Mark 4:21-25

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

- Mark 4:21-25

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Jesus is teaching his disciples another lesson here. My favorite verse in this passage is "If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear." Jesus has taught many lessons through sharing parables (stories illustrating God's word) so far. Every time he shared a lesson, there was an audience whether it was his disciples, followers, or just observers passing by. He never discriminated who was allowed to listen and who was not. His crowd probably included a lot of non-believers, yet he let them hear. Jesus was open to anyone listening to his word, to God's word, because this was his form of evangelizing and teaching.

This reminds me of AYL. As most of you know, AYL is an open community. We talk about the bible and point to a lot of Christian themes, BUT we never push away students who are not Christian. We let anyone come to our clubs and even Harvesters. We actually encourage people who have never heard of AYL to come see what it is all about. We allow people of different backgrounds and religions to come and hear God's word. Why? Because we are all children of God. Everyone deserves to hear what Jesus shared to his followers 2,000 years ago. So out of all the people in this world, all the high school students from Bergen County, all the students from Harvesters, Jesus says, "let them hear."

What is the lamp referring to here? The lamp is God's word and it is meant to be put on a stand. Not hiding under the bed or put away in storage. It is meant to be shared with everyone. In this way, it will shine light onto many people.

In verse 24, Jesus basically says, "You do what you want with the lessons you have heard from me. You chose how you want to live your life after hearing these parables."

A lot of people listen to his teachings and follow him because they genuinely have faith and want to learn more. They follow him everywhere to the point where Jesus has no privacy. While growing with Jesus, they reciprocate those teachings into their daily lives. They show a renewed life with characteristics similar to Jesus. 

On the other hand, there are others who are still skeptical and don't really think Jesus is credible enough. They don't understand who he is and why he is doing all of this. These parables don't make an impact on them because their hearts are hardened. They could care less.

To those of you reading the devotionals posted here or doing your own Bible reading, you are listening to what Jesus has to say. Your ears are open.

What are you going to do now? What have these parables taught you and what are you going to do with this new knowledge?

Jesus says that the people who decide to follow and believe Jesus will be gifted with something greater in the future. By showing spiritual growth and pleasing God through love and faith, they will receive huge blessings. However, those who do not have the faith, will lose many things. They will continue to fall into the same traps of sin without knowing it. They will never understand how great God is.

You have been gifted with all this truth about God's kingdom. Thanks to your ears, you listened. Now what are you going to do with it? Let's all put it into practice in our daily lives and shine light to where it is needed.