Jesus' statements in this pericope appear throughout the other Gospels. Verse 21 occurs in Matthew 5:15 and in Luke 11:33. Verse 22 is in Matthew 10:26 and in Luke 12:2. Verse 24 appears in Matthew 7:2 and in Luke 6:38. Verse 25 is also in Matthew 13:12 and 25:29 as well as in Luke 19:26. This phenomenon does not mean that this pericope lacks authenticity. It means that Jesus frequently used these expressions at other times during His teaching ministry as well as here. He was an itinerant preacher, and itinerant preachers often use the same messages with the same or similar words with different audiences.
4:21 Jesus continued his address to the inquiring disciples (cf. vv. 10-20). The lamp would have been a small clay dish with the edges pinched up to form a spout. A small piece of fabric typically hung over the spout from the body of the lamp serving as a wick. These household lamps usually held only a teaspoon or two of oil and rested on pieces of wood or plaster protruding from a wall. The basket was a common container that held about a peck (one-quarter bushel).
The lamp seems to represent the illumination that Jesus had just given about the purpose of the parables and the meaning of the parable of the soils. He did not want His disciples to conceal what He had just told them but to broadcast it. In His day this involved revelation about the impending kingdom particularly. In the wider sphere of application it would include all that God has revealed (cf. Ps. 119:105).
Another interpretation sees Jesus as the light that His disciples were not to conceal.110Jesus elsewhere spoke of Himself as the light of the world (John 8:12). Nevertheless in this context the light seems to represent revelation. Light has both metaphorical meanings in Scripture.
4:22 The former verse expressed a parable. This one explained a literal reality. As a principle, people do not hide precious things forever. They only conceal them temporarily, and then they bring them out into view. If they remain hidden forever, they are virtually lost. People conceal them to protect them from others who would abuse and misappropriate them. For example, people who own expensive jewelry or art treasures may keep them locked up for safe keeping part of the time, butthey display them publicly at other times. Keeping them locked up privately all the time is a misuse of their purpose.
The disciples should not conclude that because God had previously hidden the characteristics about the kingdom that Jesus was revealing He wanted them to remain unknown. The time had come to proclaim them publicly.
"The kingdom of God, as embodied in Jesus' Person and ministry, was now a veiled revelation to those without, but He intended that later it should receive a glorious manifestation through the ministry of His followers."111
4:23 What Jesus had told the multitudes (v. 9) He now repeated specifically for His disciples. They could hear. They needed to use that ability by paying attention to what Jesus had just said.
4:24 The disciples needed to consider carefully what Jesus was telling them. The degree to which they gave heed to what He said would be the degree to which they would profit from it. God would graciously bless attentive disciples with even greater benefit than the effort they expended in heeding His words. Their blessing would be disproportionately large.
4:25 If a person works hard to obtain something good, he or she normally receives other good things in addition. If a disciple pays attention to and assimilates the revelation God has given, God will increase his or her capacity to understand and appropriate more revelation. However this principle works the other way too. The person who does not use his or her ability to understand and respond to God's revelation appropriately loses that ability. The disciples needed to use their understanding of Jesus and the kingdom by proclaiming the gospel or they would lose their ability and their understanding. This is a call for disciples to continue growing (cf. 2 Pet. 3:18, the key verse of that epistle).
