21Also He said to them, "Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? 22For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. 23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
24Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."
I think the story of the Light Under a Basket is to emphasize the fact that the seed that is sown in the parable of the sower is not just some tidbits of the Truth that God chose to share with us. I think God wants to share all with us. He is our guiding light. Just as when you need light in order to see you would not put the lamp under a basket, God would not block the guiding light we need. It is there for all of us to find. There are no secrets He is trying to keep from us. Everything is intended to be revealed. We just need to open our hearts to really hear the Word.
The Parable of the Sower ended with the statement of "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" This is implying that all it takes is to want to hear. The truth that God wants us all to know is there, not hidden. It is sown for every heart, regardless how receptive its "soil" is.
Have you ever take a class or studied a subject where you learned a lot, passed the exams just fine, but then years later could not recall a thing? And then there were other subjects that you enjoyed so much that you continued to study beyond the class and possibly applied what you learned to your life and work. In these subjects, things just got easier and easier the more you used your knowledge, and you still continued to learn more.
Well, I wonder if the next text is saying something similar regarding the Truths God wants us to know. Take heed what you hear, apply it to your life, and try to continue to learn more. The more you hear and understand, the more you will be given to understand. In other words, the more you learn, the more will be revealed to you. But if you do not continue to search for God's Truths and grow in understanding, you will most likely lose the little you understood before. Just like those classes you passed years ago.
One thing that bothers me with this interpretation of the last part of this passage is where it says "whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him". It uses the phase "taken away" rather than "lose". This is implying losing something you would rather keep. This does not fit very well with the interpretation that this is talking about losing knowledge that you didn't care enough about to retain.
Is this last passage instead talking about blessings and final judgment? If so, this is very serious. As He says, take heed what you hear! For those who take heed, more will be given. More what? Is this possibly talking about blessings? In other words, the more we learn and follow God's wishes, the more blessings we will receive. But if we do not listen to what God is trying to tell us, in the final judgment, we will be judged poorly and we will lose everything.
Fortunately, with either interpretation, what is expected from us is the same. We must try to really hear what He is telling us. We must take these Truths and apply them to our everyday lives. God's Truths are not hidden from us. We have all been given the ability to listen, but we must try to hear!
Is the meaning of this last passage hidden from me? Is God trying to confuse me by making it too difficult for me to understand? No, I don't think so. I think as I continue to study the scripture and keep trying to hear God's Word, more will be revealed to me. And possibly somewhere down the line, the meaning of this passage will become more clear to me too.