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MARK 4:25 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Mark 4:24Mark 4:26
“For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.”
Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them — the paradox of kingdom receptivity: understanding produces more understanding, while the lack of understanding produces further loss. This is not arbitrary or punitive but descriptive of how comprehension works in any domain: the person who has conceptual frameworks to receive new information can integrate it and build on it; the person without frameworks cannot hold the new information and loses what little they had. In the kingdom's specific context, the disciples who are actively pursuing understanding receive more; those who hear passively and do nothing with the teaching find even the surface impression fades.

Church Fathers on Mark 4:25

Or else the candle is the discourse concerning the three sorts of seed. The bushel or the bed is the hearing of the disobedient. The Apostles are the candlestick, whom the word of the Lord hath enlightened.

Pseudo-Jerome · 5th century

Or else the Lord warns His disciples to be as light, in their life and conversation; as if He said, As a candle is put so as to give light, so all will look to your life. Therefore be diligent to lead a good life; sit not in corners, but be ye a candle. For a candle gives light, not when placed under a bed, but on a candlestick; this light indeed must be placed on a candlestick, that is, on the eminence of a godly life, that it may be able to give light to others. Not under a…

Theophylact · 11th century

Or, because the time of our life is contained under a certain measurement of Divine Providence, it is rightly compared to a bushel. But the bed of the soul is the body, in which it dwells and reposes for a time. He therefore who hides the word of God under the love of this transitory life, and of carnal allurements, covers his candle with a bushel or a bed.

Bede · 8th century · in Marc., 1, 20
Read all 9 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Mark 4:25 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy