The law of balance!

Mark 4:21-35

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Would you bring in a lamp to put it under a tub or under the bed? Surely you will put it on the lamp-stand? For there is nothing hidden but it must be disclosed, nothing kept secret except to be brought to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to this.’ He also said to them, ‘Take notice of what you are hearing. The amount you measure out is the amount you will be given – and more besides; for the man who has will be given more; from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away.’

Food for thought!

“The amount you measure out is the amount you will be given.” These words of Jesus are very provocative. Jesus is saying that it all depends on us; it means that all is in you: the way, the solution, the life, the heaven and the hell. It means that the amount of effort you apply in anything, good or bad, is the amount you will get out. If you apply yourself to goodness, you will get goodness; if you apply yourself to evil, evil you will get. What you get depends on what you give. What you give you will get back, only more so.

In life there is always a balance. A man's getting will be determined by his giving. It means that you are getting back what you are giving away. This is true of study. The more study a pupil is prepared to give to any subject, the more s/he will get from it. All subjects of study are like that. They give pleasure and satisfaction in proportion to the effort that we are prepared to spend upon them. It is specially so in regard to the study of the Bible. We may sometimes feel that there are certain parts of the Bible which are difficult. May be. But the truth is that if we study these parts they will often turn out to be the most interesting parts of the Bible. A superficial study of a subject will often leave us quite uninterested whereas a really intensive study will leave us thrilled and fascinated.

It is true of Mass. The more we bring to Mass the more we will get from it. When we come to worship in the house of God, there are three wrong ways in which we may come.

(a) We may come entirely to get. If we come only to get, we will criticize the organist and the choir and find fault with the priest's preaching. We must come prepared to give; we must remember that worship is a corporate act, and that each of us can contribute something to it. If we ask, not, "What can I get out of this service?" but, "What can I contribute to this service?" we will in the end get far more out of it than if we simply came to take.

(b) We may come without expectation. Our coming may be the result of habit and routine. It may be simply part of the time-table into which we have divided the week. But, after all, we should be coming to meet God, and when we meet him anything may happen.

(c) We may come without preparation. It is so easy to leave for Mass with no preparation of mind or heart at all because often it is a rush to get there at all. But it would make all the difference in the world, if, before we came, we were for a moment or two still and quiet and companied with God in prayer. As the Jewish Rabbis told their disciples: "They pray best together who first pray alone."

It is true of personal relationships. One of the great facts of life is that we see our reflection in other people. If we are cross and irritable and bad-tempered, we will probably find other people equally unpleasant. If we are critical and fault-finding, the chances are that we will find other people the same. If we are suspicious and distrustful, the likelihood is that others will be so to us. If we wish others to love us, we must first love them; if you want to be forgiven, forgive; if you want to be given, give. The person who would have friends must show himself or herself friendly. It was because Jesus believed in men that men believed in him.