haves and have nots

I feel a little surrel typing this right now. My brain feels like it's 100 places at once. I haven't eaten lunch yet and I can't decide if I'm hungry. I've been very much of a one-track at work today. Sometimes when I get uber focused on something, I start to lose my perception of everything else around me. It's one of those days where I'll probably work straight through my break and be surprised when it's 4:30.

Anyway, having said that, I decided to derail my work train this afternoon to pray and meditate with the Sacred Space website. The verse they had today was Jesus teaching the people using parables. Have you ever felt stupid reading Jesus' parables? Sometimes I do. They're basically stories about everyday stuff that are a representation of something else. Kind of like a story with a moral but a little deeper than that. At any rate, I always think that Jesus told these parables so that common people would understand his message better. I figure, I'm pretty common, so I should get these, no question. But I don't always. Maybe I'm more like a thick-skulled disciple than I give myself credit for - they always seemed to have trouble with Jesus' stories!

Today's verse was about how no one brings out a light just to stick it under a basket or under the bed. The purpose of light is to illuminate things. Okay, I think I get that. The light might represent the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection and those of us that have that light shouldn't hide it from others. Simple enough.

But then he goes on to say this:

"Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away."

What is it that I'm supposed to give? The light? Maybe. This actually reminds me of one of my favorite Dave Matthews Band songs, believe it or not. The bridge of that song says:

"If you give, you begin to live. If you give, you get the world."

But I don't really know. It all seems so vague, like Jesus assumed we would know what he was referring to. "For those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away..."

Sometimes I wonder if we make Jesus and Christianity out to be too 'nice'. We placate people with Jesus love and neglect some of his harder sayings. He was pretty unequivocal about the fact that people had to believe in him in order to go be reconciled with God. Yes, his death and resurrection are for everyone, but everyone has to choose him first.

So I conclude, feeling as vague and inconclusive as I started out. I'm gonna go back to work now and try to figure out if I'm hungry. If you have more insight on this verse than I do, please post your comment!