There are some in our world who proclaim a prosperity gospel and part of that includes the belief that if you simply give more (usually money) to God, then you will receive more. There are lots of examples of this (here’s one using a prayer cloth as a way to “prosperity”). In reading Mark 4:24-25, it would be easy to think this is saying the same thing: “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given to you. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” But I don’t think that’s what Jesus means. The key is the initial command: Pay attention to what you hear. Scholar Lamar Williamson notes, “Fruitful hearers of the gospel are given to hear even more; fruitless hearers will, after a time, hear nothing at all.”
If our hearts are focused on the good news of God’s radical, inclusive love and we believe we are recipients of that love, that begins to multiply not only in our hearts, but in the ways we share it with others. If we are only focused on society’s message that there are false images that we must live up to (more money, more beauty, more power), the gospel may lose its impact in our lives.