Double Measures

"With the measure you use it will be measured to you and still more will be added to you." Mark 4.24

Second helpings can be a tricky area. Do you just ask, or wait to be asked? What if there is only so much left and lots of people want more - should you pretend that you don't want anymore? What about third helpings? Aaaagh!

How great it is then, when the host immediately offers more of the Banoffie pie and then, when a forest of hands goes up, says 'don't worry I've got another one in the fridge' - what joy, what (as the hymn goes) transport of delight (I always thought that that must be a train and a half - presumably not part of the London Underground).

This verse I read recently, offers us massive dollops of helpings. More even than we were expecting - certainly more than we merit. But what is it a generous measure of, and what is the measure we use? Is it financial? Does this promise that if we are generous with our money - God will more than repay us? Is it about being rewarded for our service to God, his people and those who are not his people?

The answer is in the context. Jesus has been speaking about how we listen to Jesus. He has described through the parable of the Sower (which we heard at the excellent Monday Fundays last week) how different people react to him. 

The introduction to the verse above us is a command that Jesus is speaking directly to us: "Pay attention to what you hear". Jesus is saying to us that we need to work hard at listening to him. I am challenged by that. 

How hard do I work at listening to him? Do I sit listening to a sermon based on his word and roll my sleeves up? Do I see it as time to do some work - or do I sit back and expect it to have an impact by osmosis. When I read the Bible, do I work at it - do I look for the things which rub up against me, and not just the things which I like? Am I looking for Jesus in every word of his word? 

If someone asked me, do I want to hear from Jesus? Do I want to bear fruit for him? I would say 100% yes. Jesus then makes a startling promise. How hard we work at listening, will affect how much we hear Jesus and how much we are transformed by him. For the disciples that meant, in particular, that when they didn't understand something (such as the parable of the Sower), they did not drift away, but that went back to him.

Then we discover something wonderful - huge dollops of Jesus' voice piled onto our plates, more than we deserved, more than we imagined.