhold from others, but to bring about its diffusion; for, as what is concealed is not destined for concealment, but rather for becoming manifest, so also is the mystery of the Messiah’s kingdom.” [83] These sayings, however, as far as Mar 4:25 , have not their original place here, but belong to what (according to Papias) Mark wrote . Holtzmann judges otherwise, p. 81, in connection with his assumption of a primitive-Mark. The collection of Logia is sufficient as a source. Comp. Weiss in the Jahrb. f. D. Theol. 1864, p. 88.
] Doth the lamp then possibly come , etc.? is used of inanimate things which are brought ; very frequently also in classical writers.
] See on Mat 5:15 .
] a table-couch . Comp. Mar 7:4 . After there is only a comma to be placed: the question is one as far as .
According to the reading . (see the critical remarks), the rendering is: nothing is hidden, if it shall not (in future) be made manifest . [84] So surely and certainly does the set in!
. ] The logical reference of is found in a pregnant significance of : nor has there anything (after , is again to be mentally supplied) taken place as secret, i.e. what is meant to be secret, but what in such a case has come to pass, has the destination, etc.
[83] According to others, Jesus gives an allegorical exhortation to virtue : “ut lucerna candelabro imponenda est, sic vos oportet, discipuli, non quidem vitam umbratilem sine virtutis splendore agere; sed,” etc., Fritzsche, comp. Theophylact, Grotius, and others. But the kindled light would, in fact, be already the symbol of virtue, and Jesus would forbid the exercise of it in secret! Moreover, this view is not required by ver. 20, since with ver. 21 a new portion of the discourse commences; and our view is not forbidden by ver. 11 (comp. ver. 34), since in ver. 11 Jesus is only speaking of the then unsusceptible multitude, and, if pushed to consistent general application, these words spoken at ver. 11 would quite annul the apostolic calling. History has refuted this general application. Erasmus, Paraphr. , aptly says: “Nolite putare me, quod nunc secreto vobis committo, perpetuo celatum esse velle; lux est per me in vobis accensa, ut vestro ministerio discutiat tenebras totius mundi.”
[84] “Id fit successive in hoc saeculo, et fiet plene, quum lux omnia illustrabit, 1Co 4:5 ,” Bengel.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
(21) And he said unto them, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? (22) For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad. (23) If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. (24) And he saith unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. (25) For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.
Our LORD, according to the Eastern method of instruction, dwelt much in figures and parables. We have a cluster of them here. The Gospel is as a light not to be hidden. Even among men the small taper of the night is never put under a covering. So the LORD will manifest his truths to his people. To them there is nothing hidden; neither is there anything in the covenant of grace necessary for them to know, but what shall be made known to them. And, therefore, if any man hath his ears spiritually opened to hear, he shall hear. But to the unawakened, everything must appear a Parable. And, saith our LORD, even to those whose ears are spiritually opened, still it is necessary to take heed what ye hear. No doubt, alluding to what the LORD elsewhere cautioned his people against, false CHRIST’s, and false prophets, which should come so speciously, that, if it were possible, they would deceive even the very elect. See Mat 24:23-26 .
I do not think with some Commentators, that these words, with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you, refer to our dealings with men in our concerns with one another: for the LORD is speaking of our hearing the word. Neither do I think with others, that it hath reference to our dealings with GOD. As we deal with GOD, so say such, will GOD deal with us. In answer to which I say, the LORD forbid; for it would be our ruin indeed if so! But I humbly conceive, the words which follow explain the meaning; when it is said, And unto you that hear shall more be given: that is; if I apprehend right, in our dealings with ourselves; if the measure we mete with, according to the measure of the gift of CHRIST, of grace given to us, our spiritual understandings enable us to mete it in improvement; to you, that so hear, saith JESUS, more shall be given. For to him that hath; that is, that hath an awakened soul, by GOD the HOLY SPIRIT to measure it, more shall be given. His vessel, opened and enlarged by grace, shall be filled. But to him that hath not; that is, where there hath been no work of GOD wrought upon the soul, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath; that is, of the outward ministry of the word. I do not presume to speak decidedly on the passage. I only humbly give the above as my view of it.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it , and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
21 And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?
Ver. 21. Is a candle brought ] Or lighted, q.d. Take the benefit of the light of the gospel, suffer it not to stand under a bed or bushel; for “there is nothing hid,” viz. in our hearts, “but it shall be opened,” viz. by the power of the word most plainly. Lex, lux, law, light, the word is a curious critique, Heb 4:12 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
21 25. ] Luk 8:16-18 ; and for Mar 4:25 , Mat 13:12 . The rest is mostly contained in other parts of Matt. (Mat 5:15 ; Mat 10:26 ; Mat 7:2 ), where see notes. Here it is spoken with reference to teaching by parables: that they might take care to gain from them all the instruction which they were capable of giving: not hiding them under a blunted understanding, nor, when they did understand them, neglecting the teaching of them to others.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
21. ] is also used in the classics of things without life: cf. Hom. Il. . 191, | and see Rost and Palm, Lex.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 4:21-25 . Responsibilities of disciples (Mat 5:15 ; Mat 10:26 ; Mat 7:2 ; Luk 8:16-18 ). True to His uniform teaching that privileges are to be used for the benefit of others, Jesus tells His disciples that if they have more insight than the multitude they must employ it for the common benefit. These sentences in Mk. represent the first special instruction of the disciples. Two of them, Mar 4:21 ; Mar 4:24 , are found in the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5:15 ; Mat 7:2 ). The whole of them come in appositely here, and were probably spoken at this time. ( Cf. Luk 8:16-18 , where they are partially given in the same connection.) In any case, their introduction in connection with the parables is important as showing that Mk. can hardly have seriously believed, what he certainly seems to say, that Jesus spoke parables to blind the people.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mar 4:21 . , does the light come , for is it brought, in accordance with classic usage in reference to things without life; examples in Kypke, e.g. , . Pindar, Pyth. , iii., 28 = “non exspectavit donec adferretur mensa sponsalis”. . . : not necessarily a table-couch (Meyer), might be a bed, high enough to be in no danger of being set on fire. Vide on Mat 5:15 . The moral: let your light shine that others may know what ye know.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mark
LAMPS AND BUSHELS
Mar 4:21
The furniture of a very humble Eastern home is brought before us in this saying. In the original, each of the nouns has the definite article attached to it, and so suggests that in the house there was but one of each article; one lamp, a flat saucer with a wick swimming in oil; one measure for corn and the like; one bed, raised slightly, but sufficiently to admit of a flat vessel being put under it without danger, if for any reason it were desired to shade the light; and one lampstand.
The saying appeals to common-sense. A man does not light a lamp and then smother it. The act of lighting implies the purpose of illumination, and, with everybody who acts logically, its sequel is to put the lamp on a stand, where it may be visible. All is part of the nightly routine of every Jewish household. Jesus had often watched it; and, commonplace as it is, it had mirrored to Him large truths. If our eyes were opened to the suggestions of common life, we should find in them many parables and reminders of high matters.
Now this saying is a favourite and familiar one of our Lord, occurring four times in the Gospels. It is interesting to notice that He, too, like other teachers, had His favourite maxims, which He turned round in all sorts of ways, and presented as reflecting light at different angles and suggesting different thoughts. The four occurrences of the saying are these. In my text, and in the parallel in Luke’s Gospel, it is appended to the Parable of the Sower, and forms the basis of the exhortation, ‘Take heed how ye hear.’ In another place in Luke’s Gospel it is appended to our Lord’s words about ‘the sign of the prophet Jonah,’ which is explained to be the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it forms the basis of the exhortation to cultivate the single eye which is receptive of the light. In the Sermon on the Mount it is appended to the declaration that the disciples are the lights of the world, and forms the basis of the exhortation, ‘Let your light so shine before men.’ I have thought that it may be interesting and instructive if in this sermon we throw together these three applications of this one saying, and try to study the threefold lessons which it yields, and the weighty duties which it enforces.
I. So, then, I have to ask you, first, to consider that we have a lesson as to the apparent obscurities of revelation and of our duty concerning them.
Now all these thoughts have a far wider application than in reference to our Lord’s parables. And I may suggest one or two of the considerations that flow from the wider reference of the words before us.
‘Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed and not upon a candlestick?’ There are no gratuitous and dark places in anything that God says to us. His revelation is absolutely clear. We may be sure of that if we consider the purpose for which He spoke at all. True, there are dark places; true, there are great gaps; true, we sometimes think, ‘Oh! it would have been so easy for Him to have said one word more; and the one word more would have been so infinitely precious to bleeding hearts or wounded consciences or puzzled understandings.’ But ‘is a candle brought to be set under a bushel?’ Do you think that if He took the trouble to light it He would immediately smother it, or arbitrarily conceal anything that the very fact of the revelation declares His intention to make known? His own great word remains true, ‘I have never spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth.’ If there be, as there are, obscurities, there are none there that would have been better away.
For the intention of all God’s hiding-which hiding is an integral part of his revealing-is not to conceal, but to reveal. Sometimes the best way of making a thing known to men is to veil it in a measure, in order that the very obscurity, like the morning mists which prophesy a blazing sun in a clear sky by noonday, may demand search and quicken curiosity and spur to effort. He is not a wise teacher who makes things too easy. It is good that there should be difficulties; for difficulties are like the veins of quartz in the soil, which may turn the edge of the ploughshare or the spade, but prophesy that there is gold there for the man who comes with fitting tools. Wherever, in the broad land of God’s word to us, there lie dark places, there are assurances of future illumination. God’s hiding is in order to revelation, even as the prophet of old, when he was describing the great Theophany which flashed in light from the one side of the heaven to the other, exclaimed, ‘There was the hiding of His power.’
‘He hides the purpose of His grace
To make it better known.’
Therefore, for us the lesson from this assurance that God will not stultify Himself by giving to us a revelation that does not reveal, is, ‘Take heed how ye hear.’ The effort will not be in vain. Patient attention will ever be rewarded. The desire to learn will not be frustrated. In this school truth lightly won is truth loosely held; and only the attentive scholar is the receptive and retaining disciple. A great man once said, and said, too, presumptuously and proudly, that he had rather have the search after truth than truth. But yet there is a sense in which the saying may be modifiedly accepted; for, precious as is all the revelation of God, not the least precious effect that it is meant to produce upon us is the consciousness that in it there are unscaled heights above, and unplumbed depths beneath, and untraversed spaces all around it; and that for us that Word is like the pillar of cloud and fire that moved before Israel, blends light and darkness with the single office of guidance, and gleams ever before us to draw desires and feet after it. The lamp is set upon a stand. ‘Take heed how ye hear.’
II. Secondly, the saying, in another application on our Lord’s lips, gives us a lesson as to Himself and our attitude to Him.
So, then, we have, in the figure thus applied, the thought that the earthly life of Jesus Christ necessarily implies a subsequent elevation from which He shines down upon all the world. God lit that lamp, and it is not going to be quenched in the darkness of the grave. He is not going to stultify Himself by sending the Light of the World, and then letting the endless shades of death muffle and obscure it. But, just as the conclusion of the process which is begun in the kindling of the light is setting it on high on the stand, that it may beam over all the chamber, so the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, His exaltation to the supremacy from which He shall draw all men unto Him, are the necessary and, if I may so say, the logical result of the facts of His incarnation and death.
Then from this there follows what our Lord dwells upon at greater length. Having declared that the beginning of His course involved the completion of it in His exaltation to glory, He then goes on to say to us, ‘You have an organ that corresponds to Me. I am the kindled lamp; you have the seeing eye.’ ‘If the eye were not sunlike,’ says the great German thinker, ‘how could it see the sun?’ If there were not in me that which corresponds to Jesus Christ, He would be no Light of the World, and no light to me. My reason, my affection, my conscience, my will, the whole of my spiritual being, answer to Him, as the eye does to the light, and for everything that is in Christ there is in humanity something that is receptive of, and that needs, Him.
So, then, that being so, He being our light, just because He fits our needs, answers our desires, satisfies our cravings, fills the clefts of our hearts, and brings the response to all the questions of our understandings-that being the case, if the lamp is lit and blazing on the lampstand, and you and I have eyes to behold it, let us take heed that we cultivate the single eye which apprehends Christ. Concentration of purpose, simplicity and sincerity of aim, a heart centred upon Him, a mind drawn to contemplate unfalteringly and without distraction of crosslights His beauty, His supremacy, His completeness, and a soul utterly devoted to Him-these are the conditions to which that light will ever manifest itself, and illumine the whole man. But if we come with divided hearts, with distracted aims, giving Him fragments of ourselves, and seeking Him by spasms and at intervals, and having a dozen other deities in our Pantheon, beside the calm form of the Christ of Nazareth, what wonder is there that we see in Him ‘no beauty that we should desire Him’? ‘Unite my heart to fear Thy name.’ Oh I if that were our prayer, and if the effort to secure its answer were honestly the effort of our lives, all His loveliness, His sweetness, His adaptation to our whole being, would manifest themselves to us. The eye must be ‘single,’ directed to Him, if the heart is to rejoice in His light.
I need not do more than remind you of the blessed consequence which our Lord represents as flowing from this union of the seeing heart and the revealing light-viz., ‘Thy whole body shall be full of light.’ In every eye that beholds the flame of the lamp there is a little lamp-flame mirrored and manifested. And just as what we see makes its image on the seeing organ of the body, so the Christ beheld is a Christ embodied in us; and we, gazing upon Him, are ‘changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit.’ Light that remains without us does not illuminate; light that passes into us is the light by which we see, and the Christ beheld is the Christ ensphered in our hearts.
III. So, lastly, this great saying gives us a lesson as to the duties of Christian men as lights in the world.
From all these there follows the same general thought that Christian men, not so much by specific effort, nor by words, nor by definite proclamation, as by the raying out from them in life and conduct of a Christlike spirit, are set for the illumination of the world. The bearing of our text in reference to that subject is just this-our obligation as Christians to show forth the glories of Him who hath ‘called us out of darkness into His marvellous light’ is rested upon His very purpose in drawing us to Himself, and receiving us into the number of his people. If God in Christ, by communicating to us ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ,’ has made us lights of the world, it is not done in order that the light may be smothered incontinently, but His act of lighting indicates His purpose of illumination. What are you a Christian for? That you may go to Heaven? Certainly. That your sins may be forgiven? No doubt. But is that the only end? Are you such a very great being as that your happiness and well-being can legitimately be the ultimate purpose of God’s dealings with you? Are you so isolated from all mankind as that any gift which He bestows on you is to be treated by you as a morsel that you can take into your corner and devour, like a grudging dog, by yourselves? By no means. ‘God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts in order that’ we might impart the light to others. Or, as Shakespeare has it, in words perhaps suggested by the Scripture metaphor,
‘Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,
Not light them for themselves.’
Then take from this emblem, too, a homely suggestion as to the hindrances that stand in the way of our fulfilling the Divine intention in our salvation. It is, perhaps, a piece of fancy, but still it may point a lesson. The lamp is not hid ‘under a bushel,’ which is the emblem of commerce or business, and is meant for the measurement of material wealth and sustenance, or ‘under a bed’-the place where people take their ease and repose. These two loves-the undue love of the bushel and the corn that is in it, and the undue love of the bed and the leisurely ease that you may enjoy there-are large factors in preventing Christian men from fulfilling God’s purpose in their salvation.
Then take a hint as to the means by which such a purpose can be fulfilled by Christian souls. They are suggested in the two of the other uses of this emblem by our Lord Himself. The first is when He said, ‘Let your loins be girded’-they are not so, when you are in bed-’and your lamps burning.’ Your light will not shine in a naughty world without your strenuous effort, and ungirt loins will very shortly lead to extinguished lamps. The other means to this manifestation of visible Christlikeness lies in that tragical story of the foolish virgins who took no oil in their vessels. If light expresses the outward Christian life, oil, in accordance with the whole tenor of Scripture symbolism, expresses the inward gift of the Divine Spirit. And where that gift is neglected, where it is not earnestly sought and carefully treasured, there may be a kind of smoky illuminations, which, in the dark, may pass for bright lights, but, when the Lord comes, shudder into extinction, and, to the astonishment of the witless five who carried them, are found to be ‘going out.’ Brethren, only He who does not quench the smoking flax but tends it to a flame, will help us to keep our lamps bright.
First of all, then, let us gaze upon the light in Him, until we become ‘light in the Lord.’ And then let us see to it that, by girt loins and continual reception of the illuminating principle of the Divine Spirit’s oil, we fill our lamps with ‘deeds of odorous light, and hopes that breed not shame.’ Then,
‘When the Bridegroom, with his feastful friends,
Passes to bliss on the mid-hour of night,’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar 4:21-25
21And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? 22For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. 23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. 25For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”
Mar 4:21 “lamp” The first two questions of Mar 4:21 grammatically expect a “no” answer. Light is meant to illuminate. Belief is meant to bear fruit. This paragraph explains why many did not understand Jesus’ parables. The parables are meant to illumine, but human’s evil hearts and motives, not God, block the light. God wants to communicate (cf. Mar 4:22).
Jesus, in light of the immediate context, must be speaking of the future proclamation of the full gospel after His resurrection and ascension. The recurring Messianic Secret of Mark, the concealing of truth caused by the use of parables, and the lack of understanding on the part of the inner circle of disciples demands this be seen in a future context (i.e., post-Pentecost).
“basket” This was a container holding about a peck or two gallons of dry measure. This term is a Latinism, probably confirming that Mark’s Gospel was written for Romans.
“a bed” Literally this is “pallet.” This was used not only for sleeping (cf. Mar 7:30), but for a cushion while eating in a reclining position.
“lampstand” This could refer to several different ways by which lights were positioned so as to give off the most illumination: (1) an out-cropping in the wall; (2) a hanger on the wall; or (3) some type of pedestal.
Mar 4:23 “if” This is a first class conditional sentence. Jesus is assuming that some (eventually) will understand His person, mission, and promises.
Mar 4:24-25 This states a spiritual principle. The gospel message is scattered abroad; the key to growth is the type of soil on which it falls. Mankind’s openness to spiritual truth is crucial. This not only refers to initial response but continuing response. A shallow, emotional response will be rejected.
Mar 4:24 “‘Take care what you listen to'” This refers to the personal acceptance or rejection of Jesus. The rabbis believed that the mind was a plowed garden ready for seed. What we let our eyes see and ears hear (cf. Mar 4:9; Mar 4:23) takes root. We become what we dwell on, focus on, make priority!
“‘by your standard of measure it will be measured to you'” This verse has nothing to do with financial giving, but with spiritual discernment. This truth is also expressed in Mat 5:7; Mat 6:14-15; Mat 18:21-35; Mar 11:25; Luk 6:36-37; Jas 2:13; Jas 5:9. This is not a works righteousness, but the truth that how one acts reveals his heart. Believers have a new heart and a new family.
Mar 4:25 When it comes to the gospel, it continues to give and give to those who have responded, but to those who reject it, it leaves nothing! Jesus is using a paradoxical proverb (cf. Mar 4:22; Mar 4:25; Mar 6:4; Mar 8:35; Mar 10:43-44). This was typical of near eastern teachers.
This passage employs a PASSIVE construction, which is probably a circumlocution for God. God is the unexpressed agent of the action.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Is . . . brought = Doth . . come. Figure of speech l’rosopopoeia App-6.
candle = the lamp. Greek. luchnos. App-130.
to be put = in order to be placed.
under. Greek. hupo. App-104.
bushel = the measure.
bed. Greek kline. Not the same word as in Mar 2:4 .
and not to be = [Is it] not [brought] in order that it may be.
candlestick = the lampstand.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
21-25.] Luk 8:16-18; and for Mar 4:25, Mat 13:12. The rest is mostly contained in other parts of Matt. (Mat 5:15; Mat 10:26; Mat 7:2), where see notes. Here it is spoken with reference to teaching by parables:-that they might take care to gain from them all the instruction which they were capable of giving:-not hiding them under a blunted understanding, nor, when they did understand them, neglecting the teaching of them to others.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mar 4:21. , and) Mar 4:24 is closely connected with Mar 4:20, and those that go before: therefore also this comes in between parenthetically; comp. Luk 8:16. In this sense, the earth covers for a considerably long time the seed committed to it; whereas you, on the contrary, ought to put forth into action the power of the word, which you have heard, immediately upon hearing it.-, a candle [torch-light]) So also Christ comes, together with His Gospel, as the true light. And a man himself ought to be, not the bushel, but the candlestick; comp. Luk 8:16-18.-, a couch [not as Engl). Vers., [34] [35][36][37]) where food is taken.
[34] Vercellensis of the old Itala, or Latin Version before Jeromes, probably made in Africa, in the second century: the Gospels.
[35] Veronensis, do.
[36] Laudianus, do.: Acts.
[37] Cantabrigiensis, do.: the Gospels, Acts , , 3 d Ep. John.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mar 4:21-25
4. A LAMP IS NOT TO BE PUT UNDER A BUSHEL
Mar 4:21-25
(Luk 8:16-18)
21 And he said unto them, Is the lamp brought to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, and not to be put on the stand?–[This parable, like the parable of the sower, deals with the word of God as beneficial to man. The word, represented by the seed in the parable of the sower, is here represented by a lighted lamp. A lamp is brought into a room not to be hid under something, but is to be placed on an elevated stand so it can give light all around it. So the word of God, intended for the spiritual enlightenment of men, is not to be left in obscurity, but to be held up before the world, so it may receive the benefit of the light flowing from it. All the instructions given by Jesus were designed to give spiritual light, and all his hearers are responsible for their measure of light. (Mat 13:12; Luk 8:16-18.) Compare Mat 5:15; Mat 7:2; Mat 10:26, where Jesus uses the same language on other occasions. The end and design of Christ in revealing his word and will to his disciples, and in communicating to men the light of spiritual knowledge, is that they may communicate it to others, and not keep it close unto themselves.]
22 For there is nothing hid, save that it should be manifested; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light –Nothing in the wisdom and purpose of God concerning man and his redemption but that will be revealed.
23 If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear.–A warning to his disciples to listen to and accept the truth. [Jesus dropped the figure of the lamp, and returned to the word which the lamp represented. Since it was to make clear all that had been hid in types and shadows, and to bring to light all that had been kept secret in the mind of God regarding man and his redemption, it is the duty of every one to use his ears in hearing it. Nothing is more worthy of being heard than the word of God.]
24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear:–That is, consider carefully what you hear before accepting it. Probably disciples then, as some are now, inclined to hear only so much as corresponded with their desires and notions and hence this admonition.
with what measure ye mete it shall be measured unto you; –The general meaning is: as you treat others so shall you be treated by them. But here it means: as you treat me as a teacher so will I treat you as learners. The measure of careful attention given me will be the measure of instruction given you. What you receive as hearers and disciples will correspond to your ability and diligence.
and more shall be given unto you.–To you who are attentive, and who improve what you hear. The specific application of the whole thing here must be determined, not by the same words on the mount (Mat 7:2; Luk 6:37), where they have reference to censorious judgments, but by their connection here. The essential meaning in both cases is that giving and receiving are reciprocal, like action and reaction as a law of physics. The specific application here is that he who would receive instruction must give something in return, to wit, intelligent attention, a desire to be instructed, and a proper use of what he knows already.
25 For he that hath, to him shall be given:–He that has received opportunities and improved them, to the good of others as well as to himself, shall have more opportunities. He shall have greater means and facilities in attaining greater knowledge of God and his wonderful works.
and he that hath not,–Has not a teachable spirit and no desire nor inclination to know the truth–has no desire to be taught and has made no effort to learn.
from him shall be taken away even that which he hath.–Luke (Luk 8:18) explains the clause by saying: “Even that which he seemeth to have.” It is only apparent and imaginary. His speculative views and notions shall become more confused and darken in proportion to his neglecting the opportunities and means of increasing true spiritual knowledge. The means and opportunities which enlighten and carry one man to heaven will send another to hell. It all depends upon the way we treat our opportunities. Judas is an example of this class. He had the same opportunities the other apostles had, but he allowed what little grace and favor he seemed to have to slip away by neglecting his opportunities for increasing his knowledge and doing good.
It is a law of God often repeated by Jesus, that to him who has, more shall be given, and from him who has not, even that he has shall be taken away. In order to understand this singular phraseology, we must observe that the thing which is taken away from him who has not is necessarily something that he has. He has, and at the same time he has not. We must also observe that two sides are here represented–the human and the divine. Man has the opportunity to learn of and accept Christ in the sense of both being offered him by God. In this sense he has it. He has it so far as God is concerned. But man has neither the will nor the desire to accept either. In this sense he has it not. When man in heart reaches this state, then that which he had upon God’s part, but had it not upon his part, is taken from him. Man takes it away himself by refusing to accept and use it. He loses his opportunity of learning of and accepting Christ by his own neglect. [The man who wrapped the talent in a cloth and hid it is regarded as not having it. When a man fails to use his talent, or opportunity, he is regarded as not having it. So from him is taken what he does not have, or does not use. No man practically has what he does not make use of.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
CHAPTER 16
Some Matters of Personal Responsibility
And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.
(Mar 4:21-25)
Salvation is the work of Gods free grace in Christ. Every gift and blessing of God, which we enjoy now and hope to enjoy forever in heavens glory, is the result and work of grace alone. All spiritual benefits are spiritual blessings, gifts of pure, free, sovereign grace.
Yet, the Word of God also teaches us that every one of us is responsible for his own soul. You are responsible for what you are, for what you do, and what you fail to do. I am responsible for what I am, what I do, and what I fail to do. That is exactly what our Lord Jesus teaches us in Mar 4:21-25.
These sobering, pithy statements were given immediately following our Lords parable about the sower. They are to be understood in that context. They are short, pointed, barbed arrows, meant to pierce the heart. Our Savior is here warning us (He is specifically warning all who profess to be his disciples, all who claim to be the children of God.) to make certain that our faith is true faith, and not the spurious faith of an unregenerate religionist.
Any casual reader of the New Testament is aware of the fact that our Lord Jesus in his preaching ministry frequently repeated himself. Numerous attempts have been made over the years to harmonize the different accounts of his ministry by the gospel writers. But most of them raise more questions than they answer, and confuse rather than clarify.
The fact is the best preacher who ever lived, the Son of God, showed us by example that spiritual truths need to be often repeated and pressed upon the consciences of men. Our Lord frequently preached about not putting the candlestick under a bushel, the fact that nothing is hidden that shall not be revealed, the fact that with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you, and the danger of false religion. He made no apology for preaching the same sermon many times, even to the same people, because the truth of God never changes, though it is always fresh and new. The best message is the oldest message, the one most repeated, and the one most constantly needed. It is the message preached to fallen Adam in the garden and the message preached to the fallen sons of Adam today, the message of redemption and salvation by Christ the last Adam.
The Responsibility of Light
And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad (Mar 4:21-22).
First, our Lord Jesus teaches us that it is the responsibility of all who have the light of the gospel to spread that light, the responsibility of all who know the gospel to make the gospel known to others. Our Lords language here is not difficult to understand. No one with good sense lights a candle and then covers it up. The purpose for lighting the candle is that it may give off light. We do not turn on a floor lamp and put it in a closet. If you turn on a light it is so that it might dispel darkness.
The meaning is this: If God almighty has been so gracious and good to us as to give us the light of the gospel of his free grace in Christ, he intends for us to hold forth that light in this world of darkness and death. The Lord did not give us the light of the gospel for our own benefit alone. He did not teach us the truth merely for our personal gratification. If God has taught us, it is our responsibility to teach others.
All who know Christ are responsible to make the gospel of Christ known to the generation in which he lives. This is not the work of preachers alone, but the work of all who know the Lord. If you have received the gift of grace, it is your responsibility to carry that gift to others. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1Pe 4:10).
We would be worse than barbarians if we had discovered a cure for a devastating disease but did not tell our neighbors, politely excusing ourselves, saying to ourselves, They wouldnt understand. They would just think I am a fanatic. I would not want them to think I was proselytizing. Nonsense! That is exactly what we are supposed to do. We have been placed where we are in this world by Gods providence to make proselytes out of every heretic who we can influence by the Spirit of God.
It is no accident that our Lord here refers to us as candles. The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly (Pro 20:27). Regenerate men and women are the candles of God in this world of darkness, lit by the Father of lights. Yet, the brightest candles are but candles, very poor, dim lights, compared with the Sun of righteousness. Matthew Henry wrote, A candle gives light but a little way, and but a little while, and is easily blown out, and continually burning down and wasting.
Many who claim to be candles, lit by grace, put the light they say God has given them under a basket. They seem to manifest very little grace and minister even less grace to others. They have plenty, but do little with it. In fact, though there are exceptions to the rule, as a general rule, I have observed that those who have the most and have the most ability to do good do the least for others. I know many wealthy people who profess to know Christ, who seem very content to watch a brother or sister endure hardship without a thought of helping.
Those who seem to be in the strongest health, possess the greatest wealth, and have the greatest abilities usually do the least for others. They may think they are very spiritual, but no one is better off because of them. They are like candles burning in a basket. They burn only to themselves.
If we belong to God, it is our great privilege and responsibility to be his witnesses in this world. Every believer is Christs missionary. Our mission field is the world in which we live and the people our lives touch (Isa 44:1-8; Act 1:8). Those who are lit as candles should set themselves on a candlestick. We should seize every opportunity for doing good, as those that were made for the glory of God and the service of others. We were not born for ourselves. We are born of God and born for God, for the service of God, to make known the light of the gospel of the glory of God. We have been given the light of the gospel that we may give the light of the gospel to others.
Our Lord tells us plainly that though the gospel was hidden from the nations of the world in ages past, it must be proclaimed everywhere, to all men in this generation of grace. For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad (Mar 4:22). Everything revealed in the Book of God was revealed to be taught and preached publicly. It is the responsibility of every gospel preacher to faithfully preach to eternity bound sinners all the counsel of God revealed in Holy Scripture, keeping back nothing that is profitable for their souls.
To the heaven-born soul there is nothing hidden. Our Savior has declared, All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you (Joh 15:15). There is nothing in the covenant of grace and the eternal purpose of God that we need to know that is hidden from us. And it is the responsibility of every heaven-born soul to make manifest to others the treasure of grace the Spirit of God has hidden in his soul.
The Responsibility of Hearing
Second, our Redeemer teaches us that it is our responsibility to avail ourselves of the means of grace afforded us by the providence and grace of God.
If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given (Mar 4:23-24).
I cannot state this with sufficient emphasis to express my deep convictions concerning it. Nothing in this world is so needful, important, and beneficial to your soul as the ministry of the gospel. Our Savior says, If any man have ears, let him hear. You may think, That is talking about spiritual ears and spiritual hearing. You are absolutely right. But I ask, How you are going to hear the gospel spiritually, if you do not hear it physically?
No one will ever be saved, no one will ever trust Christ, who does not first hear the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation accomplished by Christ. That is what Paul said to the Ephesians (Eph 1:13). That is Gods appointed means of grace for the saving of chosen, redeemed sinners (Rom 10:17; Jas 1:18; 1Pe 1:23-25). In this day when men everywhere decry the preaching of the gospel as an antiquated thing, let us remember Pauls words: Despise not prophesyings (1Th 5:20). His dying charge to Timothy, and to every gospel preacher in this world was, Preach the Word (2Ti 4:2). It is by the preaching of the Gospel that the glory of God is revealed, chosen, redeemed sinners are regenerated and called by God the Holy Spirit, believers are instructed in the gospel, edified, built up in the faith and sustained in this world, and our lives are molded into the will of God in conformity to Christ.
Not only is it vital that we attend the worship of God in the public assembly of his saints, it is also vital that we take heed what we hear. I frequently meet people, and regularly hear from people all over the world, who willfully put themselves and their families under the influence of pagan, Arminian, free will, works religion. They try to justify themselves, saying, We have to go to church somewhere. We must not forsake the assembly of the saints. The preacher says some good things. I dont pay any attention to what they teach.
To all such people, I repeat our Saviors warning: Take heed what ye hear! Our Lord was not just beating the air when he said that. Mark was not just filling up space when he wrote it (1Jn 4:1; 2Jn 1:7-10). If you care for your soul and care for the souls of those under your influence (wife, children, etc.), do not subject them to the influence of Arminian, free will, works religion to any degree, for any reason. If you care for your soul and care for those under your influence, if you care for the worship and glory of God, addict yourself to the ministry of the gospel, to the preaching of Gods free and sovereign grace in Christ.
The Responsibility of Measure
With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath (Mar 4:24-25).
Third, we are taught that it is our responsibility to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In these two statements our Savior tells us plainly that every one of us is responsible for his own soul. You can back off from these two statements and say, That cannot mean what it seems to mean. That is not consistent with good Calvinism. You can do that, if you dare so trifle with the Word of God. For my part, I want to hear what our Lord is saying. Look at these two statements carefully.
With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. Our Lord is telling us that God measures out his grace to us in proportion as we measure it out to ourselves by the use of the means he has given us. As I stated earlier, we know that salvation is altogether by the grace of God. We know that both grace and our growth in grace is Gods work. Yet, just as no man will be saved without hearing and believing the gospel, no believer will grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ except as he applies himself to the use of the means of grace, the ministry of the gospel.
The degree to which a believer grows in grace is set before us here as being closely connected with his own diligence in the use of means and his faithfulness in walking in the light God has given him. The wise words of Solomon are applicable. The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat (Pro 13:4). Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger (Pro 19:15).
That person who grows in grace and in the knowledge of Christ will always be found a diligent soul, diligent in prayer, diligent in reading, diligent in hearing the Word of God. And the man who is diligent in these things is usually diligent in other things. Yet, when he thinks of himself, he would never describe himself in such terms.
Regarding this matter of growing in grace, we generally sow what we reap. We are commanded to do it, because it is something we are responsible to do. Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever (2Pe 3:18).
For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. John Gill wrote, concerning these words that fell from the lips of our Savior
He that has Gospel light and knowledge, and makes a proper use of it, shall have more. His path shall be as the path of the just, which shines more and more to the perfect day. The means of grace and knowledge shall be blessed to him. Attending constantly thereon he shall come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, shall grow up to maturity, and be a man in understanding.
That is exactly what our Lord is teaching us here. Those who have the grace of God in truth shall have the grace of God in abundance. Though the beginnings of grace in the soul are small, and keep a saved sinner humble, in the end, the glory of grace shall be indescribable. As we exercise faith in Christ and learn of him, we grow in the grace and knowledge of our blessed Savior by the power and grace of his Spirit. We do not get more holy, or make ourselves more holy; but Gods saints do grow in grace. That is to say, being taught of God continually, believers grow in faith, in love for Christ, in love for one another, and in consecration to their Redeemer.
Those who faithfully give themselves to the cause of Christ shall be given greater usefulness in the cause of Christ. Allow me to quote Gill again.
He that has gifts for public usefulness, and does not neglect them, but stirs them up for the profit of others, he shall have an increase of them. He shall shine as a star in Christs right hand, and appear brighter and brighter in the firmament of the church.
This last statement, For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath, also means that those who profess faith in Christ, but do not possess the grace of Christ shall in the end lose what they thought they possessed. Perhaps there is a reference here to Judas. Certainly, there is here a warning to all who have nothing but a profession of faith, without the possession of grace.
He that has only a speculative notion of the gospel and is without any experience of it will sooner or later lose everything. In course of time his candle will be put out. His light will be made darkness. He will drop and deny the truths he once held and relinquish the profession he once made. He that has only counterfeit grace, a pretense of faith, a false hope, and lip love, will, in due time, be discovered for what he really is: Nothing but a hypocrite!
True grace can never be lost, or taken away. But all pretensions of grace and faith shall be an everlasting embarrassment and torment to the hypocrite.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Is a: Isa 60:1-3, Mat 5:15, Luk 8:16, Luk 11:33, 1Co 12:7, Eph 5:3-15, Phi 2:15, Phi 2:16
bushel: “The word in the original signifieth a less measure, as Mat 5:15, marg.
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Chapter 27.
The Responsibility of Hearing
“And He said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And He said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.”-Mar 4:21-25.
Mar 4:21-25 An Application.
The words we are now to consider are very closely connected with the preceding parable. They form, shall I say?-a kind of pendant to it. In part, they are meant to correct possible misconceptions that might arise from some of Christ’s words, especially those in Mar 4:11 and Mar 4:12. In part they are designed to enforce and emphasise the teaching of the parable. If you like so to put it, they constitute the application of the sermon. The parable, as you may remember, seta forth the different kinds of reception the spoken Word meets with. The fate of the Word does not depend, says our Lord, simply upon the character of the Word itself, or upon the preacher; it depends also on the character of the hearer. These verses work upon that truth, and emphasise the responsibility of hearing.
-And a Corrective.
I think we can readily believe that the twelve had been congratulating themselves that they had privileges in this matter of hearing that were denied to the general multitude. The crowd had heard the story of the Sower, but the Twelve and a few other intimate disciples had heard its explanation as well. “Unto you,” Jesus had said, “is given the mystery of the Kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all things are done in parables” (Mar 4:11 R.V.). Very likely they had been pluming themselves on the fact that secrets hidden from the ordinary hearer were revealed to them. This first word-if the disciples cherished any such feelings-must have been a correction to them, for it asserts that privilege carries with it responsibility, and that light had been given to them simply in order that they might spread it.
The Duty of Sharing.
“Is the lamp,” said Jesus, using a homely but most suggestive figure, “brought to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, and not to be put on the stand?” (Mar 4:21). The use of a light, Jesus said in effect, is to shine, and when men light a lamp they do not put it under a couch or under a measure, they put it where it will shine the best, they put it on the stand, in order that, as Matthew adds, it may give light unto all that are in the house. Light, Jesus says, is to be spread, diffused and shared. Now, we are back here at a principle which runs right through the New Testament, viz., this, that every gift conferred upon us by God is conferred upon us for use; not for our own enjoyment or enrichment, but for service. God never blesses a man for his own sake; He blesses him that he may become a blessing. He never saves a man for his own sake; He saves him that he may become a saviour He never enriches a man for his own sake; He enriches him that he in his turn may become a source of enrichment to others.
A Corinthian Example.
Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians xii. quite a long list of gifts enjoyed by the members of that quarrelsome but spiritually opulent Church. Some of them had the gift of knowledge, and others the gift of faith, and others the gift of healing, and others the gift of miracles, and others the gift of prophecy, and others the gift of tongues, and so on. But not one of these gifts was bestowed for private and personal gratification merely; each was bestowed upon the individual member for the benefit and profit of the whole body. The principle runs, indeed, through the entire ethical teaching of the New Testament. The individual exists not for himself alone, but for others. And this is specially true in regard to the Word of the Gospel. The Word of the Gospel is not a thing to be hoarded, it is a thing to be shared. We hear it in order that we may proclaim it. We listen to it in order that we may preach it. We receive it that we may spread it.
The Choice of the Illustration.
The Word a Lamp.
Now let us look a little more closely at the figure our Lord uses to enforce this truth. “Is the lamp,” He asks, “brought to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, and not to be put on the stand”? Now it is not by accident that our Lord used that figure. It is not a case simply of a pretty illustration. He uses it because the lamp sets forth certain qualities of the Word. The analogy is justified by a kinship. Just as the Word is like the seed, in that it contains within itself potentialities of life, so is it like the lamp, in that it is a source of knowledge and enlightenment. “Thy Word,” says the psalmist, “is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psa 119:105). A lamp! and a lamp is only used when night falls. The lighted lamp implies the presence of darkness, and when the psalmist says, “Thy Word is a lamp,” he implies a darkened world. A world in the dark about God, in the dark about duty, in the dark about the beyond. But “Thy Word is a lamp!” “The entrance of thy Word giveth light!” With the lamp of the Word in his hand, no man need stumble. He may walk safely and surely to his journey’s end.
-But not for Private Use only.
But once again, the lamp is not for a man’s private and personal use. “Let your light so shine before men,” said Jesus, “that they may see your good works” (Mat 5:16). That others may see! That was the purpose and end of our illumination-that others may see! For there are thousands and millions of our fellow-creatures groping their way through the gloom, and we have to let our light so shine that these others may see. If we have a lamp, we must put it where it will best be seen. For the light was given to us that it might serve them too.
“Heaven doth with us, as we with lighted torches do
Not light them for themselves, for if our virtues
Did not go forth from us, ’twere all alike
As though we had them not.”
This Word of the Gospel, this good tidings of God to which the disciples had been listening, they were to spread it, to diffuse it, to publish it. It was spoken to them just in order that they might proclaim it to others. The lamp was put into their hands just that they might put it on the stand and let it shine.
Have used it Aright?
Do you think that Christian people have learned this lesson, and recognised this obligation? Have we learned it? Have we recognised that the Word of the Gospel has been given to us that we might spread it? That we hold it in trust for others? That every hearer ought to be a preacher? “I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart,” says one of the psalmists; “I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation” (Psa 40:10). Is that what we have done? Have we been intent upon spreading the good news? Have we taken every opportunity of telling others all around what a Saviour we have found?
-Or have we Hidden it?
We rejoice-do we not?-in the possession of the lamp. Where, then, have we placed it? On the stand? Or is it hidden away under the bushel or the bed? For, as Dr. Glover says, there are all sorts of “bushels” under which we hide our lamp. There is the bushel of modesty, false modesty. “O Lord, I am not eloquent,” said Moses; and we excuse ourselves to-day from bearing our testimony on the ground that we are not good enough or wise enough to speak, and so we turn the soul into a dark lantern. And then there is the bushel of selfishness. We do not trouble ourselves that other people are in the dark. Is not that the reason why people are so unconcerned in face of the paganism at home, and the vast stretches of heathenism abroad? We do not care enough for them to carry the light of our lamp to them. And then there is the bushel of timidity and cowardice. “I am not ashamed to own my Lord,” we sing; but is it true? Do we not sometimes hide our faith? In certain society do we not keep silence about our Christian allegiance?
We are disciples, but secretly. We do not boldly announce it. We keep our lamp under the bushel-we do not put it on the stand. I am quite convinced there has been a great deal too much hiding of the light. We have not been eager, as we ought to have been, to spread and preach the Word.
“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” (Psa 107:2). But we have kept quiet about it. We need to learn the principles of this passage. The light was given that it might be reflected, the Word was communicated that we might proclaim it. The good tidings have been announced to us that we might go and tell. The duty of evangelising both at home and to the uttermost parts of the earth is wrapped up in this little sentence. Take your lamp from under whatever “bushel” may now be hiding it, and set it on the stand.
The Manifestation of the Hidden.
“For,” our Lord proceeds, “there is nothing hid, save that it should be manifested; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light” (Mar 4:22). Our Lord assigns this as a reason for putting the lamp on the stand. The pertinency of the reasoning is not all at once apparent. But it becomes clear when we look at it more closely. All this connects itself with that Mar 4:11, to which I have already referred, in which Jesus said to his disciples, “Unto you is given the mystery of the Kingdom of God.” The disciples may have thought that this was a kind of esoteric doctrine, which was to be kept secret from the crowds. No, says our Lord, whatever light is given to you is given that you may share it, for there is no one thing hidden unless that it may by and by be manifested. Nothing is to be hidden for ever. There is always a final end to the hiding, and that is that it may be manifested.
The Method of our Lord.
Our Lord kept certain things back from His disciples, but He hid them for a time only, that He might manifest them when they were able to bear it. He kept certain things back from the crowd, and revealed them to the disciples, only in order that the disciples might reveal them to the crowd when they were spiritually fit to receive them. Jesus did not divide his disciples into two classes, as some of the Greek philosophers did, an outer and an inner circle; an outer circle, to whom He communicated elementary truth; an inner circle, to whom He communicated advanced truth. In Christianity, as Dr. Chadwick says, there is no privileged inner circle. There is no esoteric doctrine. All Christian knowledge is to be communicated and shared. If you have gained possession of any truth which is hidden from the average Christian, you are not to keep it hidden. There is nothing hidden, but that it may by and by be manifested; so set your lamp upon the stand.
Nothing hidden but that it may be manifested! Its primary reference is to Christian truth, but one cannot pass it by without a brief word about its broader application. Hiding, says Jesus, is not permanent; manifestation is the ultimate end. Now we see in a mirror darkly, but then face to face. “Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1Co 13:12).
The End-Manifestation.
But this is not true of spiritual truth alone. It is true of all hidden and secret things. The final end is manifestation. Nothing is hidden save that it may be made manifest. The thoughts and intents of the heart, they shall all be made manifest. The desires and yearnings of our souls, they shall all be made manifest. The things we hide from our nearest and best, they shall all be made manifest. What we really are, not what we pretend to be, it shall be made manifest. What terror it would strike to our hearts if our hidden things were made manifest! And yet that manifestation is certainly coming. Concealment cannot last for ever. There is nothing hidden, save that it should be made manifest. And that manifestation of our real selves, of our inmost hearts, will be the judgment. Every man shall go to his own place. To you who read this I say, have nothing hidden which you will be ashamed to have revealed. Keep a clean heart. And make this your daily prayer, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my Strength, and my Redeemer” (Psa 19:14).
How to Hear.
And now our Lord, having spoken these words, perhaps for the warning of His disciples, returns to the broad and central lesson of the parable. “If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Mar 4:23). It is, as Dr. Morrison says, a proverbial and anecdotal saying, but its meaning is obvious enough. Hearing is not the simple matter some people think. It is not merely a case of possessing the physical faculty of hearing. For the wayside hearer heard, and the rocky-ground hearer heard, and the thorn-patch hearer heard. That is to say, they heard the words, but they profited nothing by them; for they did not hear with the soul, they did not understand, they did not accept the Word. Hearing, I repeat, demands more than the mere physical faculty. It demands the earnest attention of the mind, the prepared heart, the receptive soul. You would think it strange if your minister should come upon the Lord’s day into the pulpit without having prepared himself to speak. It is, however, equally blameworthy to come and sit in the pews before him unless you have prepared yourselves to hear. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” So much depends upon the hearing. The Word will only profit us as we receive it with meekness into honest and good hearts.
What to Hear.
Our Lord proceeds to add yet another counsel, “Take heed what ye hear” (Mar 4:24). And what a necessary counsel it is! “Take heed what ye hear.” Listen, said our Lord, with all earnestness. but be sure first of all that it is the kind of thing to which you ought to listen. There is to be election and selection in the case of the things to which we listen. I think our Lord had in view the fact that false teachers would come teaching pernicious and deadly heresies. It is not the Christian’s business to listen to them. “Take heed what ye hear!”
A Modern Duty.
Is not the counsel needed still? I am amazed at the absolutely gratuitous and irresponsible way in which Christian people will read books and listen to teachers whose whole aim is to undermine the Christian faith. Now do not misunderstand me. I am not for shutting Christian people up in a kind of glass case. I am not for having them close their eyes to all criticism of the truth. A faith that can only be preserved by refusing to listen to what can be said against it, is not worth very much. What I mean is that Christian people, not earnestly in search of truth and not intellectually fitted to be champions of the faith, will in sheer wantonness read any book and discuss any theme and listen to any teacher, and so imperil the faith of their souls. I know of people who have brought themselves into desolation and doubt through not taking heed what they hear. What wonder is it, Dr. Chadwick says, that people who play with edged tools injure themselves, and become perverts and agnostics? When without possessing the intellectual equipment for discussing great religious problems, we read, for instance, sceptical books, we are deliberately rushing into temptation, we are deliberately playing with fire, and the penalty of playing with fire is that we get burnt.
The counsel admits of wider application. “Take heed what ye hear.” There are certain books we had better never read, certain kinds of speech to which we had better never listen. Is it not a singular thing that we are more fastidious and nice with regard to all our other senses than we are with regard to our sense of hearing? How particular, for example, we are about our sense of taste! How nice we are about the matter of food! No one would dream of eating unclean, diseased or foul food; we shrink with disgust from the idea of feeding upon garbage. But we are not so particular about what we hear. We can listen to the diseased talk of the tattler and the scandal-monger. And we listen sometimes to foul and unclean talk. We are not afraid of garbage for the mind. And yet, what is the injury inflicted by diseased physical food, compared to the injury done by diseased and unclean mental food? The one taints the body, but the other defiles and debases the mind. What endless mischief and ruin would be saved, if only our boys and girls, our young men and young women, yes, and we older folk too, took heed what they heard!
Give and Take.
“For with what measure ye mete,” said Christ, “it shall be measured to you.” He is back again at the subject of the responsibility of hearing. What you get, He says, depends upon what you give. What of profit you derive from any service depends upon what you bring to it. If you bring to it an indifferent mind and a distracted heart you will get no profit from it. But if you bring to it the eager mind, the receptive heart, the waiting soul, if you bring to it faith and expectancy and prayer, you shall receive the hundred fold. We complain sometimes that services are dry and barren and profitless. Whose fault is it? We are ready enough to say, the preacher’s. But are we never to blame? Have we contributed our share? Have we come in the Spirit? Have we come up with prayer? Have we contributed the believing mind? What you get from a service depends upon what you bring to it. “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given… but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath” (Mat 13:12).
Fuente: The Gospel According to St. Mark: A Devotional Commentary
1
In purely temporal or material things, men will act with better judgment than they do in things moral and spiritual. A man would not make a light for the accommodation of his guests, then put something over it that would prevent them from benefiting by it. Neither should we allow some careless conduct keep our possible influence for good from being seen by those about us. (See Mat 5:15-16.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
THESE verses seem intended to enforce the parable of the sower on the attention of those who heard it. They are remarkable for the succession of short, pithy, proverbial sayings which they contain. Such sayings are eminently calculated to arrest an ignorant hearer. They often strike, and stick in the memory, when the main subject of the sermon is forgotten. [Footnote: The passage now under consideration is one of many proofs that our Lord used the same words and the same ideas on many different occasions. The proverbial saying about the “candlestick under a bushel,” will be found in the Sermon on the Mount. So also the saying “there is nothing hid that shall not be manifested”-and the saying “with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you again”-are both to be found in the Gospel of Matthew, but in both cases in an entirely different connection from the passage in Mark now before us. (Mat 10:26, and Mat 7:2.)
The subject is one that deserves attention. The needless difficulties that have been created by attempting to harmonize the Gospels, and to make out that our Lord never said the same thing more than once, are neither few nor small.]
We learn, from these verses, that we ought not only to receive knowledge, but to impart it to others.
A candle is not lighted in order to be hidden and concealed, but to be set on a candlestick and used. Religious light is not given to a man for himself alone, but for the benefit of others. We are to try to spread and diffuse our knowledge. We are to display to others the precious treasure that we have found; and persuade them to seek it for themselves. We are to tell them of the good news that we have heard, and endeavor to make them believe and value it themselves.
We shall all have to give account of our use of knowledge one day. The books of God in the day of judgment will show what we have done. If we have buried our talent in the earth-if we have been content with a lazy, idle, do-nothing Christianity, and cared nothing what happened to others, so long as we went to heaven ourselves-there will be a fearful exposure at last: “There is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested.”
It becomes all Christians to lay these things to heart. It is high time that the old tradition, that the clergy alone ought to teach and spread religious knowledge, should be exploded and cast aside forever. To do good and diffuse light is a duty for which all members of Christ’s Church are responsible, whether ministers or laymen. Neighbors ought to tell neighbors, if they have found an unfailing remedy in time of plague. Christians ought to tell others that they have found medicine for their souls, if they see them ignorant, and dying for want of it. What saith the apostle Peter? “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another.” (1Pe 4:10.) They will be happy days for the Church when that text is obeyed.
We learn, in the second place, from these verses, the importance of hearing, and of considering well what we hear.
This is a point to which our Lord evidently attaches great weight. We have seen it already brought out in the parable of the sower. We see it here enforced in two remarkable expressions. “If any man have an ear to hear, let him hear.” “Take heed what ye hear.”
Hearing the truth is one principal avenue through which grace is conveyed to the soul of man. “Faith cometh by hearing.” (Rom 10:17.) One of the first steps towards conversion is to receive from the Spirit a hearing ear. Seldom are men brought to repentance and faith in Christ without “hearing.” The general rule is that of which Paul reminds the Ephesians, “ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth.” (Eph 1:13.)
Let us bear this in mind when we hear preaching decried as a means of grace. There are never wanting men who seek to cast it down from the high place which the Bible gives it. There are many who proclaim loudly that it is of far more importance to the soul to hear liturgical forms read, and to receive the Lord’s Supper, than to hear God’s word expounded. Of all such notions let us beware. Let it be a settled principle with us that “hearing the word,” is one of the foremost means of grace that God has given to man. Let us give to every other means and ordinance its proper value and proportion. But never let us forget the words of Paul, “despise not prophesyings,” and his dying charge to Timothy, “Preach the word.” (1Th 5:20; 2Ti 4:2.) [Footnote: “Public and continual preaching of God’s word is the ordinary means and instrument of the salvation of mankind. Paul calleth in the ministry of reconciliation of man unto God. By preaching of God’s word, the glory of God is enlarged, faith is nourished, and charity increased. By it the ignorant is instructed, the negligent exhorted and invited, the stubborn rebuked, the weak conscience comforted, and to all those that sin of malicious wickedness, the wrath of God is threatened. By preaching, due obedience to Christian princes and magistrates is planted in the hearts of subjects: for obedience proceedeth of conscience, conscience is grounded upon the word of God, the word of God worketh his effect by preaching. So as generally when preaching wanteth, obedience faileth.”-Archbishop Grindal’s Letter to Queen Elizabeth.]
We learn, in the last place, from these verses, the importance of a diligent use of religious privileges. What says our Lord? “Unto you that hear shall more be given. He that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.”
This is a principle which we find continually brought forward in Scripture. All that believers have is undoubtedly of grace. Their repentance, faith, and holiness, are all the gift of God. But the degree to which a believer attains in grace, is ever set before us as closely connected with his own diligence in the use of means, and his own faithfulness in living fully up to the light and knowledge which he possesses. Indolence and laziness are always discouraged in God’s word. Labor and pains in hearing, reading, and prayer, are always represented as bringing their own reward. “The soul of the diligent shall be made fat.” (Pro 13:4.) “An idle soul shall suffer hunger.” (Pro 19:15.)
Attention to this great principle is the main secret of spiritual prosperity. The man who makes rapid progress in spiritual attainments-who grows visibly in grace, and knowledge, and strength, and usefulness-will always be found to be a diligent man. He leaves no stone unturned to promote his soul’s well-doing. He is diligent over his Bible, diligent in his private devotions, diligent as a hearer of sermons, diligent in his attendance at the Lord’s table. And he reaps according as he sows. Just as the muscles of the body are strengthened by regular exercise, so are the graces of the soul increased by diligence in using them.
Do we wish to grow in grace? Do we desire to have stronger faith, brighter hope, and clearer knowledge? Beyond doubt we do, if we are true Christians. Then let us live fully up to our light, and improve every opportunity. Let us never forget our Lord’s words in this passage. “With what measure we mete” to our souls, “it shall be measured to us again.” The more we do for our souls, the more shall we find God does for them.
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Mar 4:21. See on Mat 5:15. The application here is to teaching in parables: Although thus spoken in secret, they were not to remain mysteries, confined to a few; the purpose, as in case of a lamp, was to give light. Hence they should take care to learn their meaning, not hiding them under a blunted understanding, nor when they did understand them, neglecting the teaching of them to others (Alford).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The end and design of Christ in revealing his word and will to his disciples, and in communicating to them the light of spiritual knowledge; namely that they may communicate it to others, and not keep it close unto themselves. Even as the candle in a house diffuses and disperses its light to all that come within the reach of it; in like manner ought all Christians, and particularly Christ’s ministers, by the light of life and doctrine, to direct persons in their way towards heaven. Such as are enlightened by God in any measure, with the knowledge and understanding of his word, ought not to conceal and hide this knowledge within themselves, but communicate it to others, and employ it for the good and benefit of others.
Observe, 2. The cautionary direction given by Christ to his disciples, to take heed how they hear the word. Such as would profit by hearing of the word must diligently attend to the matter of the doctrine which they hear, and also to the manner how they hear. Such is the majesty and authority of the Person that speaks to us in the word, such is the sublimity and spirituality of the matter, and so great is our danger, if we miscarry under the word, that it nearly concerns us to take heed, both what we hear, and how we hear.
Observe, 3. The argument which our Saviour makes use of to quicken his disciples to communicate the knowledge, and improve the grace they had received for the good and benefit of others. To him that hath shall be given. That is, such as improve their spiritual gifts shall have them increased; such as improve them not shall have them blasted.
Learn hence, That the best course we can take to increase and thrive in grace is to exercise and improve it. He that hides his talent doth not only forfeit it, but is in danger of being punished severely for the non-improvement of it.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mar 4:21-25. And he said, Is a candle, &c. As if he had said, I explain these things to you, I give you this light, not to conceal, but to impart it to others. And if I conceal any thing from you now, it is only that it may be more effectually manifested hereafter. Take heed what ye hear That is, attend to what you hear, that it may have its due influence upon you. With what measure ye mete That is, according to the improvement you make of what you have heard, still further assistances shall be given. And to you that hear That is, with improvement, shall more be given. For he that hath That improves whatever he has received, to the good of others, as well as of his own soul.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mar 4:21-25 seems still to be addressed to the disciples. Mk. has collected some isolated sayings, and inserted them here, for the purpose of denying that the Christian mystery mentioned in Mar 4:11 was an esoteric doctrine. Secrets are given to the disciples in trust for the world, and a mans advance in the knowledge of the kingdom is in proportion to his loyalty to what has previously been entrusted to him. Somewhat similarly, after the cursing of the fig-tree, Mk. adds a saying about forgiveness (Mar 11:25), to hint that only a forgiving spirit may expect miracles. (Loisy thinks Mk. tore these sayings from their context in a document like Q. It is more probable that they came to him as fragments of floating tradition which he pieced together as best he could. See a careful study by H. A. A. Kennedy in ET, xxv. 301f.)
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 21
Bed; the couch upon which it was customary to recline at meals.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
4:21 {2} And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?
(2) Although the light of the gospel is rejected by the world, yet it ought to be lit, if for no other reason than this, that the wickedness of the world might be revealed.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The parable of the lamp 4:21-25 (cf. Luke 8:16-18)
Jesus’ statements in this pericope appear scattered throughout the other Gospels. Mar 4:21 occurs in Mat 5:15 and in Luk 11:33. Mar 4:22 is in Mat 10:26 and in Luk 12:2. Mar 4:24 appears in Mat 7:2 and in Luk 6:38. Mar 4:25 is also in Mat 13:12; Mat 25:29 as well as in Luk 19:26. This phenomenon does not mean that this pericope lacks authenticity. It means that Jesus frequently used these expressions at other times during His teaching ministry as well as here. He was an itinerant preacher, and itinerant preachers often use the same messages with the same or similar words with different audiences.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Jesus continued his address to the inquiring disciples (cf. Mar 4:10-20). The lamp would have been a small clay dish with the edges pinched up to form a spout. A small piece of fabric typically hung over the spout from the body of the lamp serving as a wick. These household lamps usually held only a few teaspoons of oil and rested on pieces of wood or plaster protruding from a wall. The basket was a common container that held about a peck (one-quarter bushel).
The lamp seems to represent the illumination that Jesus had just given about the purpose of the parables and the meaning of the parable of the soils. He did not want His disciples to conceal what He had just told them but to broadcast it. In His day this involved revelation about the impending kingdom particularly. In the wider sphere of application it would include all that God has revealed (cf. Psa 119:105).
Another interpretation sees Jesus as the light that His disciples were not to conceal. [Note: E.g., Wessel, p. 652.] Jesus elsewhere spoke of Himself as the light of the world (Joh 8:12). Nevertheless in this context the light seems to represent revelation. Light has both metaphorical meanings in Scripture.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER: 4:21-25 (Mar 4:21)
LAMP AND STAND
“And He said unto them, Is the lamp brought to be put under the bushel, or under the bed? and not to be put on the stand? For there is nothing hid, save that it should be manifested; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light. If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear. And He said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete it shall be measured unto you: and more shall be given unto you. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath.” Mar 4:21-25 (R.V.)
JESUS had now taught that the only good ground was that in which the good seed bore fruit. And He adds explicitly, that men receive the truth in order to spread it, and are given grace that they may become, in turn, good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
“Is the lamp brought to be put under the bushel or under the bed, and not to be put on the stand?” The language may possibly be due, as men have argued, to the simple conditions of life among the Hebrew peasantry, who possessed only one lamp, one corn-measure, and perhaps one bed. All the greater marvel is it that amid such surroundings He should have announced, and not in vain, that His disciples, His Church, should become the light of all humanity, “the lamp.” Already He had put forward the same claim even more explicitly, saying, “Ye are the light of the world.” And in each case, He spoke not in the intoxication of pride or self-assertion, but in all gravity, and as a solemn warning. The city on the hill could not be hid. The lamp would burn dimly under the bed; it would be extinguished entirely by the bushel. Publicity is the soul of religion, since religion is light. It is meant to diffuse itself, to be, as He expressed it, like leaven which may be hid at first, but cannot be concealed, since it will leaven all the lump. And so, if He spoke in parables, and consciously hid His meaning by so doing, this was not to withdraw His teaching from the masses, it was to shelter the flame which should presently illuminate all the house. Nothing was hid, save that it should be manifested, nor made secret, but that it should come to light. And it has never been otherwise. Our religion has no privileged inner circle, no esoteric doctrine; and its chiefs, when men glorified one or another, asked, What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed. Agents only, for conveying to others what they had received from God. And thus He Who now spoke in parables, and again charged them not to make Him known, was able at the end to say, In secret have I spoken nothing. Therefore He repeats with emphasis His former words, frequent on His lips henceforward, and ringing through the messages He spoke in glory to His Churches. If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear. None is excluded but by himself.
Yet another caution follows. If the seed be the Word, there is sore danger from false teaching; from strewing the ground with adulterated grain. St. Mark, indeed, has not recorded the Parable of the Tares. But there are indications of it, and the same thought is audible in this saying, “Take heed what ye hear.” The added words are a little surprising: “With what measure ye mete it shall be measured unto you, and more shall be given unto you.” The last clause expresses exactly the principle on which the forfeited pound was given to him who had ten pounds already, the open hand of God lavishing additional gifts upon him who was capable of using them. But does not the whole statement seem to follow more suitable upon a command to beware what we teach, and thus “mete” to others, than what we hear? A closer examination finds in this apparent unfitness, a deeper harmony of thought. To “accept” the genuine word is the same as to bring forth fruit for God; it is to reckon with the Lord of the talents, and to yield the fruit of the vineyard. And this is to “mete,” not indeed unto man, but unto God, Who shows Himself froward with the froward, and from him that hath not, whose possession is below his accountability, takes away even that he hath, but gives exceedingly abundantly above all they ask or think to those who have, who are not disobedient to the heavenly calling.
All this is most delicately connected with what precedes it; and the parables, hiding the truth from some, giving it authority, and color, and effect to others, were a striking example of the process here announced.
Never was the warning to be heedful what we hear, more needed than at present. Men think themselves free to follow any teacher, especially if he be eloquent, to read any book, of only it be in demand, and to discuss any theory, provided it be fashionable, while perfectly well aware that they are neither earnest inquirers after the truth, nor qualified champions against its assailants. For what then do they read and hear? For the pleasure of a rounded phrase, or to augment the prattle of conceited ignorance in a drawing-room.
Do we wonder when these players with edged tools injure themselves, and become perverts or agnostics? It would be more wonderful if they remained unhurt, since Jesus said, “Take heed what ye hear . . . from him that hath not shall be taken even that he hath.” A rash and uninstructed exposure of our intellects to evil influences, is meting to God with an unjust measure, as really as a willful plunge into any other temptation, since we are bidden to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the spirit as well as of the flesh.