Meditation on the Parable of the Lamp

21He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? 22For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
24“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”

The second parable of Jesus in chapter 4 of Mark tells us something about the kingdom of heaven. The preceding parable tells us about the different kinds of soil that the sower sown the seed which stands for the word of God. Jesus continues to explain the Kingdom by giving this another parable.
This parable seems like to depart a little bit from the preceding parable, but as we will try to dig deeper, we will be seeing here that the passage actually talks about the application of the preceding parable. The light stands for the word of God that we have received. Our Lord shows that the light which is the gospel should not be hidden under the bed; instead we have to put it on a stand where everybody can see it. This means that the gospel that we have heard should be brought to open that anyone can see and benefit from that light.
Verse 23 pertains to those people who were listening to Jesus. “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” We can see here that not all who were with Jesus that very moment does not necessarily imply that they were listening. This message is as if saying, “to those who really want to listen, let him hear.” The Lord Jesus Christ usually mentions this when he is giving a parable. It is because, for Jesus Christ, the word listening is an action word that needs to be done. A word that says, “If you really heard me, do what I have said.” Listening and not doing is not listening.
The following statement puzzled me for a while, “24“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” But this is what I found out. To consider carefully means that we must take note what we have heard of the gospel. “With the measure you use…” means that as we take note of the gospel, the more that we have to do our best in using it. The more we use it, the more truth we receive.
The conclusion of this parable is that being the recipient of the word of the Lord, which includes us, Christians, the word has to bear fruit in our lives. It should be like a lamp that shines its light to give direction and light to those who were in the darkness.