Walk of Life, Day 28, April 2022 – The Words of Jesus Christ on the Kingdom of God
Mark 4:26-29 — The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
This parable is less familiar to us than the parable of the sower. This is present only in the Gospel of Mark. In this parable, the Lord Jesus speaks of a person scattering seed on the ground and then leaves it for nature to take its course. The person who sowed the seed goes about his day-by-day business, the seed begins to have an effect. First the seed sprouts, then stalk and leaves, then a head of grain and then kernels in the head. The Lord Jesus seems to emphasize here that the sower never played a role in this process. The person who scattered seed cannot even fully understand how it happens, it is the work of nature. “All by itself the soil produces” (verse 28). As soon as the grain is ripe, the sickle is employed, and the seed is harvested. This happens at just the right time.
Strangely, Jesus did not explain this parable. He left it for us to understand. Taking the seed to be the Word of God, as in Mark 4:14, we can interpret the growth of the plants as the working of God’s Word in individual hearts. The fact that the crop grows without the farmer’s intervention means that God can accomplish His purposes even when we are absent or unaware of what He’s doing. The goal is the ripened grain. At the proper time, the Word will bring forth its fruit, and the Lord of the harvest (Luke 10:2) will be glorified.
This parable is more symbolic of the growth of the early church “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Just like a farmer cannot force a crop to grow, an evangelist cannot force spiritual life or growth on others.
To summarize the parable of the growing seed “The way God uses His Word in the heart of an individual is mysterious and completely independent of human effort.” May we be faithful in “sowing the seed,” praying for a harvest, and leaving the results to the Lord!
