TEXT [Commentary]

6. Parable of the growing seed (4:26-29)

26 Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. 28 The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. 29 And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.”

NOTES

4:28 on its own. The earth produces its yield automatically (automatē [TG844, ZG897]), by a process the farmer does not understand.

COMMENTARY [Text]

This parable is unique to Mark. The growth of the Kingdom is like the growth of seed. The humans who work the land do not fully understand how this growth takes place. There is something mysterious and inevitable about the Kingdom’s development. God is responsible for how the crop will come to maturity.

In the end, the time will come to reap what has been sown. Harvest is an image of judgment, as Joel 3:13 indicates—a time when evil is judged and righteousness is vindicated. The seed of the Kingdom will grow, and judgment will come, even though the exact process is not clearly understood by the one who sows the seed.