Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 4:26

And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;

26 29. The Seed growing secretly

26. as if a man should cast seed into the ground ] This is the only parable which is peculiar to St Mark, and seems to take the place of “the Leaven” recorded by St Matthew (Mat 13:33).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

So is the kingdom of God – The gospel, or religion in the soul, may be compared to this. See the notes at Mat 3:2. This parable is recorded only by Mark.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mar 4:26; Mar 4:29

So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground.

The religion of Christ

I. The religion of Christ is a reign. It is not a creed, or a sentiment, or a ritualism, but a regal force, a power that holds sway over intellect, heart, and will. As a reign it is-

1. Spiritual. Its throne is within.

2. Free.

3. Constant.

II. It is a Divine reign. This is proved by-

1. Its congruity with human nature. It accords with reason, conscience, and the profoundest cravings of the soul.

2. Its influence on human life. It makes men righteous, loving, peaceful, godlike.

III. It is a growing reign. It grows in the individual soul, and in the increase of its subjects.

1. This growth is silent. It does not advance as the reign of human monarchs, by noise and bluster, by social convulsion and bloody wars. It works in the mind and spreads through society, silent as the distilling dew or the morning beam.

2. Gradual.

3. Secret.

IV. Christs religion may be promoted by human agency. Whilst man cannot in nature create the crop, no crop would come without his agency; so Christ has left the extension of His religion to depend in some measure on man.

V. Human effort is founded on confidence in Divine laws. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The kingdom in the heart

I. The first lesson taught us here is, that progress in personal religion is vital and not mechanical (Mar 4:26).

1. The seed contains in itself the germ of all the future growth. Hence, all expectation must actually begin and end with the grain which is sown. If the initial impartation of Divine grace in the truth through the Holy Ghost be not received, it will do no good whatsoever to watch and hope and encourage ourselves. (See Joh 6:65.)

2. The ground develops the germ. The human life and experience which the seed falls into has to be prepared, and, of course, needs to be cultivated; then God sends His celestial benediction of the sunshine and the showers. But the fruit the earth bringeth forth of herself. This union of human fidelity with Divine grace constitutes the cooperation with which the mysterious work goes on. We are to add to our attainments, giving all diligence (2Pe 1:5). We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Php 2:12-13).

3. The man casts the seed. God gives it, and the germ of salvation is in what God gives. But a free-willed man must let it sink into his heart and life. There are means of grace; human beings must put themselves in the way of them. The first step in the new life is displayed in the willingness to take every other step. (See 2Co 3:18, in the New Revision.)

II. Our next lesson from the figure which Christ uses is this: progress in personal religion is constant and not spasmodic. (See verses 26, 27.)

1. Observe here that the growth of the seed is continued through the night and day. One little brilliant touch of imagination does great service in this picture. The man rests; he has done his duty. God, the unseen, is silently keeping His promise. And while we rejoice in the sweet helpful sunshine, and thank Him for it, we ought to thank Him too for these heavy moist nights of gloom, which surprise us often with their darkness, and then surprise us more afterwards with the extraordinary progress they have brought. (See Heb 12:11.)

2. Hence also we observe that even hindrances help sometimes. Those are the hardiest plants which have been oftenest shadowed; and those are the most stable trees which have been oftenest writhed and tossed by the blasts as they blustered around them.

3. So, above everything else, we observe that here we are taught the necessity of trust. No one thing in nature is more pathetically beautiful than the behaviour of certain sensitive plants we all are acquainted with, as the nightfall approaches. They tranquilly fold up their leaves, as if they were living beings, and now knew that from the evening to the morning again they would have to live just by faith in the Supreme Hand which made them. We must make up our minds that there can be never any healthy growth which undertakes to move forward by frantic leaps or spasms of progress. We must trust God; and He neither dwarfs nor forces. Hothouse shoots are proverbially feeble, and almost always it has been found that conservatory oranges are the bitterest sort of fruit.

III. Once more: let us learn from the figure which our Lord uses, that progress in personal religion is spiritual and not conspicuous. The seed grows, but the man knows not how.

1. The man cannot possibly know how. Our Saviour, in another place, gives the full reasons for that (Luk 17:20-21). When He declares the kingdom of God cometh not with observation, He adds at once His sufficient explanation; for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. We are unable to become in any case thoroughly acquainted with each other. We are often mistaken about ourselves. The most we can hope to understand is to be found in grand results, and not in the processes.

2. The man does not need to know how. He needs only to keep growing, and all will be right in the end. Christians are not called knowers, but believers. The old promise is that the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. And the singularity of the palm tree is that it is an inside grower; it is always adding its woody layers underneath the bark, and enlarging itself from the centre out of sight. Botanically speaking, man is endogenous. Our best attainments, like Moses shining face, axe always gained unconsciously, and others see them first.

3. Many men make mistakes in trying to know how. The religious life of a genuine Christian cannot be dealt with from the outside without injury. It is harmed when we attempt to make it showy. You will kill the strongest trees if you seek to keep them varnished. All penances and pilgrimages, all mere rituals and rubrics, all legislations and reforms, are as powerless to save the soul as so many carvings and statues and cornices on the exterior of a house would be to give health to a sick man within. Time is wasted in efforts to help men savingly in any other way than by teaching them to grow up in all things into Christ, which is the head (Eph 4:14-16).

IV. Let us learn, in the fourth place, from the figure our Lord uses, that progress in personal religion is natural and not artistic. (See verse 28.)

1. Our Lord Himself was entirely unconventional.

2. Hence, a conventional religion cannot be Christian. For it is not possible that a man in Christ should be artistic. Fancy forms of devoteeism are simply grotesque.

3. The beauty of holiness will not stand much millinery of adornment. Naturalness is the first element of loveliness.

4. Meantime, let us remember that all Christ seems to desire of His followers is just themselves. Timothy was not set to find some extraordinary attainment, but to stir up the gift which was in him. Jesus praised the misjudged woman because she had done what she could.

V. Finally, we may learn from the figure which our Lord uses, that progress in personal religion is garnered at last, and not lost. (See Mar 4:29.)

1. The fruit is what is wanted. And the gains of the growth are all conserved in the fruit. Growth is for the sake of more fruit. Some might say, The seed that we cast into the ground is quite lost. No; the seed will be found inside of every fruit. Others might say, The increase in size and strength is certainly all lost. No; the increase is ten or a hundred fold inside of the fruit. There is a whole field-full of living germs in the matured fruit of each honest life for God.

2. The harvest fixes the final date of the ingathering. There does not appear to be anything like caprice in Gods plan. He hath made everything beautiful in His time. And in the harvest time, surely, the fields of ripened grain are loveliest.

3. For it is the ripeness of the fruit which announces the harvest. That must be the force here of the fine and welcome word immediately. When the believer is ready to go to his home, the Lord is ready to receive him. (C. S. Robinson.)

Gods work in the kingdom

I. In its beginnings. God permits us to cooperate with Him; but the great work is His. We learn the truth by prayer, and study, and obedience. We make it known. He gives its life. As the farmer can only sow the seed he has obtained, and must depend on the life within it, and the earth which brings forth fruit of herself, so we can only make known the truth we have received, and must trust entirely to God to make it effective.

II. In its growth God advances this new life according to its own laws. We need not be impatient, nor attempt to force unnatural growth, nor dig it up to see if it is growing. But we must make the utmost of our own powers to aid those that are beyond us. As it requires a whole man to make a successful farmer, so all the energies of character, study, and devotion are needed to make a successful sower of the seed of the kingdom.

III. In its perfection. There is a harvest time. God completes the work He has begun in each soul; but He has made us so interdependent that its completion calls for our watchful activity. We are not responsible for the laws of spiritual growth; but we are commanded to be at hand to watch the blade as it appears, to welcome the ear and the full fruit. (A. E. Dunning.)

Human agency likened to a growing plant

I. Mans knowledge and power, in matter and in mind, are small, yet requisite.

II. Natural powers are made to do much for him, but secretly and slowly.

III. He has to wait in patience, and then to take possession. (J. H. Godwin.)

The growth of the spiritual life

I. Spiritual goodness is a growth. It springs and grows up. Cut the stone and carve it, so it remains; cut the tree, lop off its branches, and then it will sprout. Man can impart motion, and make automata, but he cannot give life. The test of real life is growth.

II. Spiritual goodness is an independent growth. Not a hot house plant. Needs no petting. Ministers need not torment themselves about the issue of the work: God gives the increase.

III. Spiritual goodness is a mysterious growth. The law of development is hidden, though real.

IV. Spiritual goodness is a constant growth. Our souls do not rest.

V. Spiritual goodness is a progressive growth. The blade is the mark of tenderness; the ear is the mark of full vigour; the full corn in the ear is the mark of maturity. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

The power of growth inherent in things divine

The husbandman has only two functions with regard to the seed-to sow it, and to reap. All the rest the seed can manage for itself. So in spiritual things, we need only take care that we sow good seed-seed of truth, seed of good example, seed of loving sympathy. We need not too curiously inquire as to the exact attitude of the hearts on which we scatter the seed, nor ask every hour as to the appreciation which the seed receives, nor use a microscope to measure its daily growth, nor keep piling on the simple seed undue efforts to secure its fruitfulness. (R. Glover.)

The seed growing mysteriously

Remarkable correspondence between history of Church and spiritual life of individual Christians. Consider in this connection:

I. The growth and fruitfulness of the Divine Word in the entire history of the Church.

1. The certain growth of the truth through this dispensation. Christianity is always spreading.

2. The orderly development of the truth. Providence continually brings into view long-hidden meanings and applications of the gospel.

3. The mystery of the gospels extension and development. Even the wisest are far from understanding the true reason and mode of its growth.

II. The growth and fruitfulness of the Divine Word in individual lives.

1. They who hear the gospel should consider the consequences of their conduct in relation to it. The honest reception of it is the beginning of a life of holy fruitfulness to the glory of God. The rejection involves a state worse than barrenness.

2. This parable should teach cheerful confidence to all who sow the good seed-ministers, teachers-all who speak a word for Christ. The result is beyond their power or knowledge, but it is sure.

3. It should produce joy in all Christian hearts by the prospect which it opens. The glorious issue of each Christian life. The blessed consummation of the worlds history. The final rejoicing of all who labour in the gospel. Above all, the harvest gladness of the Lord. (E. Heath.)

The kingdoms of grace and glory

These two kingdoms differ not specifically, but gradually; they differ not in nature, but only in degree. The kingdom of grace is nothing but the inchoation or beginning of the kingdom of glory; the kingdom of grace is glory in the seed, and the kingdom of glory is grace in the flower; the kingdom of grace is glory in the daybreak, and the kingdom of glory is grace in the full meridian; the kingdom of grace is glory militant, and the kingdom of glory is grace triumphant. There is such an inseparable connection between these two kingdoms, that there is no passing into the one but by the other. At Athens there were two temples-a temple of virtue and a temple of honour; and there was no going into the temple of honour but through the temple of virtue. So the kingdoms of grace and glory are so joined together, that we cannot go into the kingdom of glory but through the kingdom of grace. Many people aspire after the kingdom of glory, but never look after grace; but these two, which God hath joined together, may not be put asunder. The kingdom of grace leads to the kingdom of glory. (T. Watson.)

The seed in the heart

The ascendency and growth of true religion.

1. External agencies. We are not passive and powerless recipients of heavenly influences; we are required to use diligently all the appliances of the husbandman, leaving the rest to Him who disposes all things. The eye of God marks what becomes of each grain of seed: how one lies disregarded on the surface of the worldly heart, and another sinks no deeper than the first stratum of fitful impulse piety; how the young choke the seed with pleasures, the middle-aged destroy it with worldly ambitions, and the old stifle it with corroding cares; yet, dead as this seed may seem, it springeth up, ay, and will spring up in another world, if not in this, and bear its testimony against all who neglect or despise the message of God.

2. The invisible methods of its succeeding processes. There is no discovering of the subtle law, by which the preaching of the self-same Word becomes powerless here, and effectual there. An unperceived influence is brought to bear on a mans heart, constraining but not compelling him, causing principles and desires and feelings to spring up he knows not how. It is for him to yield to this influence.

3. The certain progressiveness of true religion. No standing still. All religion is a spreading and an advancing thing. God leads on the converted soul step by step; He restores the features of our lost spiritual image little by little; He destroys the dominant passions of the old man one by one; and so leads us on from strength to strength, till in the perfect righteousness of Christ we appear before Him in Zion. To continue babes in Christ, would be like saying that we have the leaven of God within us, and yet that it is not affecting the surrounding mass; that the fire of God is within our hearts, without burning up the dross and stubble; that, aged trees as we are, we put forth nothing but the tender shoot, and patriarchs as we should be in spiritual things, we are but as infants of a day old.

4. The end: the final gathering of the ripe sheaves into the garner of life. Here our progress may be slow; there is an infinitude of holy attainment beyond. (Daniel Moore, M. A.)

The souls restoration is gradual

It is one of the severest trials of our faith, to go on day after day in the same struggle against sin and self; and it is a sore temptation to many-because they do not see any striking proofs of restoration, any rapid growth in grace, any marked progress in the heavenward journey-to doubt whether progress has been made. It is Satan who makes this suggestion to them, to daunt and to destroy; but it is a lie which can deceive those only who forget or distrust their God. The farmer who goes every day to his fields, though he knows that in due season he shall reap, does not notice the development which is going on in his wheat; but they who pass by at longer intervals observe and admire. It is so with the true Christian: he does not see his character change, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation unto him; but, slowly and surely, silently as the sap rises in the trees, as the leaves unroll and the blossom bursts, and lo! the fruit is there; so goes on the restoration of grace-imperceptibly, as the light will soon fade into darkness, or rather, as the morning shineth more and more unto the perfect day. A soul can no more be restored and sanctified for heaven at once, than a tree can bear fruit without the blossom, or a church be restored without cost and toil. Only they who learn to labour and to wait, will have wages from the Lord of the vineyard, when the even of the world is come, and to him that overcometh He shall give the beautiful crown. (S. R. Hole, M. A.)

The patience of hope

I. Do not worry yourself about the growth of grace in others. Do not press too hardly for evidence of growth in your children. Confine your care to the seed you sow, and, calm and hopeful, leave the rest to God.

II. Be not too anxious about the work of grace in your own soul. It grows like the corn; like the corn you cannot see it growing. Take care of your action, and your nature will take care of itself. Harbour no thoughts of despair.

III. Be patient with yourself. Plants that are meant to live long grow slowly. A mushroom grows swiftly, and passes away swiftly. The oak grows slow to stand long. Grace is meant to live forever, and grows, therefore, slowly. Each good act helps it a little, but you cannot trace the help. If God has patience with you, have patience with yourself; and make not your grace less by worrying because it is not more. (R. Glover.)

Spiritual growth

In form and imagery this parable is exquisitely simple; in principle and meaning it is very profound. To be able to put great truths in simple language is a note of true power. Christ was a master of this art. His disciples do not seem to have ever attempted it. The parable was too Divine a thing for them to touch. The idea in this parable is distinct and beautiful. The seed once sown, grows according to its own nature; it has life in itself; and when once fairly deposited in congenial soil, and subjected to the quickening influences of heavenly sunshine and shower, it silently and mysteriously develops the life that is in it, according to the ordinary principles of growth. It has an inherent vitality, a growth power, which springs up we know not how; we only see that it grows. The brown clod of the field is first tinged with virgin green; then covered as with a carpet; then waves, in yielding beauty to the wind, like a summer sea, and rustles in ripening music, like a forest. So is the kingdom of God; the field of the heart, the field of the world, are thus covered with gracious fruit.

I. This great law of spiritual growth is not always recognized, nor are men always contented with it. We are eager for quick results; we have not the patience to wait for the slow development from seed to fruit.

II. But this is Gods plan in all things. He produces nothing by great leaps and transitions; all His great works are quiet processes. Light and darkness melt into each other; the seasons change by gradual transition; all life, vegetable and animal, grows from a germ; and the higher and nobler the type of life, the slower and more gradual is the process of growth. The oak attains to maturity more slowly than the flower; man than the lower animals; the mind than the body; the soul than the mind.

III. Application to the character and course of the Christian life.

1. Its beginning. Only a blade, hardly to be discerned above the soil, or distinguished from common grass. We may often confound the real beginnings of religion with ordinary human virtues.

2. Its progress. We look for the formation of the ear, and for the full corn in the ear. A child of God, always a babe, is a deformity.

3. Its consummation. How fruitful and beautiful it should be, not with the verdant beauty of the blade, but with the golden beauty of the ripe corn. (Henry Allon.)

The blade, the ear, the fall corn

The seed in the ground. The kingdom of God, or religion in the heart, is secret in its beginnings. This is suggested by the parable. A man casts seed into the ground, and then leaves it to Nature-that is, to God. Such is the silence and secrecy of the Divine life in the heart. We have the truth of God as seed. Compared with natural or scientific truth (which yet we would not disparage) it may well be called, as in one of the Psalms, precious seed, and the sowers of it may well go forth weeping-i.e. with intensity of will, with all their sensibilities stirred to the sowing of it; and yet let them know-it is well for us all to know-that a sower can only sow. He cannot decompose the grain. He cannot vitalize the inward germ. He must leave the seed with God. Attempts are made, sometimes, in times of religious revival and excitement, to force the living process, and even to have essential power and action in it; to make it begin at certain times and in certain ways; but the success of these efforts is but small. Very often the result of such intrusive violence is simply this, that Nature is made to look like grace for a little while, only to sink back into Nature again. We are only sowers. We cast the seed into the ground, we sleep and rise night and day. We go about our customary avocations and know nothing for certain of what has become of the seed for a time. By and by we shall know by the appearing of the blade above the soil, by the growing and by the ripening; but at first we knew nothing. The blade.

Not only is there secrecy at the beginning, but even after life is begun the manifestations of it are very slender and even dubious. Life must appear in some way, else we cannot apprehend it. We know life, not in its very substance, but only in its attributes and fruits. The first appearance of life is therefore a time of great interest; we watch it as the farmer watches the blade when it first shows above the soil. It does not then look at all like the corn it ultimately becomes. First the blade. Take it when it is just visible above the soil-tender, pale, hardly green as yet-and compare that with the treasures of the threshing floor. What a difference! and how wonderful it seems that those should come from that! Not only is the first appearance small and slender, but to the unskilled eye it is very dubious and uncertain. Even so! The springing of the precious seed of Divine truth out of the secret soul into the visible life, is known at first often by manifestations very slender and sensitive. The begun life is so feeble that you can hardly say It is there. A flush on the cheek or a gleam of the eye betokens some unusual inward feeling. Something is done, or something is left undone, and that is all! A Bible is kept in the room, and sometimes read in the morning or the evening. A new walk is taken that a certain person may be met, or missed. A letter has a sentence or two with the slightest touch of a new tone in it. Or there is some other faint suggestion of a change of mind and view. And if one should come with a high standard and a strict measuring line he might, of course, say, Is that all? Do you expect that to endure the conflicts and tests of life, and overcome its difficulties? Do you look for golden harvest only out of that? And yet that young, tender, trembling soul will grow in grace, and will be at last as ripe and mellow and ready for the garner as the other. Then the ear.-Gods day of revelation. Everyone knows corn in the ear-all dubiety is over when we look on the ear of corn. In the spike that holds the grain, as in a protective loving embrace, we know, although we do not see it, that the corn is enfolded. And when the spike expands with the force of vegetation, and the seeds of corn appear, no one can deny or doubt their existence. So there is a revealing or declaring time in the spiritual life. Life, hidden beyond the proper time of manifestation, will die. The corn in the ear cannot be preserved; it must grow on, or perish. The full corn in the ear.-The work of grace perfected. As the result of the growing comes the ripening, or what is here called the full corn in the ear. How little there is of man! How much of God! Man throws the seed into the ground, as one might throw a handful of pebbles into the sea! and months afterwards he comes, and carries away, by reaping and harvesting, thirty fold or sixty fold. He throws in one and carries away thirty, as it were direct from the hand of God. It is God who has been working during all these silent months. He never leaves the field. Down beneath the red mould He has His laboratory. He kindles there ten thousand invisible fires. He carries on and completes in unreckonable instances that process of transmutation which is the most wonderful that takes place beneath the sun. He opens in every field ten thousand times ten thousand fountains of life, and out of these living fountains spring the visible forms, blade, and sheath, and ear, and ripened corn. And after God has been thus working, then again comes the man, with his baskets, with his empty garners, and God fills them. Now the chief lesson-the very teaching of the parable-is this: that the human agency is no more in proportion and degree within the kingdom of God than it is in the field of corn. So is the kingdom of God. The spiritual life is as much and as constantly under Gods care as, in the natural world, is the field of growing corn. Indeed, we may say the spiritual life has more of His care. For, while the man has the sowing and the reaping in the natural field, in the spiritual field he has the sowing but not the reaping. The angels are the reapers. Souls ripened for heaven are not reaped by men on the earth. The practical uses of the great truth taught in the parable are such as these. It teaches us a lesson of diligence. We can only sow, therefore let us sow. A lesson of reverence. What wonders are being wrought very near to us in silence! The Spirit of God is striving with human spirits! A lesson of abstinence. Having sown the seed, leave it with God. Think-It has passed now from my care into a more sacred department, and into far higher hands. With Him let me leave it. Finally, a lesson of trust. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)

The different stages in the growth of Christian life

I. Let us attend to the words before us, by observing briefly the stages of Christian life as presented to us by them. A thing of events must have stages; a thing of time must also have its stages; so must all things of growth and advancement Christian life is a thing of events, of time, and of growth; as such, it has its stages of development and maturity.

1. There is the blade stage. Human life, in all its forms, has its blade form and condition, as well as the plant.

(1) It is the first expression of life to human sense. It is not the first stage of life in fact, but it is so in appearance and visible evidence.

(2) The blade is a result of some unseen power behind what appears to sense. The blade is a production, produced by some unseen power of vitality outside itself as to origin and law. Christian life, as well as the blade, is the result of vital power higher and apart from itself.

(3) The blade form is a stage of tenderness. As yet it is not hardened in its fibre, and consolidated in its root. The smallest force can crush it, the faintest blight can destroy it. Its slenderness may have one advantage-there is only a small quantity of the storm that can be brought to bear upon it compared with what would be if it were broader, taller, and more massive.

(4) It is hopeful as to future prospects. As days and nights revolve it will take deeper root, and spread its offshoots on every hand. Its appearance is a promise, and its feebleness, with careful attention to the order of its life, will gain strength and tallness. Take care of the convictions, the aspirations, the promises, and the small expressions of goodness and godliness in life; they are the blades of true and Christian life.

2. Then the ear. This is the middle stage of Christian life.

(1) This shows a life partially developed. It has not reached its intended ultimate end, but has made considerable progress towards it. The dangers which surround the beginning of life are overcome.

(2) It is a life partly consolidated in strength and maturity. It is not so strong as to be out of danger, it is not so complete as to be perfect; yet it is beyond the reach of many of the smaller forces which once threatened its life and growth, and is also in a fair way of reaching the higher perfection which it aspires after.

(3) It is a life of greater testedness than that of the blade. It has stood the test of storms and frosty nights; and in the midst and through them all it has grown, and stands fair for a brighter and richer future still.

(4) It is a life in active progress. It is a life of history. It is a life of experience.

3. The full corn in the ear.

(1) It is a condition of substantial possession. It is not a life of uncertain promise, which may never be fulfilled, but of reality and substance. It is not a matter of outward form, but one of precious value-the ear is full of corn. It is a life of weight, of value and of fitness.

(2) It is a stage of maturity. The organs are fully developed, and the end is fully obtained. It comes up to the expectation of the proprietor.

(3) It is a state of triumph. All inherent weakness has been conquered, and a mature life has been gained. Such a life is worth the aim and effort; it is the end of all agents and means of Gods grace and providence.

4. It is intended to show us a life having answered its right end. The end of all toil and culture was to make it full and rich in the ear; that period has arrived without a failure, and all rejoice in the fact. Such a life is the highest thing possible, for there is nothing better for us than to answer the end of the Divine plan of wisdom and goodness.

II. The progress of Christian life. Divine order is one of progress. Among finite imperfect beings, this is a necessity in law, and a kindness in provision. We are born infants, and we gain strength and knowledge by gradual progression.

1. It is a progress by events. Sometimes there is a discovery made which reveals more in an hour than otherwise in an age. We on a sudden rise to the top of some sunny mountain, and see more by that event than all the travel in the valley below would have shown us all our life-the haziness is removed from the vision in one moment by the relation of events, and we become truer, stronger, and happier, as by the magic of lightning. The peeping of the blade through the earth, the forming of the ear, and the filling of the ear, are events in the plant which show its advancement, as well as being the means of its progress. Birth, in our natural life, is an event of amazing progress; so is the quickening of our moral sentiments in our religious life; and often the reading of a book, the intercourse with a superior friend, or entrance into a school, become the greatest possible events in our mental life. Nature is full of events, so is religion. They break the monotony of life, and give freshness and force to the general and common in existence, so as to make them varied and attractive. Let us not think that they are not of Divine ordination by reason that they are only rare and occasional; they have their class, laws, and work, as much as the common in every days transaction.

2. It is a progress of law and order. Progress is only possible by law; the thing that does not advance by law is a retrogression. We may not be able to understand all in the law of life, but we can follow it, for that is both our duty and privilege alike. The law of progress is within the reach of the babe; by submitting to it he advances into true manhood. It is the fixing of the soul upon high objects, using all means given us for that end, and unyielding perseverance in the application.

3. It is a progress through opposing forces and difficulties. Nothing escapes the opposing powers of life. If the little blade could give us the history of days and nights, oh! what a story of difficulties and dangers would it tell us! Can sinful man expect to advance more easily than the beautiful flower or the innocent blade? Human nature is weedy and thorny, a very uncongenial soil for the seed of life.

4. It is a progress in itself imperceivable in its actual process. The growth of the blade is not seen in itself, it is only seen at different epochs.

5. It is a progress hidden in mystery. We speak of things as if we knew them, whereas we know very little more than their existence and their names. No physiologist can explain all the laws of life and growth in the plant; and it can be no amazement if we know as little in the greater thing of spiritual life in the soul.

6. It is a progress of gradual, slow development. The plant does not reach its maturity in one hour, but it is the growth of different seasons, treatment night and day, weeks and months. Good culture can only bring it forward more rapidly, and produce a better quality; it cannot alter the law of gradual advancement. Slow and gradual development of Christian life in our heart and practice corresponds with our powers to bear and to do. If it were all at once, we could not bear it; also its educational power over our patience and hope would be of little value, as well as the perpetual enjoyment which it throws over the whole period of gradual growth. It is dependent upon our activity, and if we acted more earnestly it would be much faster in growth than it is: but if we acted to the top of our strength, used all means, and failed in nothing, it would be still an advancement by degrees. If we are slow in the climbing, we have time to reflect and gain wisdom as we proceed; if it is gradual and tedious, we get more consolidated in the growth and soil. Let us not be discouraged; this is not an exception in our spiritual life, it is the law in other matters much the same. The organs of our bodies, the powers of our minds, reach their full height and maturity little by little. The great building is reared by slow and gradual advancement, and the tall and broad oak reaches its climax maturity through very slow degrees. We have no reason to be discouraged; law is safe and sure; it is as faithful in the slow process as it is in the event of the faster advancement. We have nothing to fear apart from ourselves; enough for us to know that it will be finished in due time if we fail not to give all diligence to secure the happy result.

III. The conditional laws of Christian life, required in every stage of its advancement and involved even in the fact of its existence.

1. One condition in the life and growth of the plant is, there must be vital seed. No one with experience thinks of planting lifeless particles, for experience and reason unite to proclaim it hopeless and useless. A mere form or appearance of life is not sufficient; it must be real in the heart of the seed to give life to the plant. Christian truth in its right relation is life, and thus planted and cultivated, produces life in the believing mind and heart that receives it.

2. Another condition in the order of law is, there must be a proper soil to receive the seed. To receive the seed of life, there is a fit soil required in our mind, heart, and conscience.

3. Another law in the growth of the plant is the one of means. The plant you must cultivate, or it will decline into feebleness, and will die. You must water its root, remove destructive weeds from communion with it, take away the thing that shades it, and sometimes you must prop it; these are the means of law and life, and you never say they are hard and unreasonable; you think yourself sufficiently rewarded for all in being able to preserve the life of the plant. Think not that spiritual life requires less at your hands than that of the plant.

4. Another law in the advancement of life, both of the plant and Christian, is variety in unity of operation. Before a little plant can live and grow, you must have combination of elements operating in beautiful harmony for the purpose. The wind must blow, the rain must fall; light, heat, and gases must meet in nice equality and harmonious activity. The absence of one would make the process imperfect; even an inequality would impair the total result of the whole. The law applicable to the plant is analogically the same in Christian life. As in the life of the plant, so there are various elements and agencies required to sustain and carry on the process of Christian life to its full beauty and perfection. Light, faith, love, hope, patience, action, communion, perseverance, and sacrifice, must be united in the delicate and important work of the building up of Christian life.

5. Another law in the economy of life is active exercise. Life is an active thing; it is preserved and advanced by unceasing activity. To preserve Christian life in full and healthy vigour, the whole soul must be in full exercise.

6. Another condition I shall just name-something supernatural, and above and behind life, is required for its existence and growth. Life in the plant, as well as in the heart, is incapable of producing itself, and the source of it must be above and independent of the means which produce and sustain it. (T. Hughes.)

What the farm labourers can do and what they cannot do

I. We shall, first, learn from our text what we can do and what we cannot do. So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground: this the gracious worker can do. And the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how: this is what he cannot do: seed once sown is beyond human jurisdiction, and man can neither make it spring nor grow. Notice, then, that we can sow. Any man who has received the knowledge of the grace of God in his heart can teach others. We need never quarrel with God because we cannot do everything, if He only permits us to do this one thing; for sowing the good seed is a work which will need all our wit, our strength, our love, our care. Still, wise sowers discover favourable opportunities for sowing, and gladly seize upon them. This seed should be sown often, for many are the foes of the wheat, and if you repeat not your sowing you may never see a harvest. The seed must be sown everywhere, too, for there are no choice corners of the world that you can afford to let alone, in the hope that they will he self-productive. You may not leave the rich and intelligent under the notion that surely the gospel will be found among them, for it is not so: the pride of life leads them away from God. You may not leave the poor and illiterate, and say, Surely they will of themselves feel their need of Christ. I have heard that Captain Cook, the celebrated circumnavigator, in whatever part of the earth he landed, took with him a little packet of English seeds, and scattered them in suitable places. He mould leave the boat and wander up from the shore. He said nothing, but quietly scattered the seeds wherever he went, so that he belted the world with the flowers and herbs of his native land. Imitate him wherever you go; sow spiritual seed in every place that your foot shall tread upon. Let us now think of what you cannot do. You cannot, after the seed has left your hand, cause it to put forth life. I am sure you cannot make it grow, for you do not know how it grows. The text saith, And the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. That which is beyond the range of our knowledge is certainly beyond the reach of our power. Can you make a seed germinate? Certainly this is true of the rise and progress of the life of God in the heart. It enters the soul and roots itself we know not how. Naturally men hate the Word, but it enters and it changes their hearts, so that they come to love it; yet we know not how. Their whole nature is renewed, so that instead of producing sin it yields repentance, faith, and love; but we know not how. How the Spirit of God deals with the mind of man, how He creates the new heart and the right spirit, how we are begotten again unto a lively hope, we cannot tell.

II. Our second head is like unto the first, and consists of what we can know and what we cannot know. First, what we can know. We can know when we have sown the good seed of the Word that it will grow; for God has promised that it shall do so. Moreover, the earth, which is here the type of the man, bringeth forth fruit of herself. We must mind what we are at in expounding this, for human hearts do not produce faith of themselves; they are as hard rock on which the seed perishes. But it means this-that as the earth under the blessing of the dew and the rain is, by Gods secret working upon it, made to take up and embrace the seed, so the heart of man is made ready to receive and enfold the gospel of Jesus Christ within itself. Mans awakened heart wants exactly what the Word of God supplies. Moved by a divine influence the soul embraces the truth, and is embraced by it, and so the truth lives in the heart, and is quickened by it. Mans love accepts the love of God; mans faith wrought in him by the Spirit of God believes the truth of God; mans hope wrought in him by the Holy Ghost lays hold upon the things revealed, and so the heavenly seed grows in the soil of the soul. The life comes not from you who preach the Word, but it is placed within the Word which you preach by the Holy Spirit. The life is not in your hand, but in the heart which is led to take hold upon the truth by the Spirit of God. Salvation comes not from the personal authority of the preacher, but through the personal conviction, personal faith, and personal love of the hearer. So much as this we may know, and is it not enough for all practical purposes? Still, there is a something which we cannot know, a secret into which we cannot pry. I repeat what I have said before: you cannot look into mens inward parts and see exactly how the truth takes hold upon the heart, or the heart takes hold upon the truth. Many have watched their own feelings till they have become blind with despondency, and others have watched the feelings of the young till they have done them rather harm than good by their rigorous supervision. In Gods work there is more room for faith than for sight. The heavenly seed grows secretly.

III. Thirdly, our text tells us what we may expect if we work for God and what we may not expect. According to this parable we may expect to see fruit. But we may not expect to see all the seed which we sow spring up the moment we sow it. We are also to expect to see the good seed grow, but not always after our fashion. Like children we are apt to be impatient. Your little boy sowed mustard and cress yesterday in his garden. This afternoon Johnny will be turning over the ground to see if the seed is growing. There is no probability that his mustard and cress will come to anything, for he will not let it alone long enough for it to grow. So is it with hasty workers; they must see the result of the gospel directly, or else they distrust the blessed Word. Certain preachers are in such a hurry that they will allow no time for thought, no space for counting the cost, no opportunity for men to consider their ways and turn to the Lord with fall purpose of heart. All other seeds take time to grow, but the seed of the Word must grow before the speakers eyes like magic, or he thinks nothing has been done. Such good brethren are so eager to produce blade and ear there and then, that they roast their seed in the fire of fanaticism, and it perishes. We may expect also to see the seed ripen. Our works will by Gods grace lead up to real faith in those He hath wrought upon by his Word and Spirit; but we must not expect to see it perfect at first. How many mistakes have been made here. Here is a young person under impression, and some good, sound brother talks with the trembling beginner, and asks profound questions. He shakes his experienced head, and knits his furrowed brows. He goes into the cornfield to see how the crops are prospering, and though it is early in the year, he laments that he cannot see an ear of corn; indeed, he perceives nothing but mere grass. I cannot see a trace of corn, says he. No, brother, of course you cannot; for you will not be satisfied with the blade as an evidence of life, but must insist upon seeing everything at full growth at once. If you had looked for the blade you would have found it; and it would have encouraged you. For my own part, I am glad even to perceive a faint desire, a feeble longing, a degree of uneasiness, or a measure of weariness of sin, or a craving after mercy. Will it not be wise for you, also, to allow things to begin at the beginning, and to be satisfied with their being small at the first? See the blade of desire, and then watch for more. Soon you shall see a little more than desire; for there shall be conviction and resolve, and after that a feeble faith, small as a mustard seed, but bound to grow. Do not despise the day of small things.

IV. Under the last head we shall consider what sleep workers may take and what they may not take; for it is said of this sowing man, that he sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed springs and grows up he knoweth not how. But how may a good workman for Christ lawfully go to sleep? I answer, first, he may sleep the sleep of restfulness born of confidence. Also take that sleep of joyful expectancy which leads to a happy waking. Take your rest because you have consciously resigned your work into Gods hands. But do not sleep the sleep of unwatchfulness. A farmer sows his seed, but he does not therefore forget it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

On the analogies which obtain between the natural and the spiritual husbandry

A man may be qualified for practically carrying forward a process, of whose hidden steps and of whose internal workings he is most profoundly ignorant. This is true in manufactures. It is true in the business of agriculture. And it holds eminently true in the business of education. How many are the efficient artizans, for example, in whose hands you may at all times count on a right and prosperous result; but who are utterly in the dark as to the principles of that chemistry in their respective arts by the operation of which the result is arrived at. And how many a ploughman, who knows best how to prepare the ground, and who knows best how to deposit the seed for the object of a coming harvest; and yet, if questioned upon the arcana of physiology, or of those secret and intermediate changes by which the grain in the progress of vegetable growth is transformed into a complete plant ripened and ready for the use of man, would reply, in the language of my text, that he knoweth not how. And, in like manner, there is many a vigorous and successful educationist, who does come at the result of good scholarship, whether in Christianity or in common learning-and that without ever theorizing on the latent and elementary principles of the subject upon which he operates-without so much as casting one glance at the science of metaphysics-a science more inscrutable still than that of physiology; and which, by probing into the mysteries of the human spirit, would fain discover how it is that a truth is first deposited there by communication, and then takes root in the memory, and then warms into an impression, and then forms into a sentiment, and then ripens into a purpose, and then comes out to visible observation in an effect or a deed or a habit of actual performance. There are thousands who, in the language of our text, know not how all this comes about, and yet have, in point of fact and of real business, set the process of it effectively agoing. We cannot afford at present to trace all the analogies which obtain between a plant from the germination of its seed, and a Christian from the infancy of his first principles. We shall, in the first place, confine ourselves to one or two of these analogies; and, secondly, endeavour to show how some of what may be called the larger operations of Christian philanthropy admit of having a certain measure of light thrown upon them, by the comparison which is laid before us in this parable between the work of a teacher and the work of a husbandman.

I. In the agricultural process there is much that is left to be done by nature and in a way that the workman knoweth not how; nor is it at all necessary that he should. He puts forth his hand and sets a mechanism ageing-the principles of which he, with his head, is wholly unable to comprehend. The doing of his part is indispensable, but his knowledge of the way in which Nature doeth her part is not indispensable. Now, it is even so in the work of spiritual husbandry. There is an obvious part of it that is done by the agency of man; and there is a hidden part of it which is independent of that agency. What more settled and reposing than the faith which a husbandman has in the constancy of Nature. He knows not how it is; but, on the strength of a gross and general experience, he knows that so it is. And it were well in a Christian teacher to imitate this confidence. There is in it both the wisdom of experience and the sublime wisdom of piety. But, again, it is the work of the husbandman to cast the seed into the ground. It is not his work to manufacture the seed. This were wholly above him and beyond him. In like manner, to excogitate and to systematize the truths which we are afterwards to deposit in the minds of those who are submitted to our instruction, were a task beyond the faculties of man. These truths, therefore, are provided to his hand. What his eye could not see, nor his ear hear, has been brought within his reach by a communication from heaven; and to him nothing is left but a simple acquiescence in his Bible, and a faithful exposition of it. Our writers upon education may have done something. They may have scattered a few superficial elegancies over the face of society, and taught the lovely daughters of accomplishment how to walk in gracefulness their little hour over a paltry and perishable scene. But it is only in as far as they deal in the truths and lessons of the Bible that they rear any plants for heaven, or can carry forward a single pupil to the bloom and the vigour of immortality. And as we have not to manufacture a seed for the operations of our spiritual husbandry, so neither have we to mend it. It is not fit that the wisdom of God should thus be intermeddled with by the wisdom of man. But again-we do not lose sight of the analogy which there is between the work of a spiritual and that of a natural husbandman-when, after having affirmed the indispensableness of casting into the ground of the human heart the pure and the simple Word, we further affirm the indispensableness and the efficacy of prayer. Even after that, in the business of agriculture, man hath performed his handiwork by depositing the seed in the earth-he should acknowledge the handiwork of God, in those high and hidden processes, whether of the atmosphere above or of the vegetable kingdom below, which he can neither control nor comprehend. By the work of diligence which he does with his hand, he fulfils mans parts of the operation. By the prayer of dependence which arises from his heart, he does homage and recognition to Gods part of it. And we are not to imagine that prayer is without effect, even in the processes of the natural economy. The same God who framed and who organized our great mundane system has never so left it to the play and the impulses of its own mechanism as to have resigned even for one moment that mastery over it which belongs to Him; but He knows when to give that mysterious touch, by which He both answers prayer, and disturbs not the harmony of the universe which He has formed. It is when man aspires upwards after fellowship with God, and looks and longs for the communications of light and of power from the sanctuary-it is then that God looks with loudest complacency upon man, and lets willingly downward all the treasures of grace upon his soul. It is said of Elijah that, when he prayed, the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit.

II. We now come to the second thing proposed, which was to show how some of what may be called the larger operations of Christian philanthropy admit of a certain measure of light being thrown upon them by the comparison made in this parable between the work of a Christian teacher and the work of a husbandman. And first, it may evince to us the efficacy of that Christian teaching, which is sometimes undertaken by men in humble life and of the most ordinary scholarship. Let them have but understanding enough for the great and obvious simplicities of the Bible, and let them have grace enough for devout and depending prayer; and, on the strength of these two properties, they are both wise unto salvation for themselves, and may become the instruments of winning the souls of others also. It is well for the families of our land that the lessons of eternity can fall with effect even from the lips of the cottage patriarch. But this brings us to the last of those analogies between the natural and the spiritual husbandry which we shall at present be able to overtake-an analogy not certainly suggested by the text, but still close enough for the illustration of all which we can now afford to say in defence of those parochial establishments which have done so much, we think, both for the Christianity and the scholarship of our people. A territorial division of the country into parishes, each of which is assigned to at least one minister as the distinct and definite field of his spiritual cultivation-this we have long thought does for Christianity what is often done in agriculture by a system of irrigation. You are aware what is meant by this. Its use is for the conveyance and the distribution of water, that indispensable aliment to all vegetation over the surface of the land. It is thus, for example, that by the establishment of duets of conveyance the waters of the Nile are made to overspread the farms of Egypt-the country through which it passes. This irrigation, you will observe, does not supply the water. It only conveys it. It does not bring down the liquid nourishment from heaven. It only spreads it abroad upon the earth. Were there no descent of water from above, causing the river to overflow its banks, there is nothing in the irrigation, with its then dry and deserted furrows, which could avail the earth that is below. On the other hand, were there no irrigation, many would be the tracts of country that should have no agriculture and could bang no produce. Let not, therefore, our dependence on the Spirit lead us to despise the machinery of a territorial establishment, and neither let our confidence in machinery lead us to neglect prayer for the descent of living water from on high. (Dr. Chalmers.)

Mysterious growth

We little think how much is always going on in what we may call the underground of life; and how much more we have to do with those secret processes which underlie everything, than might, at first sight, appear. We are all casting live seeds. Every word, act, look, goes down into somebodys mind, and lives there. You said something-it was false. You said it lightly. But someone heard it, and it lodged in his mind; it was a seed to him. It found something in that mans mind that was congenial to it; and so it struck a root; it ramified; it fructified. It led on to other thoughts; then it became a word or an action in that mans life; and his word and act did to another heart just what yours did to him. This is the dark side of a grand truth. Now read the bright side. So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed, etc. The sower of this seed is properly the Lord Jesus Christ; but He uses men. The truth in a mans heart propagates-but secretly. We are to believe in the independent power that there is in Gods Word to do its own work in a mans heart. There is something kindred between a particular word and some affection or thought in a mans mind before it can take effect. Perhaps the word will incline a man to give up some sin he has previously indulged; may awaken a sense of dissatisfaction with the world; may beget a painful sense of sin. However it be, there will be a great deal passing in the mind which does not meet the eye. Fathers and mothers, who have cast the early seed, you have slept for very sorrow. You see nothing. Wait on. The springing and the growing will be you know not where, and you know not how. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

The seed growing secretly

1. God does His work silently.

2. God does His work slowly.

3. God does His work surely Underneath all apparent disasters His kingdom comes.

I. In expounding this parable observe that this law of God supposes human effort.

II. It supposes human confidence quite as much as human effort. (W. G. Barrett.)

Progressive religion

I. God carries on His work of grace by the instrumentality of men-As if a man should cast seed.

II. This work of grace is often for some time unperceived. Thus the seed of Divine grace sown in the heart is frequently there when not discerned. It is often concealed owing to the gradual and imperceptible manner in which it is produced; by the privacy of a mans situation, and because of the natural timidity of his temper. It should excite the prayer, Let Thy work appear unto Thy servant, etc.

III. Where this work of grace exists it must sooner or later appear-Springeth and groweth up.

IV. It is gradual in its growth-First the blade, etc. For some time knowledge, faith, love, hope, joy, are small and feeble. But gradually the believer gathers strength. He grows in knowledge and hatred of sin. But let not the weakest be discouraged; the tenderness of Jesus is a strong consolation.

V. The work of grace is beneficial in its present effects-When the fruit is brought forth. The fruit of piety towards God and of usefulness to men.

VI. This work of grace is glorious in its final result-Immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. The gathering of saints to heaven is Gods harvest. The value which God attaches to His own people, and the tender care which He exercises over them. When this work is done they are gathered into heaven.

1. Has the Word of God been sown in your hearts? You have it in your Bibles, but have you received it?

2. You that seem to receive the Word, what evidence have you of its growth?

3. What prospect have you of this glorious result? (T. Kidd.)

Changes incident to Christian growth

1. The law of growth is one of the necessary laws of life. All life must be actually growing.

2. That growth in Christian life involves change. Our views of God may be expected to change and grow; of the relationship between God and Christ; of the relative importance and the proportions of different doctrines; our views of Gods Word will change. But as these changes pass over the growing Christian he is often greatly distressed. Be humble, but do not fear. Some of the changes incident to Christian growth will affect our views, of religious duties and the religious life. As we grow we form a different estimate of the active and passive, of the working and waiting. (R. Tuck, B. A.)

Growth through change

And this is the peculiarity of growth in animal life-it is growth through change. Think of the silkworm. It is first a little egg; within it life is developing; presently the worm comes creeping forth; again and again it casts its skin, changing until it passes into a state like death, changing once more into a winged form, full of beauty. These growings by change have been illustrated from the peculiarities of the ride by railway into the City of Edinburgh. Sometimes the train passes through fiat, well-populated country. Sometimes it hurries through the busy towns, over which the dark smoke hangs. Sometimes it passes amid the hills, up winding valleys, and along the murmuring shores, and the travellers are enchanted with varying scenes of natural beauty, presently it nears its destination, and rushes screaming into the dark tunnel, which shuts out all light and beauty. That is the last change, and soon it comes forth into the North Loch, and all the full glory of that city of monuments and mansions breaks upon the view. Ever advancing, through changings and growings, we, too, shall come through the valley of the shadow to the city of the great King, and the full glory of holiness and the smile of God. (R. Tuck, B. A.)

Soul life and growth imperceptible

When a man is building a house he can see it as it goes on. That is an outside matter. There is seam after seam, row after row of stone or brick. Gradually the form of the window or the door rises. The second story, the third story, the building up to the roof appears. He can see it day by day. A man goes into his garden and plants, for spring, the early lettuce, or radish, or whatever it may be. He may sit up all night with spectacles and a lantern, but he will not see anything going on; and yet there is something going on which is vitally connected with the whole operation of vegetable development. The seed has not been in the ground an hour before it feels its outward husk swelling by imbibing moisture. It has not been for ten hours in the warm soil before it begins to feel that the material in the seed itself is chemically affected, changed. Many a seed has not been twenty-four hours in the ground before there is an impulse in it at one end to thrust down a root, and at the other end to thrust up a plumule, or the beginning of a visible stalk; but it makes no noise. It is like Solomons Temple; it is a structure that is built without the sound of a hammer; and whatever it may come to, all the earlier processes of germination and development are invisible and are silent; for if you take it out into the light it will not grow. The seed needs warmth, moisture, and luminous darkness-that is to say, considerable darkness, and yet a little invisible light. So it is with the spiritual life. (H. W. Beecher.)

Christian life long invisible

I knew a young man in Boston, whose father was rich. He had genius, particularly in the formative, sculptural art; and his amusement was in making busts and little clay statues. One lucky day, the father lost all his property, and the young man was thrown out of business, and had to work for his own livelihood. He had already made the busts of friends, and when the motives to indolence were taken away from him, when the golden chair was broken, and he had to get up and go to work, he said to himself, What can I do for a living better than this? Well, he has come to the artist state already, unconsciously, not expecting to be a professional artist, simply following his taste; but the moment he puts out his sign, showing that he would like to have custom for the sake of self-support, then everybody says, He has become an artist. He has been an artist a good while, but it is just being developed before the public. The roots of the thing were in him long ago. (H. W. Beecher.)

Moral changes sometimes unconsciously wrought

When I travelled in Italy I knew the line between Italy and Austria. We all had to go out and have our trunks examined and our passports vised. We were all of us hurried out suspiciously, as if we were contrabands. Then we went over, and I knew I was in Austria. But in America you can go from one State to another, as there is no Custom House, thank God, on the lines; as there are no passports required; as there is nothing to interrupt the journey. You glide into the State of New York from Connecticut, from New York into Pennsylvania, and from Pennsylvania into Ohio, and you do not think you have made any change in the State, though you have really. You bring a person up in Christian nurture, and in the admonition of the Lord, in the household, and he is gaining more light; he is adapting the light which he has; and he comes into that state of mind in which all he wants in order to realize that he is a Christian is to wake up into consciousness. (H. W. Beecher.)

The helplessness of the spiritual husbandman

We have in this a most simple, yet striking, representation of the business and, at the same time, of the helplessness of the spiritual husbandman. Unto the ministers of the gospel, who are the great moral labourers in the field of the world, there is entrusted the task of preparing the soil and of casting in the seed. And if they bring to this task all the fidelity and all the diligence of intent and single-eyed labourers; if they strive to make ready the ground by leading men to clear away the weeds of an unrighteous practice, and to apply the spade and ploughshare of a resistance to evil, and a striving after good; and if, then, by a faithful publication of the grand truths of the gospel, they throw in the seed of the Word, they have reached the boundary of their office and also of their strength; and are to the full as powerless to the making the seed germinate, and send forth a harvest, as the husbandman to the causing the valleys to stand thick with corn. And indeed, in the spiritual agriculture, the power of the husbandman is even more circumscribed than in the natural. With all the pains with which a minister of Christ may ply at the duties of his office, he can never be sure that the ground is fit for receiving the grain: he must just do always, what the tiller of the natural soil is never reduced to do, run the risk of casting the seed upon the rock, or of leaving it to be devoured by the fowls of the air. (H. Melvill.)

Seed growing though unrecognized

Ministers require to be very cautious in judging as to the influence of the truth among their hearers. Amidst much that is externally unfavourable, and even hostile, that truth may be operating, producing conviction, checking long-cherished sins, and subduing the pride of the corrupt heart. It is a very agreeable and self-flattering thing for a man to say that because religion does not manifest itself in other men in the same way it does in him, therefore these people have no religion. This is very common, and is in reality but a branch of that master sin of intolerance, which has so often been crushing all the charities of our nature; and even amidst the solemnity of devotional exercises, despising and invading the conventional decencies of life. Often, when we do not see it, religion is at work; often, when we never suspected it, it has made considerable progress. Its influence is sweet, makes no noise, and has no ostentatious signs. We must not forget the mistake of Elijah, a mistake into which ministers and others have not unfrequently fallen. When he supposed himself to stand alone the defender of the truth, there were seven thousand in Israel doing daily homage to it. If he had been told seventy, it would have been remarkable-if seven hundred, more so; but seven thousand was altogether astonishing. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. In obscure places, in noiseless retirements, and without one arresting sign, the truth takes effect. The minister is not thinking of it. The very members of the family are not thinking of it. Daily companions and friends are not thinking of it. There is no profession, no controversy, no street shouts, no exclusiveness, no badges of partizanship; but nevertheless, on the unseen arena of thought, the truth is establishing its power, achieving its triumphs, subduing desire after desire, purpose after purpose, and will at last yield peace and joy unspeakable. (Archibald Bennie.)

Growth unexplained

Who shall scrutinize the agency by which the Word is applied to the conscience? Who shall explain how, after weeks, it may be, or months, or years, during which the seed has been buried, there will often unexpectedly come a moment when the preached Word shall rise up in the memory, and a single text, long ago heard, and to all appearance forgotten, overspread the soul with the big thoughts of eternity? It is a mystery which far transcends all our powers of investigation, how spirit acts upon spirit, so that whilst there are no outward tokens of an applied machinery, there is going on a mighty operation, even the effecting a moral achievement which far surpasses the stretch of all finite ability. We are so accustomed to that change which takes place in a sinners conversion that we do not ascribe to it in right measure its characteristic of wonderful. Yet wonderful, most wonderful it is-wonderful in the secrecy of the process, wonderful in the nature of the result! I can understand a change wrought on matter; I have no difficulty in perceiving that the same substance may be presented in quite a different aspect, and that mechanical and chemical power may make it pass through a long series of transformations; but where is the mechanism which shall root from the heart the love of sin? where the chemistry which shall so sublimate the affections, that they will mount towards God? It is the eternal revolution which I have no power of scrutinizing, except in its effect. (H. Melvill.)

Seed never idle

Though it is very slow and imperceptible in its growth, still the seed never really lies idle. From the moment of its first start to its final ripening, it is always on its way; it never once stops, far less does it ever go backward. It can never return into the blade out of which it originally sprang; it cannot even stand for long together without exhibiting decided signs of its growth. Now and then, perhaps, the weather may be very much against it, still it keeps waiting for the first favourable change; and as soon as ever this appears, it takes immediate advantage of it, and starts forward again on its way. And so, too, it is with the good seed in the heart. Trials and temptations may check its growth there for a while; but it is only for a while; and at the first removals or lessening of these, it again goes on its way as before. It never goes back any more than the ear goes back into the blade out of which it has sprung. It has but one way of growing, and that is heavenwards. (H. Harris.)

Growth of seed mysterious

In saying that the seed groweth up we know not how, the mysterious nature and working of grace is hinted at. It is not regulated by natural laws, though they afford many illustrative analogies. It cannot be reduced to a science, like agriculture or mechanics. There is no philosophy of the Holy Ghost. Regeneration is not the result of any forces which human reason defines and gauges, much less controls; and the Divine life which is breathed into the soul by the mysterious visitation of the Spirit, blowing like the wind, of which we cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth, is afterwards maintained by supernatural supplies from the same invisible source, and is hid with Christ in God. (Josiah D. Smith.)

The truth is Gods seed

The one great consideration to be kept in view is, that the truth is Gods seed. It is no theory or set of maxims of mans devising-adapted in the short-sighted calculations of human reason to certain ends; but it is Gods selected instrument, and in that very fact we have at once obligation and encouragement to use it. That moral world where its effects are produced is His, as well as the firmament of heaven, or the green fields of the earth-naked to His eye, and subject to His control. He has adapted it to the end which He has in view-He who poised the stars in their spheres, and so skilfully adjusted the exquisite mechanism of man, beast, and bird. Besides, he has annexed a Divine, ever-active, ever-present agency to the use of it. It is not left to force its way amidst obstructions; but, while Providence often appears to pioneer its way into the hearts of men, that gracious Spirit which moved of old on the face of the waters, goes forth with it, gives to its brief sentences the power of thunder, and to its appeals the withering force of the lightning flash, and makes it to revolutionize and transform the whole inner world of thought and desire. Hence the rapid and extraordinary triumphs with which it has glorified the annals of the Church; the temples of idolatry shaken to their foundations; ancient prejudices melted like wax; proud passions crushed and eradicated; superstition, pleasure, philosophy, all put to flight. The power of opinion is not unfrequently greatly extolled, and it is wonderful. A single truth, clearly announced, troubles a continent. A small thought goes forth from one mans breast, and achieves victories denied to armed hosts and costly expeditions. But all the triumphs of opinion are a mere trifle compared with the triumphs of the truth of God; truth, whose banners have been planted upon the domes of heathen temples, bare waved above the ruins of thrones, and have been borne in bloodless fame to the ends of the earth. This is the true seed, of which the harvest is eternal life. (Archibald Bennie.)

Conversion gradual

Is there not a great deal too much anxiety to recognize in conversion something sudden and surprising, some word or thing arresting or transfixing the soul? It is possible by electricity to make seeds suddenly germinate and prematurely grow, but this is not healthy, fruitful life. People want something like this in conversion; they can hardly believe in a new life unless it begins thus. Conviction must come like lightning-a blaze in the midst of a great darkness. Is it not better to come like sunlight-a gradual, illuminating, diffusive thing? If it do come like lightning, let us be thankful that God does so break in upon the darkness of our day. Hardened, immoral men are sometimes thus smitten to the earth. More commonly and more naturally it comes like light shining more and more unto the perfect day. The pious nurture of infancy and childhood deepening the religious heart, and developing the religious life-first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. But let it begin as it may, the process is one of continuous growth, innocence maturing into holiness, passion deepening into principle, struggle developing strength, laborious act becomes easy habit; a gracious mellowing influence permeating and glorifying the entire life; the life of the soul growing, not as a fragile succulent gourd, but as a close-grained tree, every day and every experience adding growth and strength. (H. Allen.)

The order of growth

Not only does the corn always go on growing, but it always observes the same order and succession in its growth; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. This is an order which is never reversed or altered; it is always the full corn in the ear which is the last to show itself. And so it is with the heart. First, it is always repentance and sorrow for sin; then, faith in Jesus Christ; then, without losing these, any more than the grain loses the protection of the blade and the ear, it goes on to holiness of life, and a sure hope in Gods promises; and last of all to love, love the ripened corn, the fulfilling of the ear. (H. Harris.)

Hope in spite of sight

This is a parable of hope. It teaches us to be hopeful when nothing hopeful is seen. The earth which seems the grave is really the cradle of the seed, and its death is its life. Except it fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. It is Gods seed, it suits the soil, the sunshine and the shower favour it, ever so many mysteries too great for me to grasp are on its side, and God has promised the harvest. Why lose heart then? The reaping time shall come by and by. What though it seems unlikely? Look at that bare, brown field in spring. What more unlikely than that it shall wave with golden grain? Every harvest is a perfect miracle. You see a foolish, wicked boy, into whose heart a praying mother has dropped the good seed. All seems lost; but wait, and he becomes a great Christian like John Newton, like thousands whose biographies are the best commentaries upon this parable. (J. Wells, M. A.)

The young convert

There is first the convert in the young days of his godliness-the green blades just breaking through the soil, and giving witness to the germination of the seed. This is ordinarily a season of great promise. We have not, and we look not for the rich fruit of a matured, well-disciplined piety, but we have the glow of verdant profession-everything looks fresh. The young believer scarcely calculates on any interruption, and as though there were no blighting winds, and no nipping frosts, and no sweeping hail to be expected, in the spiritual agriculture, the tender shoot rises from the ground, and glistens in the sunshine. (H. Melvill.)

The anxieties of growth in the ear

Next comes the ear; and this is a season of weariness and of watching. Sometimes there will be long intervals without any perceptible growth; sometimes the corn will look sickly, as though blasted by the mildew; sometimes the storm will rush over it, and almost level it with the earth. All this takes place in the experience of the Christian. The spiritual husbandman and the natural know the like anxieties in observing the ear of which they have sown the seed. How slow is sometimes the growth in grace! how slight are the tokens of life! how yellow and how drooping the corn! The sudden gust of temptation, the fatal blight of worldly association, the corroding worm of indwelling corruption,-all these may tell powerfully and perniciously on the rising crop, and cause that often there shall scarcely seem reason to hope that any fruit will eventually be yielded. Who would recognize in the lukewarm, the half-and-half professor, the ardent, the active, and resolute convert? Who would know, in the stunted shrivelled ear, the green blade which had come up like an emerald shoot? We do not indeed say, that in every case there will be these various interruptions and declensions. You may find instances wherein godliness grows uniformly, and piety advances steadily, and even rapidly, towards perfection. The Christian will sometimes ripen for heaven, as though, in place of being exposed to cold air, and wind, and rain, he had been treated as an exotic, and had always been kept under shelter. But, generally, even with those who maintain the most consistent profession, the Christian life is the scene of anxiety and uncertainty; and if it were not that there are gracious promises assuring them that the bruised reed shall not be broken, nor the smoking flax quenched, often must the spiritual husbandman mourn bitterly over the apparent disappointment of all his best hopes, and surrender himself to the fear, that when the great day of harvest breaks on this creation, the field which had once worn that lovely enamel which gave such promise of an abundant ingathering, will yield nothing to the reaper but the dry and parched stalks, fit only to be bound in bundles for the burning. (H. Melvill.)

Suffering Christians spared: Immediately he putteth in the sickle

We must dwell a moment longer upon this; it is a matter full of interest and instruction. It seems often, as we have said, to excite surprise both in the sufferer himself and in others, when a Christian, who has long been eminent for piety, and whose faith had been conspicuous in his works, lingers for months, perhaps even years, in wearisome sickness, as though, notwithstanding the preparation of a righteous life, he needed protracted trial to fit him for the presence of God. But there is, we believe, altogether a mistake in the view which is commonly taken of old age and lingering sickness. Because a man is confined to his room or his bed, the idea seems to be that he is altogether useless. In the ordinary phrase, he is quite laid by, as though he had no duties to perform when he could no longer perform those of more active life. Was there ever a greater mistake? The sick room, the sick bed, has its special, its appropriate duties, duties to the full as difficult, as honourable, as remunerative, as any which devolve on the Christian whilst yet in his unbroken strength. They are not precisely the same duties as belong to him in health, but they differ only by such difference as a change in outward circumstances and position will always introduce. The piety which he has to cultivate, the resignation which he has to exhibit, the faith which he has to exercise, the example which he has to set-oh, talk not of the sick man as of a man laid by! Harder duties, it may be, ay, deeds of more extensive usefulness, are required from him who lingers on the couch, than from the man of health in the highest and most laborious of Christian undertakings. Is there, then, any cause for surprise if a Christian be left to linger in sickness, to wear away tedious months in racking pain and slow decay? Is it at all in contradiction to the saying that so soon as the fruit is ripe, immediately he putteth in the sickle? Not so! The fruit is not necessarily ripe; the mans work is not necessarily done, because he is what you call laid by, and can take no part in the weightier bustle of life. It is they who turn many to righteousness that are to shine as stars in the firmament; and is there no sermon from the sick bed? Has the sick bed nothing to do with publishing and adorning the gospel? Yea, I think, then, an awful and perilous trust is committed to the sick Christian-friends, children, neighbours, the church at large, look to him for some practical exhibition of the worth of Christianity. If he be fretful, or impatient, or full of doubts and fears, they will say-Is this all that the gospel can do for a man in a season of extremity? If, on the other hand, he be meek and resigned, and able to testify to Gods faithfulness to his word, they will be taught-and nothing teaches like example-that Christianity can make good its pretensions; that it is a sustaining, an elevating, a death-conquering religion. And who shall calculate what may be wrought through such practical exhibitions of the power and preciousness of the gospel? I, for one, will not dare to affirm that more is done towards converting the careless, confirming the wavering, and comforting the desponding, by the bold champions who labour publicly in the making Christ known; than by many a worn-down invalid, who preaches to a household or a neighbourhood by simple unquestioning dependence on God: I, for one, can believe that he who dies the death of trial, passing almost visibly, whilst yet in the exercise of every energy, from a high post of usefulness to the kingdom of glory, may have fewer at the judgment to witness to the success of his labours, than many a bedridden Christian, who, by a beautiful submission, waited, year after year, his summons to depart. (H. Melvill.)

Originality in character

We observe the sacredness of individual character-of originality. It bears fruit of itself in its own individual development. The process is never exactly repeated. Life is no mechanical thing. It is everywhere alike, yet different. Count the leaves and grains, measure the height of the trees, examine the leaves of an oak. So in the Christian life. No two men think the same, or believe the same. It is always so in the highest life, and in national character. There is ever a beautiful diversity. (F. W. Robertson.)

Life expansion

Real life is that which has in it a principle of expansion. It springs and grows up. Moreover, it is not only growth, but tendency ever towards a higher life. Life has innate energy, and will unfold itself according to the law of its own being. Its law is progress towards its own possible completeness: such completeness as its nature admits of. By this we distinguish real life from seeming life. As you cut the stone and carve it, so it remains. But cut a tree; lop off its branches, strip it; it will shoot and sprout. Only deadness remains unaltered. Trees in winter all seem alike. Spring detects life. Man can impart motion, and make automatons. Growth and power he cannot give. This is the principle of all life. And in the higher life especially there is not only expansion but progress. The limpet on the rock only increases in volume. The plant develops into the flower. The insect develops from the egg into the caterpillar, grows, spins itself a coffin, and becomes hard and shelly. But the life goes on, and it emerges a brilliant butterfly. (F. W. Robertson.)

Hardihood of character

Real life is that which has individual, independent energy: it bears fruit of itself. Observe its hardihood. It needs no petting. It is no hot house plant. Let the wild winds of heaven blow upon it, with frost, scorching sun, and storms. Religion is not for a cloister, but for life, real hardy life. Observe Christs religion, and compare it with the fanciful religion of cloistered men. Religious books which speak of fastidious, retiring, feeble delicacy. The best Christianity grows up in exposure. The life of Christ Himself is an illustration of this. So too that of the apostles in the world, and that of a Christian in the army. Again, it can be left to itself safely. It will grow. Ministers need not torment themselves about the issue of their work, for God gives the increase. It can be left: for it is God in the soul. When once the farmer has sown, he can do little more except weed. (F. W. Robertson.)

The ear

The ear. Marked by vigour and beauty. Vigour: erect, with decision, fixed principles, and views. Beauty. Describe the flowering petals, etc. Solemn season. What remiss! What thoughtfulness. Yet blight is more frequent now-prostration. (F. W. Robertson.)

Moral ripeness

Full corn in the ear. Marked by maturity and ripeness. It has no further stage of development on earth. It must die and sprout again. But its present work is done. What is ripeness? Completeness, all powers equally cultivated. It is the completion of the principles, feelings, and tempers. This period is also marked by humility and by joy. By humility; the head hangs gracefully down in token of ripeness; always so with men of great attainments. I am but a little child, said Newton, picking up pebbles on the shore of the vast ocean of truth. By joy; the happy aspect of waving corn! But its beauty is chiefly felt by the thoughtful man. It is the calm deep joy of the harvest being safe, and famine impossible. The food of a nation waves before him. (F. W. Robertson.)

Growth in the natural and in the spiritual world

The analogy between growth in the natural world and growth in the spiritual world must be maintained in its integrity, with regard at once to spontaneity, slowness, and gradation. Growth in the spiritual world as in the natural is spontaneous, in the sense that it is subject to definite laws of the spirit over which mans will has small control. The fact is one to be recognized with humility and thankfulness. With humility, for it teaches dependence on God; a habit of mind which brings along with it prayerfulness, and which, as honouring to God, is more likely to insure ultimate success than a self-reliant zeal. With thankfulness, for it relieves the heart of the too heavy burden of an undefined, unlimited responsibility, and makes it possible for the minister of the Word to do his work cheerfully, in the morning sowing the seed, in the evening withholding not his hand; then retiring to rest to enjoy the sound sleep of the labouring man, while the seed sown springs and grows apace, he knoweth not how. Growth in the spiritual world, as in the natural, is, further, a process which demands time and gives ample occasion for the exercise of patience. Time must elapse even between the sowing and the brairding; a fact to be laid to heart by parents and teachers, lest they commit the folly of insisting on seeing the blade at once, to the probable spiritual hurt of the young intrusted to their care. Much longer time must elapse between the brairding and the ripening. That a speedy sanctification is impossible we do not affirm; but it is, we believe, so exceptional that it may be left altogether out of account in discussing the theory of Christian experience. Once more, growth in the spiritual world, as in the natural, is graduated; in that region as in this there is a blade, a green ear, and a ripe ear. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)

Imperceptible growth

You tell your child that this pine tree out here in the sandy field is one day going to be as large as that great sonorous pine that sings to every wind in the wood. The child, incredulous, determines to watch and see whether the field pine really does grow and become as large as you say it will. So, the next morning, he goes out and takes a look at it, and comes back and says, It has not grown a bit. The next week he goes out and looks at it again, and comes back and says, It has not grown yet. Father said it would be as large as the pine tree in the wood, but I do not see any likelihood of its becoming so. How long did it take the pine tree in the wood to grow? Two hundred years. Then men who lived when it began to grow have been buried, and generations besides have come and gone since then. And do you suppose that Gods kingdom is going to grow so that you can look at it, and see that it has grown during any particular day? You cannot see it grow. All around you are things that are growing, but that you cannot see grow. And if it is so with trees, and things that spring out of the ground, how much more is it so with the kingdom of God? That kingdom is advancing surely, though it advances slowly, and though it is invisible to us You cannot see it, even if you watch for it; but there it is; and if, after a while, you go and look at it, you will be convinced that it has been advancing, by the results produced. You will find that things have been done, though you could not see them done. Men are becoming better the world over, though you cannot trace the process by which they are becoming better. Christs kingdom goes forward from age to age, though you cannot discern the steps by which it is going forward. While men, as individuals, pass off from the stage of life, Gods work does not stop. (H. W. Beecher.)

The law of growth in the kingdom of God

I. In the first place, we shall see that we ought never to be discouraged in a true Christian work, of whatever kind, by what seems a slow growth.

II. We may see that we are never to be discouraged in our efforts for Christs kingdom by adverse circumstances; nor by any unexpected combination of these, and their prolonged operation.

III. Let us remember that good influences are linked to good issues in this world, as the seed to its fruitage; and that so every effort for the good of mankind, through the kingdom of Christ, shall have its meet result.

IV. Let us remember, too, as a thing which illustrates all the rest, that God is within and behind all forces that tend to enlarge and perfect His kingdom, as He is beneath the physical forces which bring harvest in its season, and set on the springing seed its coronal. He never forsakes a true work for Himself, and is certain to carry it to ultimate success.

V. Let us remember what the glory of the harvest shall be in this developing kingdom of God; and in view of that let us constantly labour with more than fidelity, with an eager enthusiasm that surpasses all obstacles, makes duty a privilege, and transmutes toil into joy! (R. S. Storrs, D. D.)

The unfolding seed

What a wonderful thing is the germination of a seed! What scalpel so keen as to lay bare, what microscope so searching as to detect, that subtle force hidden in the elementary initial cell, which we vaguely call the principle of life? Yet there it is, lying in solemn mystery, ready to burst forth into vigour whenever the conditions of life are fulfilled. To the thoughtful man there is something inexpressively marvellous in this quickening of the seed. This is why botany is a more wonderful science than astronomy, the violet a sublimer thing than Alcyone. All that the scientist can do is to trace sequences; he cannot explain the initial force. He can describe the plant; he cannot expound the plant. The seed springeth up and groweth, he knoweth not how. If he could explain it, he would be a philosopher indeed. In this particular, at least, the parable in Mar 4:26-29 is fitly styled, The parable of the seed growing secretly. Again: Not the least wonderful of the phenomena of plant growth is this: it is, at least apparently, automatic. The earth yieldeth fruit of herself. It is the echo of the divine dixit on the third day of the creative week: Let the earth bring forth plants; and the earth brought forth plants. Not that the soil is the source of vegetation-it is only the sphere of vegetation; not that the soil is the sire of the plant-it is only, so to speak, the matrix of the plant. Nevertheless, so far as appearances go, it does seem as though the soil were a thing of life, bringing forth fruit of herself. There lies the seed buried in the ground. It needs no one to come and touch its pent-up potentialities. It springs up independently of man. True, it is for man to plant the seed, and supply conditions of growth. But it is not for man to cause the seed to germinate or to fructify. The process, so far as man is concerned, is strictly automatic. Verily, the plant does seem to be a living person, self-conscious and self-regulating. But the processes of vegetation are not only mysterious and automatic, they are also gradual. The kernel does not become the full corn in the ear in an instant. In the case of cereals, months intervene between the sowing and the reaping; in the case of fruit trees, years intervene between the planting and the gathering. Nature, at least in the sphere of life and growth, does nothing by leaps. The processes of vegetation are also as orderly as they are gradual. They follow each other in due and regular succession: first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the car. The kernel does not become the plump golden corn except by way of the blade. And all these processes issue in fruit. The harvest is but the unfolded seed, unfolding in orderly succession along the axis of growth; and the axis has as its purpose fruit. It is the very nature of the growth, the very law of the seed, to unfold and culminate in crop. And now our farmer comes again into view. Having sown the seed, he went away, confidently leaving it to its own inherent forces. But now that the fruit has ripened, he reappears, and, putting in his sickle, he shouts: Harvest home! Such is the parable of the unfolding seed. And now let us ponder the meaning of the parable. In other words, let us trace some of the analogies between the unfolding seed and the unfolding kingdom of God and Christianity.

I. The growth of Christianity is mysterious. As the seed springs up and grows, we know not how, so it is with the kingdom of God. Take, for example, the very beginning of Christianity, the miraculous conception in Nazareth. Who is there that can understand it? Incomparably more mysterious is it than the germination of any seed. Or take the problem of the growth of Christianity-I mean the genuine, original Christianity, truth as it is in Jesus. Once, like a grain of mustard seed, it was the smallest of seeds; but now it has become the largest of herbs, overshadowing with its blessed canopy that tallest portion of the world which we fondly call Christendom. But how came it thus to spread? Because the doctrine of the cross has been preached. And the doctrine of the cross is to the wise men of this world, in an eminent sense, foolishness. Who will explain this mystery, namely, that the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man, the weakness of God stronger than the strength of men? How elaborately the solution of this problem has been undertaken, and how wretched the failure, is strikingly seen in the famous fifteenth chapter of Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Or take the growth of Christianity in the case of any individual soul. How secret and underground is the process! How subtle the workings of the Divine life within! The Christian is a mystery even to himself. His life is a life hid with Christ in God.

II. Again: As the seed grows automatically, the earth yielding fruit of herself, so grows the kingdom of God. Christianity is in its own inherent nature self-vital and self-evolving. See how like a thing of life it is. Behold its wondrously absorbing power, subsidizing to its own purposes, and assimilating into its own growing structure, whatever there is of worth in learning, or wealth or influence, or statesmanship, or sect, or providences.

III. The kingdom of God, like the seed which grows gradually, stage by stage, does not burst forth full-grown, like panoplied Minerva from the cloven brow of Jove. See how slow has been the growth of Christendom, taken as a matter of geography. Nearly two millenniums have rolled away since the heavenly Sower declared that His field was the world; and yet by far the larger part of that field is still heathen, never as yet sown with the heavenly seed. Again: See how gradual has been the growth in respect to the moral character of Christendom. More than eighteen centuries have swept away since the Lord of the kingdom pronounced His Beatitudes, and yet there are still in His Church the proud, and the censorious, and the avaricious, and the quarrelsome, and the revengeful. Nevertheless, for let us be just, there has been real growth. We have seen idolatry shaken, slavery abolished, intemperance checked, monopoly curbed, woman emancipated, brotherhood asserted, war preparing to go into perpetual exile. But how tedious has been the growth. In like manner, how slow is the growth in the case of each individual Christian. How slow this unfolding along the axis of Christs character! In this is seen the immense advantage of early piety, for it takes a long, long time to unfold into the full-grown man, even the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

IV. Just as the seed does not leap instantly or whimsically into the fruit, but unfolds itself in orderly succession-first the tender blade, then the swelling ear, then the ripe grain in the ear-so it is with the seed of the kingdom, or Gods truth. This is true in respect to doctrine. First Athanasius, the exponent of the doctrine of Christ; then Augustine, the exponent of the doctrine of Man; then Anselm, the exponent of the doctrine of Grace; then Luther, the exponent of the doctrine of Faith; even faith in that Divine Christ whose grace saves sinful man. Nor has the growth, or advancing order of due succession, ceased. The problem of this present age is the doctrine of the Church, or what constitutes the true body of Christ. And even now we see faint glimmers of the final doctrine-the parousia, or the doctrine of last things. And all this is in due succession; advancing from the Christ who saves to the heaven which is the issue of His saving. And this law of orderly unfolding is equally true in respect to personal character. Do not be so unphilosophical, then, as to look for the full-bearded grain of saintliness preceding the blade of youthful piety; the ripe fruits of the Spirit clustered around the subterranean root. First little children; then young men; then fathers. But there is one more likeness of the kingdom of God to the seed.

V. As the unfolding seed has fruit for its issue, so it is with the seed of the kingdom, or truth as it is in Jesus. When the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come. Christianity means something more than sowing: it also means reaping. Do not be over-anxious. Christian responsibility does have its limits. Beware of Uzziahs sin of distrust. Plant faithfully the seed, and then go trustfully away. (G. D. Boardman, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 26. So is the kingdom of God] This parable is mentioned only by Mark, a proof that Mark did not abridge Matthew. Whitby supposes it to refer to the good ground spoken of before, and paraphrases is thus: – “What I have said of the seed sown upon good ground, may be illustrated by this parable. The doctrine of the kingdom, received in a good and honest heart, is like seed sown by a man in his ground, properly prepared to receive it; for when he hath sown it, he sleeps and wakes day after day, and, looking on it, he sees it spring and grow up through the virtue of the earth in which it is sown, though he knows not how it doth so; and when he finds it ripe, he reaps it, and so receives the benefit of the sown seed. So is it here: the seed sown in the good and honest heart brings forth fruit with patience; and this fruit daily increaseth, though we know not how the Word and Spirit work that increase; and then Christ the husbandman, at the time of the harvest, gathers in this good seed into the kingdom of heaven.” I see no necessity of inquiring how Christ may be said to sleep and rise night and day; Christ being like to this husbandman only in sowing and reaping the seed.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Our evangelist alone taketh notice of this parable, nor hath it any particular explication annexed. If we expound it with relation to what went before, the scope of it seemeth to be, to let us know that God will have an account of men for their hearing of his word, and therefore men had need to take heed what they hear, as Mark saith, and how they hear, as Luke phrases it: thus Mar 4:29 expounds the former, with the help of our Saviours exposition of the parable of the tares, on which he had told us, Mat 13:39, The harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. There is another notion of Gods harvest, Mat 9:37; Joh 4:35, where Gods harvest signifies a people inclined and prepared to hear and to receive the gospel. But withal this parable of our Saviours may be of further use to us.

So is the kingdom of God, &c.; that is, Such is the providential dispensation of God, in gathering his church by the ministry of the word, as mens casting of seed into the ground: when the husbandman hath cast his seed into the ground, he is no more solicitous about it, nor doth he expect to discern the motion of it; but having done what is his part, he sleepeth, and riseth again, leaving the issue to Gods providence.

The earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, yet not without the influence of heaven, both in the shining of the sun and the falling of the dew and of the rain; neither doth its fruit appear presently in its full ripeness and perfection, but gradually is made perfect; first there appears the blade, the herb, then the ear, then the grain, which by degrees groweth to its full magnitude, and then hardeneth, and then the husbandman putteth in his sickle: so the ministers of the gospel ought faithfully to do their parts in sowing the seed of the gospel, then not to be too solicitous, but to leave the issue unto God. Where the seed falls upon good ground, the word will not be unfruitful: the minister of the gospel doth not presently discern the fruit of his labour, he at first, it may be, seeth nothing of it, but is ready to cry out, I have laboured in vain; but though the seed lie under the clods, and seems choked with the corruption of mans heart, yet if the soul be one to whom it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, it shall spring out, the word will be found not to be lost; but first will spring the blade, then will appear the ear: the fruit of the word preached appears by degrees, sometimes at first only by creating good inclinations in the soul, and desires to learn the way of the Lord more perfectly, then in acts further tending to perfection, at last in confirmed habits of grace. It is not thus with all, in some the word brings forth nothing but the blade, a little outward profession, which dwindles away and dies; in some the profession holds longer, but they never come to confirmed habits of virtue and holiness. But there will come a harvest, when God will come with his sickle to reap the fruit of his seed sown; therefore men had need take heed what and how they hear. This I take to be the sense of this parable.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

26, 27. So is the kingdom of God, asif a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and risenight and daygo about his other ordinary occupations, leavingit to the well-known laws of vegetation under the genial influencesof heaven. This is the sense of “the earth bringing forth fruitof herself,” in Mr4:27.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And he said,…. He went on saying the following parable, which was delivered at the same time that the parable of the sower was, though omitted by Matthew; and is here placed between that, and the other concerning the grain of mustard seed; which shows the time when it was spoken. The design of it is to set forth the nature of the word, and the ministration of it; the conduct of the ministers of the Gospel, when they have dispensed it; the imperceptibleness of its springing and growth; the fruitfulness of it, when it has taken root, without the help of man; the gradual increase of grace under the instrumentality of the word; and the gathering of gracious souls, when grace is brought to maturity:

so is the kingdom of God; such is the nature of the Gospel dispensation; and such are the things that are done in it, as may fitly be represented by the following;

as if a man should cast seed into the ground: by “the man”, is not meant Christ, for he sleeps not; and besides, he knows how the seed springs and grows; but any Gospel minister, who is sent forth by Christ, bearing precious seed: and by seed is intended, not gracious persons, the children of the kingdom, as in the parable of the tares; nor the grace of God in them, though that is an incorruptible and an abiding seed; but the word of God, or Gospel of Christ, so called for its smallness, the diminutive character it bears, and contempt it is had in by some; and for its choiceness and excellency in itself, and in the account of others; and for its generative virtue under a divine influence: for the Gospel is like the manna, which was a small round thing, as a coriander seed; and as that was contemptible in the eyes of the Israelites, so the preaching of the Gospel is, to them that perish, foolishness; and yet it is choice and precious seed in itself, and to those who know the value of it, by whom it is preferred to thousands of gold and silver; and, as worthless and unpromising as it may seem to be, it has a divine virtue put into it; and, under the influence of powerful and efficacious grace, it is the means of regenerating souls, and produces fruit in them, which will remain unto everlasting life: though, as the seed is of no use this way, unless it is sown in the earth, and covered there; so is the Gospel of no use for regeneration, unless it is by the power of God let into the heart, and received there, where, through that power, it works effectually. By “casting” it into the earth, the preaching of the word is designed; which, like casting seed into the earth, is done with the same sort of seed only, and not with different sorts, with plenty of it, and at the proper time, whatever discouragements there may be, and with great skill and judgment, committing it to God to raise it up again: for the faithful dispensers of the word do not spread divers and strange doctrines; their ministry is all of apiece; they always sow the same like precious seed, without any mixture of the tares of error and heresy; and they do not deal it out in a narrow and niggardly way; they do not restrain and conceal any part of truth, but plentifully distribute it, and declare the whole counsel of God; and though there may be many discouragements attend them, many temptations arise to put off from sowing the word; the weather bad, storms and tempests arise, reproaches and persecutions come thick and fast, still they go on; using all that heavenly skill, prudence, and discretion God has given them, preaching the word in season, and out of season; and when they have done, they leave their work with the Lord, knowing that Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but it is God only that gives the increase: and by the “ground”, into which it is cast, As meant the hearers of the word, who are of different sorts; some like the way side, others like the stony ground, and others like the thorny earth, and some like good ground, as here; whose hearts are broke up by the Spirit of God, the stoniness of them taken away, and they made susceptive of the good word.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

As if a man should cast ( ). Note with the aorist subjunctive without . It is a supposable case and so the subjunctive and the aorist tense because a single instance. Blass considers this idiom “quite impossible,” but it is the true text here and makes good sense (Robertson, Grammar, p. 968). The more common idiom would have been (or ).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Should cast [] . Lit., should have cast, the aorist tense, followed by the presents sleep and rise [ ] . The whole, literally, “As if a man should have cast seed into the ground, and should be sleeping and rising night and day.” The aorist tense indicates the single act of casting; the presents the repeated, continued sleeping and rising while the seed is growing.

Seed [ ] . The seed; that particular seed which he had to sow. Such is the force of the article.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

THE MYSTERIOUS SEED GROWTH, V. 26-29

1) “And He said, So is the kingdom of God,” (kai elpen houtos estin he basileia tou theou) “And He said, just like, in comparison, or similar to this, is the kingdom of God,” as you all, the disciples, minister its word, through the church, Mar 4:10-11. This is the only parable that was recorded by Mark only.

2) ”As if a man should cast seed into the ground;” (hos anthropos bale ton sporon epi tes ges) ”It is as (similar to or like), as if a man should cast the seed upon the earth (the ground), simply broadcast, scatter the seed upon the field, right and left, in the morning and in the evening, doing his part faithfully. Ecc 11:1-6; Joh 4:35-38. Such will one day find his rewards, Psa 126:5-6.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Mar 4:26

. So is the kingdom of God. Though this comparison has the same object with the two immediately preceding, yet Christ appears to direct his discourse purposely to the ministers of the word, that they may not grow indifferent about the discharge of their duty, because the fruit of their labor does not immediately appear. He holds out for their imitation the example of husbandmen, who throw seed into the ground with the expectation of reaping, and do not torment themselves with uneasiness and anxiety, but go to bed and rise again; or, in other words, pursue their ordinary and daily toil, till the corn arrive at maturity in due season. In like manner, though the seed of the word be concealed and choked for a time, Christ enjoins pious teachers to be of good courage, and not to allow their alacrity to be slackened through distrust.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Mar. 4:29. But as soon as the fruit is mature, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, etc. Cp. Joel 4:13 (LXX.). See also 1Pe. 1:23-25; Rev. 14:14-15.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mar. 4:26-29

The parable of the growing corn.It is remarkable that St. Mark alone should report this parable, and it is more than remarkable because it is the only parable which he alone has reported. It is very brief, has no interpretation attached to it, and looks at first sight not unlike some of the other parables. Yet it appears to me to supply an essential link in the chain of parabolic teaching. The side or aspect of the kingdom of God to which it refers is one which could not be passed over. If I understand it aright, it forms a needful companion or counterpart to the parable of the tares (Mat. 13:24-30). Each of them lays stress upon a different part of the common process of husbandry. In the one the end operations of sowing and reaping, into which enters the personal action of the Son of Man, are made conspicuous and insisted on at length, while the intervening months of growth are referred to only to add that then the crop must be let alone. In the other the contrary occurs. The initial and terminal operations of the husbandman constitute no more than a frame to the picture. They are named merely to shew us the better how the farmer did nothing for the remainder of the time; while the process described at length is the slow, gradual growth and ripening of the plants under the spontaneous action of the fruit-bearing earth. Thus the two parables are seen to complete each other. The one in Matthew brings out how voluntary extra-natural agents act upon the kingdom of Christ from above or from beneath, but chiefly at the beginning and the end of its career. This one in Mark brings out the natural agencies whose unhindered action determines the advance of the kingdom from its beginning to its end. Let us now examine our parable in detail. Its central words form a key to the whole: The earth bringeth forth fruit of herself. In other words, what is here taught is not the vitality of the seed, nor the activity of the two sowers, but the productiveness of the soil. Only commit a seed to the earth, and the earth will bring forth fruit of herself. The growth of a wheat-field is a long and tedious process. Grain has its own laws, according to which it must germinate and shoot: you cannot make it grow otherwise than God appoints. It has its successive stages through which it is bound to pass: you cannot have an ear before its stalk is tall. It lies exposed to atmospheric influences, both bad and good: you cannot, with all your husbandry, hinder the wind from causing it to strike deeper root, or the frost from nipping its too tender shoots. In fact, the farmer can do very little in the matter. Only the great earth, stored by God with the chemical conditions of fruitfulness, and lying ever open by day and night to Gods atmospheric influencesto rain and dew, to sun and wind, to frost and electricityonly this wonderful earth carries on the process. In spite of so much that appears to war against the plant, damping the farmers hope, somehow the earth never fails after all to bring forth fruit of herself. In all this may be discerned, I think, three leading features of resemblance to the progress of Christs kingdom in the world.

I. The kingdom of Christ has had to pass through those stages of imperfect growth which are common to other systems existing in human society.It need hardly be said that the Church did not burst upon the world a finished organisationperfect when it was first set up. Our Lord did no more than sow a few men into Palestine society with a few religious truths in their hearts. These truths, being alive with a Divine force, made the men live. Life proved contagious, and spread. It sought expression through common forms, and the multitude became a communitya Church. It has been really growing on ever since. There has been progress. Christendom has not passed through so many changes in vain. Was it no progress when the seed Christ scattered in the early sowing-day struck its roots through the old dying Greco-Roman world, and out of it drew whatever it could find of nutriment in its philosophy, its law, or its literature? That fat soil of classic civilisation was the prepared ground in which, beneath the hot sun of ten persecutions, Christianity was designed to grow deep-rooted and full-bladed. Was it no further progress when out of this rich growth a new world shot up, and through the Middle Ages modern Europe was formed like a tall flowering stalk held aloft upon the base of the older world? Has there been no progress since then? The religion of the Anglo-Saxon race is the most promising ear on the Church Catholic, and it has been rapidly filling for the last three centuries. It has drunk in contributions from every quarter: from the growth of municipal and national freedom; from the resuscitation of letters; from the discovery of America and India; from modern widening of knowledge and stimulation of the inventive arts. Perhaps we are standing already on the border of the worlds ripening ageif not actually within it. Already we see enough to surmise that by-and-by the kingdom will have run its course and the harvest of the earth be ripe. These two will synchronise. This world cannot last a day longer nor end a day sooner than the close of the Churchs development. When the fruit is brought forth, immediately He putteth in the sickle.

II. Throughout all its stages the Christian community is affected by every secular influence at work beside it, just as anything else would be.What is this but to say that the field is the world? Human society as it exists in the world forms the soil into which Christianity has been cast. The current modes of thought form the atmosphere it has to breathe. The forces which in each land or age have told on ordinary history have told upon the Church. At one time it has been crushed by violence, and at another fanned to slumber in the lap of luxury. False philosophies have tainted its doctrine, and lax manners affected its discipline. The passion or the pride that inflames rival parties has often rent its unity; often, too, have political alliances essayed to cement the fragments. It has borrowed much from other forces in social history, as well as lent much to others. Rude in rude ages; learned among the learned; it has become all things to all men. Yet in this common soil and atmosphere of earth the kingdom of Christ has, on the whole, thriven. Propagated by human hands, it has drunk of the rain of heaven. Wealth has served its ends, and literature fought its battles, and adventure run its errands. Civilisation has organised its strength, and commerce pioneered its way. Whatever good gifts God gave to earth have in some measure aided the advance of His kingdom; and the history of the nations has been at the same time in great part the history of Christianity. Thus on the whole the kingdom grows. It may be hard to see how at any given moment. Stand beside a field of springing corn on a blustery March morning; you fail to see how such tender sprouts are to be brought nearer harvest by the blasts that beat them. So at few moments of the Churchs progress could the saints of the day trace the tendency of all the forces at work upon the cause of Christ. Yet let the short-sighted and fainthearted Christian take courage. It is a fruitful earth after all. As surely as the weeks of spring and summer do on the whole ripen our fields, so surely will all the ages contribute to fill the garners of heaven.

III. The parable implies not merely that natural forces act on the kingdom of Christ, but that they are allowed to act themselves out freely without personal or supernatural interference on the part of the Great Husbandman. When it is said, The kingdom is as if a man should sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how, it is just the ordinary life of the farmer as he goes about his other tasks which is described. The point is that that ordinary life of the farmer between sowing and reaping is, speaking roughly, one of entire cessation from all direct action upon the field. Sowing and reaping are human interferences with the processes of nature. As compared with the self-sown wilderness, where each seed is allowed to shell itself out upon the untilled ground, a field is an artificial thing. Now these two artificial interferences of man symbolise the supernatural acts of God which mark the opening and the close of the Christian history. He did interfere with the sterility of the world to clear a space and sow a new crop of spiritual men and women. The advent of Christ with all that He accomplished personally or through His messengers to found His Church constituted one stupendous miracle. Supernatural interposition of God to work in the human field is the true description of the life of Christ. What wonder if accessory miracles hung about His steps and lingered round the feet of His immediate ministers? By such signs and portents was he who had long ruled in open day with his possessions and sorceries and oracles driven to sow mimic seed secretly by night. But when that first great operation of the Sower from heaven was ended miracle ceased. The higher and the lower agents alike retired for a long while behind the screen of natural instrumentality. The field of Christian history was left to the sun and the wind and the rain. Henceforthtill we near the end, when again Divine hands interposeeverything in the development of the faith progresses in obedience to those orderly laws which regulate the progress of truth from mind to mind or from age to age. It may be said, How can we speak of the Lord Jesus as quitting charge or activity within His field? Nay, as even asleep and ignorant how it grows? Is it not He who is always at work within every Christian heart, sustaining by His Spirit the life of His saints, and guiding to His own issues the destinies of His Church? Unquestionably. Only He does so very much as He causes corn to grow in the field. He is as full of care and as rich in effort for His own cause as ever. Yet He never reaches a hand out of the cloud to dispel the tempest of persecution or kill the worm of heresy. He works, it is true; but it is along the lines of nature, and through the complex mechanism by which the world is guided. On the one hand, the informing Spirit of the Church operates through ordinary channels of intelligence and moral influence; on the other hand, the common providence of God overrules, but nowhere overrides, contingencies. And to these two factors He has left His Church. So far, therefore, as any direct or personal interposition to modify the action of natural forces is concerned, He is like the farmer who, from seedtime to harvest, lets his field alone. Till harvest, I say. For there is a second advent before us, when the order of the world is again to be broken throughthis time with a view to be broken up. When the ripe fruit of the kingdom shall offer itself to the sickle, then will the Sower reappear.J. O. Dykes, D.D.

Spiritual growth.This parable is a brilliant example of the perfect naturalness of our Lords teachings and the way in which He shews the underlying connexion between the two worlds, natural and spiritual. At first sight it might seem as if there were but few points of comparison between these twobetween the work going on, for example, in the corn-field and the work going on in the human soul; for while trees and shooting corns have power of growth, they have no power of will; whereas man has both. And it is this power of will which is the determining factor in character and destiny. And yet, though these worlds are so dissimilar, there is an underlying unity; and it is this unity our Lord brings out in this parable. The central thought seems to be that Gods Divine power is at work in Gods own kingdom. The earth bringeth forth fruit of herselfnot of herself apart from God, but of herself apart from the man who sows the seed. He does his work, he sows the seed, and he goes on his way; and after he has done his part he sleeps by night and rises by day, and the seed springs up and grows, he knows not how.

I. The kingdom of God.It is not that rule over the creatures which God as the Creator exercises, but that which is based on the mediatorial kingdom of Christ. It is the kingdom into which the poor in spirit enter, which is reserved for them who are persecuted for righteousness sake; it is the kingdom which is for those who are pure in heart, who are born again of the Spirit of God; it is the kingdom which comes not by observation; it is a kingdom into which all men pass by repentance and faith; it is mysterious in its beginnings, silent in its growth, like the seed springing up from very small beginnings and growing to great things; and it is potent in its action, like the leaven in the meal. We are to pray for its coming, and yet it is always coming. Wherever there is a just thing taking the place of an unjust, wherever righteousness prevails over unrighteousness, wherever men are growing more kindly and true, wherever legislation is becoming more Christian, where commerce is baptised with the Spirit of Christ, where literature is guided by a Holy Spirit of God, when family life becomes ennobled and purified, when men come into holier and truer relations with one another and with their God in heaven, this kingdom is coming. We may well pray for its coming, for when it comes the old trouble and sorrow and conflict of the centuries will vanish like an idle dream. Then, what hope have we that this kingdom will come? What is our consolation in regard to it amidst all discouragements of the time? Our Lord says, The same hope and the same encouragement that the man has who casts his seed into the ground. Everywhere men are dependent upon a great power which is working behind them; every day God brings the succession of day and night, so that men may carry on the work of their life. Every year comes the stately march of the seasons, or else there would be no harvest for men. Why, there is a standing miracle which would overwhelm us if we were not used to it every yearof that shooting of life in field and forest which the spring-time brings! So even in regions nearer to ourselves. Your very children spring up and grow you know not how. So we are to take this thought into the activities of the Christian Church. In this day of material progress and triumph we are apt to look rather at the organisations than at the Spirit which breathes through them; at what men do rather than at what God does behind; and our Lord here puts to us this great central fact. John Wesleys dying words are words of comfort for the Church in all the centuries: The best of all is, God is with us. If He were not, our hope would be scant indeed. But He is. He is, in history, bringing new and strange and wondrous movements, developing a nations life. He is in the Church of God convincing men of sin, carrying on the great work of building up men in the image of Jesus Christ.

II. The need of patience.In carrying on this great work of bettering the world, elevating it higher, there is the element of time which must be taken into account. The husbandman waiteth long and is patient. The earth says to him, Give me seed, give me time, and I will give you fruit. And so it is in regard to the great things of the spiritual life. Everywhere we find that what is done is the result of long and complex forces. The more important a thing is, the longer time does it take. A man may be converted in a moment of time; but after he has turned right round the development of that life must needs take many long years of discipline before it reaches the height for which God intended it. Salvation means not merely delivering a man from sin, from every evil thing, but building him up to all nobleness; not merely the putting aside of what is weak and sinful, but the attainment of all that is noble and true; and is always the work of time. You can make a man a present of some material things in a moment, but you cannot give him patience, you cannot give him purity, you cannot give him humility, in a moment of time. Faith gets grip and strength through stress of suffering; wisdom is the child of experience.

III. Spiritual continuity.Our Lord says there is a natural law of continuity in the spiritual life as there is in other things. First the blade. We can never do without any of the intervening stagesnever expedite the processes of God either in nature or in grace. Men are coming to see that everywhere this law prevails; history is coming to be regarded not as a mere set of isolated facts chronicled together in the manner of annals, but that the thought and the life of the past generations are living in the present, and shaping its thought and purposes, that the growth of opinion and the influence of thought are felt over and over again in succeeding generations. So it is in regard to the spiritual life; perfectly natural, perfectly simple and beautiful in its action is the life of God in the soul.

1. There is the green blade trembling in the breeze, the type of spiritual life in the young disciple. There seems at first very little in the way of positive Christian life. It is but a green blade touched by the wandering breeze; it seems very little; but if Gods Spirit is in it, it will grow to greater things.
2. There is another stage, and it seems sometimes as if very little value could be attached to it except for what comes afterwards. Sometimes a man thinks he is losing ground, going back, when in point of fact God is training him for higher services and leading him to the heights of the Christian life. It is through the depths that we go to the heights.
3. There is another time yet. The time of the full ripe corn in the earthe time which Bunyan sets before us in the picture of the land of Beulah, where the birds are for ever singing, the angels come and go, and you can see the city far away, its heights gleaming in the sunshine. There is a time when we think not so much of doctrines, though they have their importance, as we think of that which is behind the teachingthe living God; when we have not so much many motives as one motivelove to Christ; when we feel more and more that He has been with us leading and guiding us; when we come out of the struggle not merely talking of the trouble but of the mercy which has been shown to us while we passed through it; when some things have fallen off from us that we thought important for us, and we get more and more to the central verities of eternal truth; when Christ becomes to the trusting soul all in all!John Brown, D.D.

Harvest lessons.Our Lord was very fond of drawing His parallels and illustrations from the garden and the field. This will be found a great help to those whose occupations lead them to be much abroad, and to take notice of the various appearances of nature as she works out the processes of vegetation.

I. The harvest suggests grateful thoughts of the good providence of God.

1. We almost see Him opening His hand and filling all things living with plenteousness. What a family has He to provide for! Not only mankind, but all sheep and oxen, etc. (Psa. 8:7-8). These wait all upon Him, etc. (Psa. 104:27). Nor wait in vain (Psa. 145:15-16). Well, therefore, does the psalmist call upon beasts and all cattle, etc., to praise the name of the Lord (Psa. 148:10; Psa. 148:13).

2. But the lower animals have neither understanding to know God, nor yet voice to praise Him. Man has both. Man is placed in this magnificent world, to be the interpreter of the whole creation. He is the priest of the temple, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God.
3. Man is not only most capable of praising God, but he has also most cause to do so. Of all living things, he is maintained at the greatest cost.

II. The harvest reminds us of the faithfulness of God.Once He brought a flood upon the earth; and for that year no sower went forth to sow, and no reaper put in his sickle. But after that He declared that it should never be so again (Gen. 9:9-17).

2. Such is Gods promise; and those who have little respect for anything else He has said place entire reliance on this. They plough and they sow in perfect confidence that God will send heat and cold, sun and rain, everything that is necessary to produce a harvest.
3. Some years may be less favourable than others; some countries may be visited with a partial or even entire failure of the fruits of the earth; but the promise never fails. After a year of scarcity comes a year of extraordinary abundance, or the deficiency of one country is supplied by the excess of another.

4. There is only just enough uncertainty in these things to make serious people sensible of their absolute dependence upon Him who giveth all (Jer. 5:24; Deu. 11:17).

III. The harvest reminds us of the instability of man.

1. One generation passeth away, etc. (Ecc. 1:4). We know, indeed, that the earth itself has its appointed time, and that the end of one harvest will be, to be burned up by that fire which shall consume the earth and all that is therein (2Pe. 3:10). Still, as compared with the rapid succession of its inhabitants, the earth may be said to abide for ever, yielding its fruit to the different generations of men, which quickly come and as quickly disappear. What a mortifying reflexionthat the very ground we tread on, even the dust we shake off our feet, is in this respect better than ourselves!

2. Harvests measure our lives. Thousands will not live to see another harvest; nay, thousands are going out of the world, at this very season, while the provision of another year is being gathered in. They sowed, and others are reaping; or they reaped, and others have entered into the fruits of their labours.

IV. The harvest makes us think about death.

1. Death is the great reaper. When he putteth in his sickle, all heads bow down. His harvest is confined to no particular season. His are the only crops that never fail.
2. To the Christian death is no longer the king of terrors. He is cut down because he is ripe. He has passed through all the stages of spiritual growth and godlinessfirst the blade, etc. Then, when God judges that the fruit is perfectly formed in himthe fruit of the Spirit, which is in all goodness, righteousness, and truthimmediately He Himself putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.
3. When the corn is fit to cut, it is a pity to let it stand any longer; and when a soul is ripe, it is equally desirable that it should be taken away from the evil to come, and lodged in a place of safety beyond the changes and chances of this mortal life.

V. The harvest speaks to us of the resurrection and judgment.

1. The resurrection parallel is developed by St. Paul in 1Co. 15:35-49.

2. The judgment may be considered in two lights.

(1) It is Gods harvest (Mat. 13:30; Rev. 14:14-19).

(2) It is mans harvest also (Gal. 6:7; 2Co. 5:10). This life is the seed-time of our whole existence. The harvest is the end of the world; and then shall every man eat of the fruit of his way, etc. (Pro. 1:31). He that soweth to his flesh, etc. (Gal. 6:8). Let the censorious and uncharitable hear this (Mat. 7:2). Let the unmerciful and unrelenting hear this (Jas. 2:13). Let the covetous hear this (Jas. 5:2-3). Let the despisers of the gospel hear this (Pro. 1:24-28). But as to those who are sowing, not to the flesh, but to the spirit, all that they have need of is that which every sower must possesspatience; that, after they have done the will of God, they may receive the promises.

OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Mar. 4:26-29. Rise and progress of religion in the heart.

1. Religious impressions sometimes take their rise in the heart from small and apparently accidental circumstances. An observation casually made in conversation, the perusal of a book, one of those occurrences which we call accidents, or some serious misfortune, may be the means of either giving a man the first instruction in practical piety, or of causing him seriously to feel the importance of religion.
2. By whatever means the good seed is first sown in the heart, if it there meets with a congenial soil, a very short time will elapse before its existence and power begin to be perceived. As the tendency of natural vegetation is upwards, so the first aspirations of the regenerate soul are directed towards heaven. Its hopes and wishes rise gradually above the earth: under the fostering warmth of Divine grace holy dispositions spring and grow up in the mans heart, he knoweth not how: his leaf withereth not: it is protected against the storms and blight which might infest it in its tender condition, so that the sun shall not burn it by day, neither the moon by night.
3. There remains one final labour of the husbandman before he can enjoy the full reward of all his anxieties and toils. When the fruit is brought forth, and fully ripened, the stem which unites it to the earth must be severed before it can be laid up in his barns. Immediately, therefore, he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. Maturity in spiritual growth is not always measured by length of years. Whenever the truly religious man is cut off, apparently in the flower of his age, we must regard the event as one of the mysteries which we understand not, as a dispensation, afflicting indeed to those who are left to mourn his loss, but not so to him, to whom to die is gain. Conclusion:
1. This parable gives no excuse for slothfulness or negligence to the spiritual husbandman, but rather a season for constant exertion.
2. This parable instructs us all to be ready to receive religious instruction, as well as to impart it.Prof. T. Chevallier.

The development of good and evil.This parable is frequently explained of the silent and secret growth of grace in the individual character of Gods servants, and of the final storing up of the wheat of earth in the garner of heaven. But surely the parable embraces a far wider horizon of thought, and concerns the method of Gods procedure in the kingdom of Christ to the end of timenamely, the principle of allowing the full development of both evil and good until the hour strikes for judgment. In illustration of this our Lord sets forth the general laws of vegetable life on earth, which are analogous to the laws of spiritual development:

(1) the law of growth or full development from germs;
(2) the law of silent, gradual, unperceived increase; and
(3) the law of crisis or ripeness, followed by the sickle and the harvest, the cutting down, either for storage or burning. The practical use, then, of this parable is to meet mens incredulity or doubt as to the reality of Gods government on earth; which may arise, and often does arise, in the minds of Christs followers from taking too short views, from looking at the world as already a finished thing, and therefore as an unintelligible chaos, a field where good and bad grow hopelessly together; to meet this incredulity and doubt by the assurance that the fixed method of the Divine government is not hasty and sudden harvesting and uprooting, but to allow all germs of both good and evil to develop and mature; and then, when the time of full ripeness arrives, to put in the sickleto postpone the crisis till iniquity is full, and heroic righteousness in resistance is also at the fulland then to bring in sudden judgment and retribution.E. White.

Lessons.

1. Though the sower sleep after his labour, yet the process of germination goes on night and day.
2. Simple beginnings and practical results may be connected by mysterious processes: he knoweth not how. There is a point in Christian work where knowledge must yield to mystery.
3. As the work of the sower is assisted by natural processes (the earth bringeth forth of itself, etc.), so the seed of truth is aided by the natural conscience and aspiration which God has given to all men.
4. The mysteriousness of processes ought not to deter from reaping the harvest. The spiritual labourer may learn from the husbandman.J. Parker, D.D.

The Word of life in the figure of a grain of wheat.

1. Its internal energy of life.
2. Its growth according to laws.
3. Its gradualness.
4. Its progressive stages.
5. The certainty of its development.J. P. Lange, D.D.

Divine surprises.The little green growth, as it forces its way through the soil, is not prepared for the great surprises of its own development; it is not prepared for the beautiful verdure of the green field caused by its own shooting up, nor even then for a still further development; for now comes the ear with its promises of even farther developmentwith its promises of great usefulness, of some time furnishing food for the eater. And even then greater surprises are still in store; for the ear can scarcely guessthis little ear of wheat not yet developed, just heavy enough to bend the stem on which it is growingit is scarcely prepared for the still further surprises of the full wheat, or corn, in the ear; and men and women, following this same thought, begin to realise that there is within them something of Divine, God-like possibility.S. R. Fuller.

Growth.If you, as an individual soul, are not bigger, fuller of Divine power and inspiration, than you were five or ten years ago, it is because this process of growth has been hindered or thwarted by your own rebellious interferenceas if the farmer who has sown the seed should untimely scratch away the earth and hinder the germs expansion, or later on, heedless of law, should walk rough-shod over this early verdure and thwart its development.Ibid.

Gradual progress towards perfection.Like those wondrous insects of the branching coral, who, beneath the waters of the vast Southern Ocean, lay their slight foundation, ever adding a little, and still a little more, while, as years pass on, the work goes on increasing, till the little unperceived atom stands forth a fair island, bursting with tropical luxuriance of fruit and foliageso should it be with us. The seed is sown within our hearts. The Heavenly Husbandmanthe Builder alsois at work within. Leave Him who sowed to do His holy will. And it shall work mightily within youmoulding, leavening, forming, building, spreading, springing up and growing, as none knoweth how, till there loom forth within the chaos of the natural heart the glorious form and lineaments of the Perfect Man, the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Himself.Dean Butler.

Mar. 4:26. The kingdom of God is a phrase more easy to understand than to explain. It is Gods government over the world; the Church chosen out of the world; the authority exercised over each soul; the spiritual progress of the community, of the truth, of any special member. It is Gods dealings with men as seen from above. In it all outward things are included. But it is still an inward thing. Its hidden nature is illustrated here by comparisons taken from the growth of seeds. The grain is lost to our sight, and the growth is too gradual to be seen. But we need only fresh senses to which the earth shall be transparent, and the smallest increase visible, in order to see them. And so the effects of Gods Word and Providence are only invisible because of our infirmity. We know very little about the soil; one is good, another bad; one will grow such things, another such; and wise men know a little about its parts, and how they act. And just such a knowledge it is that we have of men. We distinguish them roughly, and know practically what to expect from them, and our philosophers have analysed characters and mental processes. It is upon such soil that the facts of the gospel are cast as seed out of which is to grow the plant of holiness. But God does not leave the soul alone. Just as Providence works in the natural soil, bringing it into a fit composition, providing vegetable and animal growths, and checking each when it has done its work, so that the soil when left alone grows more and more fertile, so is Providence working with the souls of men, and by the myriad accidents of life moulding and forming them. We cannot tell, when we speak, how our words may be taken. We cannot tell, from the way they are taken, what their ultimate effect may be. Now this may operate to discourage and chill. We all like to see how our work is getting on; we all strive to help on our own purposes. But this parable is meant to encourage us all. We must leave much to other powers, and cannot order all things as we would: other men will not obey us; we cannot make them listen; we cannot order our own circumstances or theirs; and yet they are ordered. We must leave them to Him that ordereth, i.e. God.Bishop Steere.

Mar. 4:28. Blade, ear, and full corn.

1. The blade begins in a small shoot. That shoot is but the elongation or enlargement of the germ which is found at the rough end of a grain of wheat. This is elongated by the addition of fresh cells, which continues until the blade is fully formed. Now the idea of Jesus, sown in a suitable mind, develops in the same way by growing first into enlarged knowledge, idea after idea being added until a new form of thinking is unfolded. New ideas of God, of ourselves, of our fellowmen, arise. We think differently of lifes duties, experiences, and purposes.
2. The ear is the case in which the corn is formed; it is preparatory to the fruit, and determines it. The ear is thus the purposes of good in the will. The new thought and knowledge, under the warm love of the soul, begins to form purposes, to propose ends, which are but Christian thinking passing into Christian aims. At first these plans will give little promise of being realised; they will be rather suggestions of what might possibly be. But the sun of love in the soul shines upon them with glowing warmth, and the ear puts forth its modest blossom. That blossom is the joy that comes of such purposes; there is a pleasure in contemplating the possibility of bringing a practical result out of our new thoughts and plans. When the blossom, or joy, has fully developed, then is the time for the fruit to begin to form. The vital principle of good which is in the joy, as the pollen is in the blossom, finds its way into the will, and there it grows into actionthe plans for mending our life and the world take practical shapeat first, however, only imperfectly.
3. The full corn is the reproduction of that which came to us as seedthat is, our lives yield a result which is the reproduction of the character of Jesus. This third stage is only partially reproduced in the best of men in this life; but it will be perfectly attained. There is no Christ-given thought which shall not also become Christ-like endeavour; and there is no Christ-like endeavour which shall fail to become an attained practical result.R. Vaughan.

Encouragement for Christian workers.

1. We should never be discouraged in Christian work, of whatever kind, by what seems a slow growth.
2. We should never be discouraged in our efforts for Christs kingdom by adverse circumstances; nor by any unexpected combination of them, and their prolonged operation.
3. Good influences are linked to good issues in this world, as the seed to its fruitage.
4. God is within and behind all forces that tend to enlarge and perfect His kingdom, as He is beneath the physical forces which bring harvest in its season, and set on the springing seed its coronal.
5. Finally, let us remember what the glory of the harvest shall be, when it is reached, in this developing kingdom of God; and in view of that let us constantly labour, with more than fidelity, with an eager enthusiasm that surpasses all obstacles, makes duty a privilege, and transmutes toil into joy.R. S. Storrs, D.D.

Growth in the spiritual world, as in the natural, is spontaneous, in the sense that it is subject to definite laws of the spirit over which mans will has small control. The fact is one to be recognised with humility and thankfulness. With humility, for it teaches dependence on Goda habit of mind which brings along with it prayerfulness, and which, as honouring to God, is more likely to ensure ultimate success than a self-reliant zeal. With thankfulness, for it relieves the heart of the too heavy burden of an undefined, unlimited responsibility, and makes it possible for the minister of the Word to do his work cheerfully, in the morning sowing the seed, in the evening withholding not his hand; then retiring to rest to enjoy the sound sleep of the labouring man, while the seed sown springs and grows apace, he knoweth not how. Growth in the spiritual world, as in the natural, is, further, a process, which demands time and gives ample occasion for the exercise of patience. Time must elapse even between the sowing and the brairdinga fact to be laid to heart by parents and teachers, lest they commit the folly of insisting on seeing the blade at once, to the probable spiritual hurt of the young intrusted to their care. Much longer time must elapse between the brairding and the ripening. That a speedy sanctification is impossible we do not affirm; but it is, we believe, so exceptional that it may be left altogether out of account in discussing the theory of Christian experience. Once more, growth in the spiritual world, as in the natural, is graduated; in that region as in this there is a blade, a green ear, and a ripe ear.A. B. Bruce, D.D.

Order of growth.Not only does the corn always go on growing, but it always observes the same order and succession in its growthfirst the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. This is an order which is never reversed or altered; it is always the full corn in the ear which is the last to shew itself. And so it is with the heart. First, it is always repentance and sorrow for sin; then, faith in Jesus Christ; then, without losing these, any more than the grain loses the protection of the blade and the ear, it goes on to holiness of life, and a sure hope in Gods promises; and last of all to lovelove the ripened corn, the fulfilling of the ear.H. Harris.

The beauty of early piety.How refreshing to the eye is the garb of green with which the field is clothed, when the tender blade has first sprung up! But a short time back all lay in a state of ruggedness and an unseemly mass of clods. And not less grateful to the eye of those interested in the spiritual welfare of others are the first dawnings and buddings of faith and love in the Christians heart, when the good seed puts forth its first increase in those around us. How pleasing to witness the young and tender plant of righteousness putting forth the buds and leaves of Christian advancement! How pleasing to observe the gradual increase of piety, of Christian feeling, of prayer, of love, and of joy, bursting forth and ripening into full experience for the coming harvest.J. L. F. Russell.

Mar. 4:29. Gods sickle.The physical world contains evidence of such periods of catastrophe and new creation. The ages of universal fire and molten elements were ended by the creation of life on the globe, at some time in the past eternity, as Prof. Bonney demonstrates in his Hulsean Lecture. And many times since, locally if not universally, there have been epochs of change, of new heavens and new earth, of new forms of life, vegetable and animal, of vast destruction and wholly new formation of land and sea, with their inhabitants. The history of the world of mankind during the historic period furnishes many examples of this law of the kingdom of God. When the harvest is come, He putteth in the sickle. The old world grew up from a single pair, and developed its good and evil. At length evil prevailed, and the flood came and took them all away. Again the world started with a single family, and again evil and apostasy prevailed. Then God added a fresh element to human history in the family of Abraham. When evil increased judgment descended on them, as also on Egypt, Assyria, Edom, Babylon, Tyre, Persia, Greece, Rome. Jerusalem itself was destroyed, and the Jews were scattered. The Jewish vintage of evil was ripe for the wine-press. The same law has ruled in the Gentile modern world. The bloody vintage came for the Roman Empire in the fifth century, for Eastern Christendom in the seventh, by the hand of the Mohammedans, and later by the Turkish Power. It came later on for European wickedness in the French Revolution. And it is coming again in the great battles and tribulations of the last days, when the clusters of the Vine of the Earth shall be cast into the wine-press of the wrath and fury of Almighty God. Right-doing and Wrong-doing are ripening on every side. Every nation on earth, every soul on earth, is ripening as wheat for the harvest in the garner of God, or as a cluster of the vine of the earth for the wine-press of His wrath. This sharp sickle hovers in the sky suspended by an Almighty Hand. But it is there, and it is visible to the spiritual eye; often it takes a lifetime to demonstrate fully the real characters of men. The evolution requires space for development in relation to individual character. St. Paul sums up all these facts in 1Ti. 5:24-25.E. White.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4

Mar. 4:26-27. Fruit in after-days.An old man was once at work in the field, his mind occupied only with things of this world. Suddenly his thoughts wandered back to his early days, and he remembered how on one occasion the minister, before pronouncing the parting blessing, had paused, and reminded the ungodly that upon them no blessing would rest, but the wrath of God instead. The remembrance of that solemn warninguttered seventy years beforefilled the old mans heart with terror, and led him to seek the Lord with all his heart. Thus the words disregarded at fifteen saved at eighty-five, long after the speaker had passed away from the ministry of earth.

Christian growth imperceptible.It is the work of a long life to become a Christian. Many, oh! many a time are we tempted to say, I make no progress at all. Tis only failure after failure; nothing grows. Now look at the sea when the flood is coming in. Go and stand by the sea-beach, and you will think that the ceaseless flux and reflux is but retrogression equal to the advance. But look again in an hours time, and the whole ocean has advanced. Every advance has been beyond the last, and every retrograde movement has been an imperceptible trifle less than the last. This is progress, to be estimated at the end of hours, not minutes. And this is Christian progress. Many a fluctuation, many a backward motion, with a rush at times so vehement that all seems lost. But if the eternal work be real, every failure has been a real gain, and the next does not carry us so far back as we were before. Every advance is a real gain, and part of it is never lost. Both when we advance and when we fail, we gain. We are nearer to God than we were.

Mar. 4:28. Slumbering seeds.A gentleman tore down an outbuilding that had stood for many years in his yard. He smoothed over the ground, and left it. The warm spring rains fell upon it, and the sunshine flooded it; and soon there sprang up multitudes of little flowers, unlike any growing in the neighbourhood. Where the building had stood was once a garden, and the seeds had lain in the soil without moisture, light, or warmth all the years. So soon as the sunshine and the rain touched them, they sprang up into life and beauty. So ofttimes the seeds of truth lie long in a human heart, growing not, because the light and warmth of the Holy Spirit are shut away from them by sin and unbelief; but after long years the heart is opened in some way to the heavenly influences, and the seeds, living still, shoot up into beauty. The instructions of a pious mother may lie in a heart, fruitless, from childhood to old age, and yet at last be the means of saving the soul.

The law of gradual advance.No nation comes to eminence in character, and to a corresponding supremacy in position, with out many and painful preparatory processes. There is first the blade, then the ear; after that, the full corn in the ear. First, naturally, come the means of subsistence; then, conveniences; then, elegancies; and only after long and still-advancing struggle the great achievement of a perfected civilisation. The cavern, or the cabin; then, the house; then, the village; and afterward the city, with palaces and piers, and consecrating temples. The spoken word, and the spontaneous song; then, literature in its permanence; and not till long afterward that literature in its various and copious departments, of eloquence, science, philosophy, poetry, and the history which includes and perpetuates all these. First, industry; then, art. First, hollow logs, and timorous barks; and afterward great ships, that spread their wings on every wind, or made the seas to pause and throb as the pulsating energy thunders above them. First, a tribe; and thenwhen years and generations have passed, when soldiers have fought, and statesmen have planned, when religions have diffused their spirit through society, and reciprocating industries have knit together, when homes have been established, and families have been organised, and parents have transmitted their qualities to their childrenthen a great, enlightened, and peaceful commonwealth, rich in all manhood, replete with resources, and inwardly compacted in vital union: this is the method of all civilisation; this is the history of nations.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

E. THE PARABLE OF SECRET GROWTH. 4:26-29

TEXT 4:26-29

And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth; and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear, But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 4:26-29

187.

Please settle in your mind a clear definition of the kingdom of heaven. We believe it refers in every reference to the church Jesus establishedeither in the temporal or eternal sense. Do you agree?

188.

What is the seed cast upon the earth?

189.

Who casts the seed?

190.

Who sleeps?

191.

Why mention knoweth not how in Mar. 4:27 b?

192.

How can we tell when the grain is ripe? What is the sickle?

193.

What is the main point of this parable?

COMMENT

All four parables of Jesus as recorded in Mark were given at the same time and place. Only this parable is not mentioned either by Matthew or Luke.
OUTLINEA picture of the kingdom of God. (1) A man who sows seed, Mar. 4:26. (2) He waits for the growth, Mar. 4:27. (3) The visible growth, Mar. 4:28. (4) The harvest, Mar. 4:29.

ANALYSIS

A Picture Of the Kingdom of God

I.

A MAN WHO SOWS THE SEED, Mar. 4:26.

1.

The seed must be broadcast.

2.

The seed must go into the earth.

II.

HE WAITS FOR THE GROWTH, Mar. 4:27.

1.

In the ordinary course of living.

2.

The growth occurs he knows not how.

III.

THE VISIBLE GROWTH, Mar. 4:28.

1.

First the blade of grass.

2.

Then the ear.

3.

Then the grain in the ear.

IV.

THE HARVEST, Mar. 4:29.

1.

When the grain is ripe.

2.

Sickle thrust in for the reaping.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

I.

THE MAN WHO SOWS THE SEED, Mar. 4:26.

Mar. 4:26-27. he knoweth not how.To some extent he knoweth how; it is by the process described in the next verse: the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.

II.

HE WAITS FOR THE GROWTH, Mar. 4:27.

He may know still further, that it grows by the chemical action of light, warmth, and moisture; but still there is a part of the process that he does not know.

III.

THE VISIBLE GROWTH, Mar. 4:28.

Mar. 4:28-29. But when the fruit.Although the sower knows not how the seed grows, and remains not to see its growth, still it grows. From sowing time till harvest the man has nothing to do: no intermediate cultivation is required. This is true of the corn (wheat and barley) referred to, though not of our Indian corn.

IV.

THE HARVEST, Mar. 4:29.

The kingdom of heaven is like this (Mar. 4:26), in that the seed of the kingdom, which is the word of God, when sown in a community, even though the sower go away and neglect it, will spring up of itself and bear fruit, and will be ready at a future day for the harvest. This is often exemplified in the labors of the evangelist. He preaches in a community faithfully, and apparently without success, for a length of time, and then, after a lapse of months or years, returns to the same place, and with comparatively little exertion reaps an abundant harvest. The parable teaches what observation abundantly confirms, that such an adaptation exists between the human soul and the word of God, that when the latter is once implanted a future harvest will usually be the result. (J. W. McGarvey).

FACT QUESTIONS 4:26-29

221.

Does this parable relate to the fourth type of hearers in the production of fruit?

222.

Who is the sower?

223.

Why mention the period of time in this parable?

224.

Why describe the growth of the grain?

225.

Are ministers of the word also reapers? Please discuss.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(26) As if a man should cast seed into the ground.What follows has the special interest of being the only parable peculiar to St. Mark, one therefore which had escaped the manifest eagerness of St. Matthew and St. Luke to gather up all that they could find of this form of our Lords teaching. It runs to some extent parallel with the parable of the Sower, as though it had been given as another and easier lesson in the art of understanding parables; and if we assume a connection between St. Mark and St. Peter, it may be regarded as having in this way made a special impression on the mind of the Apostle. Like many other parables, it finds an interpretation in the analogous phenomena of the growth of the Kingdom (1) in the world at large, (2) in the heart of each individual. Speaking roughly, the Sower is, as before, either the Son of Man or the preacher of His word, and the ground falls under one or other of the heads just defined in the previous parable, with, perhaps, a special reference to the good ground.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

26-29. Mark here gives a beautiful simile of our Lord, which is furnished by no other evangelist. It compares the growth of the word in the heart to the growth of the seed to full maturity and fruit.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Seed Growing Secretly Until the Harvest (4:26-29).

Jesus now illustrates the certainty of the harvest which will come about through God’s secret work in the world. Man casts the seed on the earth, but it is God Who causes it to grow, and then, even when men are least expecting it, and it is beyond their understanding, God produces His harvest, which He has been secretly developing all the time. For it is all a part of His purpose. And once the harvest is ripe, the sickle is put in and it is reaped.

Analysis.

And he said, “So is the Kingly Rule of God, as if a man should cast seed on the earth” (Mar 4:26).

“And should sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he does not know how” (Mar 4:27).

“The earth bears fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear” (Mar 4:28).

“But when the fruit is ripe (literally, ‘when the fruit allows’), he puts forth the sickle because the harvest is come” (Mar 4:29).

Note that in ‘a’ he sows the seed and in the parallel he reaps the harvest. In ‘b’ he does not understand the process of growth, and in the parallel that growth takes place regardless.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

‘And he said, “So is the Kingly Rule of God, as if a man should cast seed on the earth, and should sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he does not know how. The earth bears fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe (literally, ‘when the fruit allows’), he puts forth the sickle because the harvest is come.” ’

Here the parable is said to specifically apply to the Kingly Rule of God. Here He is saying that the effect of the Kingly Rule of God over men will occur, not in some cataclysmic way, but secretly over time, (secretly in the sense that although we see the consequence we do not understand or observe the process), brought about by God once man has sown the seed. The time may not be too long, for the period between sowing and reaping is not long, but it will be sufficient for God to do His work quietly and secretly. The point is that what is now happening is very much of God. The seed is sown by ‘a man’, who responds to the time of opportunity, but then the rest remains in the hands of God. The man carries on with his life in the normal manner (‘night and day’ reflects the Jewish day as beginning in the evening) leaving the seed to be established, and then the seed springs up and grows, and the man does not know how. It grows little by little, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. And then finally the corn is fully grown ready for harvest and the man takes the sickle and harvests the grain.

The parable brings out man’s limited responsibility, which is to sow the seed, and God’s major responsibility, which is to do the rest. As with seeding, once the man has planted the word of God his task is over. It is God Who will cause the gradual growth until the grain is ready for harvest. And because it is God Who ensures the growth the harvest is guaranteed. By their fruits they will be known.

As with many of Jesus’ parables this is midway between simple parable and allegory. It brings out that man is responsible to sow the seed, that God in His own ways causes slow and gradual growth, and that there will be a reaping of a great harvest. The description of the harvest must surely have in mind Joe 3:13, ‘Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe.’ The sickle is to be put in because the time of harvest has come. Thus salvation is seen to be the sovereign work of the sovereign God ending in this case in fullness of blessing.

But there is another important thought here, and that is that the Rule of God is not to be brought about by force. Man is to proclaim the word but God will work in His own time and in His own way to make it effective. Thus the Kingly Rule of God is not to be established by force of arms. It is not something that happens abruptly. ‘He who believes will not be in a hurry’ (Isa 28:16). The struggle is to be God’s not man’s. Our part in it is to trust Him.

It is, however, possible that Jesus has in mind in this parable Himself as the representative man (which is part of the significance of Jesus’ use of ‘Son of Man’). Then it is He Who is to be seen as initially sowing the word of God and the truth that the Kingly Rule of God is drawing near. The consequence of this is that He will sleep, in death, and rise again. Darkness will be followed by light, night by day ( for this concept of night see Joh 9:4; Joh 13:30). Compare Isa 53:11 (as found in LXX of Isaiah supported by Hebrew texts 1QIsa and 1QIsb at Qumran) which says, ‘From the travail of his soul he shall see light and shall be satisfied’ . Then when the harvest is ready, He will, as the Great Reaper, reap the harvest. This may be so because Jesus has a tendency to drop these hints about His future which are not clear at the time but become clear later (compare Mar 2:20). The one thing that tells against this is the suggestion ‘he knows not how’. This could not really be said about Jesus in the spiritual realm. But it may be that that there is intended to be a combined meaning and that we are to see in the ‘man’ both Jesus and His followers.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Two Parables Emphasising New Birth and Growth (4:26-32).

Jesus follow up the parable of the sower with two parables about new birth and growth. In these the seed of the word is sown, and it produces new life and steady growth as God’s rain falls on it (Isa 55:10 where it is literally ‘bring to birth and sprout/grow’). The first parable emphasises the secrecy but certainty of the result because it is God Who is at work, and the second parable the rapidly expanding nature of the outstanding result that will be achieved.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Parable of the Growing Seed (Our Perseverance) In Mar 4:26-29 Jesus tells the Parable of the Growing Seed. This parable is unique to the Gospel of Mark. It is important to understand the Parable of the Sower first in order to understand these three parables that follow it. We find a similar parable, called the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares found in Mat 13:24-30; Mat 13:37-43. This parable also follows the Parable of the Sower and has a similar interpretation.

The Parable of the Growing Seed (Mar 4:26-29) explains how God causes the seeds that we sow to grow and produce a harvest as someone is faithful to sow. This parable reveals the need to persevere in sowing the seeds of the Kingdom. In other words, our job is to sow, while God’s work is to cause the increase. One good illustration of this divine principle is found in 1Co 3:6 where Paul says, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”

Mar 4:26 Comments The first parable taught by Jesus, the Parable of the Sower, does not begin with the phrase “the kingdom of heaven is like” simply because it does not describe the characteristics of the Kingdom of Heaven, but rather, those to whom the Gospel is preached. For those who accept the Gospel, Jesus now describes the principles of this new Kingdom which they have joined.

Mar 4:27 “And should sleep, and rise night and day” Comments The NKJV gives us a smoother translation, “and should sleep by night and rise by day.” Robert Guelich notes that the term night is mentioned before day because the Jewish day begins as sunset. He says this phrase describes “the farmer’s passing of time.” [96] In other words, he goes through the daily routine of sleeping at night and rising each day awaiting the time of the harvest.

[96] Robert A. Guelich, Mark 1-8:26, in Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 34A, eds. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas: Word, Inc., 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 3.0b [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2004), comments on Mark 4:27.

Mar 4:27 “and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how” Comments As we life as members of the Kingdom of God, there are many aspects of our life in which we must trust the Lord, believing that He will work things out in His divine providence. There are things we do not have to understand, but simply trust that He cares about us and will work our problems out as we serve Him. Just as the seed planted in the ground by the farmer takes root and produces a plant that bears fruit, so is the spirit of man created to bear fruit naturally as the Word of God is sown in our hearts. We can rest in the fact that our lives can be transformed as we receive the implanted God’s Word in our hearts (Jas 1:21).

Jas 1:21, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

Mar 4:28  For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.

Mar 4:28 “For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself” Comments Everything that we possess originates from the ground; our clothes, the homes we live in and the cars we drive, everything. It all is made of the dirt that we walk on.

Mar 4:28 “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear” Word Study on “blade” Strong says the Greek word “blade” ( ) (G5528) means, “a court, a garden,” and implies a “pasture,” thus, “herbage, vegetation,” and it is translated in the KJV as “blade, grass, hay.”

Word Study on “ear” Strong says the Greek word “ear” ( ) (G4719) means, “a head of grain (as standing out from the stalk).”

Word Study on “corn” Strong says the Greek word “corn” ( ) (G4621) means, “grain, especially wheat.”

Webster tells us the old English word “corn” means, “A single seed of certain plants, as wheat, rye, barley and maiz; a grain.” Lyndon Kannenberg says that the Eastern world did not know about corn until Columbus’ voyage of 1492, when the American Indians show corn to the Europeans for the first time. [97] The English word “corn” was used by the British for grains and cereals in general, such as wheat, barley, rye, and maize. The word “maize” was normally used to describe Indian corn. ( Webster)

[97] Lyndon W, Kannenberg, “Corn,” in The Word Book Encyclopedia, vol. 4 (Chicago: World Book, Inc., 1994), 1062-1063.

Comments – In Mar 4:28 the English words, “blade, ear, corn” are better translated “blade, stalk, grain.”

BBE, “The earth gives fruit by herself; first the leaf, then the head, then the full grain.”

NKJV, “For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.”

In botany the three parts of a plant or tree that aid most in identifying its species are the leaf, the bloom or flower, and the seed. These three parts are mentioned in Mar 4:28 as the blade or leaf, as the head of grain comparable to the blooms on some plants, and the grain or seed. From a spiritual application, our fruit of service and victory in the Kingdom of God comes in stages. In other words, God gives us a little to be faithful with before he entrusts us with great tasks. Thus, sometimes our dreams are not manifested as soon as we desire because God wants to take us through phases of spiritual maturity before we can handle great anoints or wealth. Thus, our faith develops in much the same way that a plant grows. In other words, there is a process of the Word of God growing in our hearts, a process that takes time to come to full maturity.

Mar 4:29  But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The parable of the seed:

v. 26. And He said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground,

v. 27. and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.

v. 28. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.

v. 29. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle because the harvest is come.

Here is another parable, addressed especially to the disciples, and containing an important lesson for them in their future work. If a farmer sows good seed into his fields, all his worrying about the crop will avail him nothing. He will tend to his other work and will follow his usual mode of living: he will go to rest in the evening and get up in the morning. He knows that it rests with God to give the increase. And this is as it should be. For it is God’s promise that seed-time and harvest shall not cease. Gen 8:22. By the course of nature which God has ordered the seed sprouts, the blade appears, the ear develops, the grain matures. And thus it is in spiritual matters. When a pastor has preached the Word, publicly and from house to house, he has done that work for which he has been called. Worrying about results is as foolish as it is useless. The power of God is in the Word, and it rests with Him to bless the proclamation of the Gospel according to His promise that His Word will not return to Him void, Isa 55:10-11. God must give the increase, 1Co 3:6-7. Too many pastors, especially young pastors, as it has been put somewhat quaintly, want to turn around and go into the field with the reaper after they have just come out with the drill. When God’s time has come, then the harvest may be gathered; He will send His scythe and bring in the ripe sheaves.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mar 4:26-29. So is the kingdom of God, In this parable we are informed, that as the husbandman does not, by any efficacy of his own, cause the seed to grow, but leaves it to be nourished by the soil and sun; so Jesus and his apostles, having taught men the doctrines of true religion, were not by any miraculous force to constrain their wills; far less were they by the terrors of fire and sword to interpose visibly for the furthering thereof; but would suffer it to spread by the secret influences of the Spirit, till at length it should obtain its full effect in faithful souls. Moreover, as the husbandman cannot, by the most diligent observation, perceive the corn in his field extending its dimensions as it grows, so the ministers of Christ cannot see the operations of the Gospel upon the minds of men. The effects, however, of its operation, when these are produced, they can discern just as the husbandman can discern when the corn is fully grown, and fit for reaping. In the mean time, the design of the parable, is not tolead the ministers of Christ, to imagine that religion will flourish without due pains taken about it. It was formed to teach the Jews in particular, that neither the Messiah nor his servants would subdue men by the force of arms, as they supposed he would have done; and also to prevent the apostles from being dispirited, when they did not see immediate success following their labours. See Dr. Watts’s Philosophical Essays, Numbers 9 sect. 2. Instead of when the fruit is brought forth, Mar 4:29 we may read, as soon as the grain is ripe. See Campbell.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mar 4:26-29 . Jesus now continues, as is proved by Mar 4:33 f. (in opposition to Baur, Markusevang. p. 28), His parabolic discourses to the people ; hence is here used without (Mar 4:21 ; Mar 4:24 ), and Mar 4:10-25 are to be regarded as an inserted episode (in opposition to de Wette, Einl. 94 b , who holds as absurd).

Mark alone has the following parable, but in a form so thoughtful and so characteristically different from Mat 13:24 f., that it is without sufficient ground regarded (by Ewald, Hilgenfeld, Kstlin) as founded on, or remodelled [85] from, Matt. l.c. , and therefore as not originally belonging to this place, a view with which Weiss agrees, but traces the parable of Mark to the primitive form in the collection of Logia, and holds the enemy that sowed the tares, Mat 13 , to have been brought into it by the first evangelist; while Strauss (in Hilgenfeld’s Zeitschr. 1863, p. 209) has recourse to the neutral character of Mark, in accordance with which he is held to have removed the (by which Paul is meant!). See, on the other hand, Klpper in the Jahrb. f. D. Theol. 1864, p. 141 ff., who, with Weizscker, discovers the point aimed at in the parable to be that of antagonism to the vehement expectations of a speedy commencement of the kingdom, which, however, must have been directly indicated, and is not even implied in Mat 13 (see Mar 4:37 ff.). Without foundation, Weizscker (p. 118) finds in the parable a proof that our Gospel of Mark was not written till after the destruction of Jerusalem, when the delaying of the Parousia had become evident. Here the establishment of the kingdom is not at all depicted under the specific form of the Parousia , and there is nothing said of a delaying of it.

. ] The Messianic kingdom , conceived of as preparing for its proximate appearance, and then (Mar 4:29 ) appearing at its time.

] the seed concerned.

Observe the aorist , and then the presents which follow: has cast, and then sleeps and arises , etc.

. ] With another form of conception the genitives might also be used here. See on the distinction, Khner, II. p. 219. The prefixing of is here occasioned by the order of . See, further, on Luk 2:37 . Erasmus erroneously refers . to the seed , which is only introduced as subject with .

] is extended , in so far, namely, as the shoot of the seed comes forth and mounts upwards ( increscat , Vulgate). Comp. LXX. Isa 44:14 . In the shoot the seed extends itself .

] in a way unknown to himself (the sower); he himself knows not how it comes about. See the sequel.

] of itself , without man’s assistance. [86] Comp. Hesiod, . 118; Herod ii. 94, viii. 138; and Wetstein in loc.

. .] the nominative (see the critical remarks) with startling vividness brings before us the result as standing by itself: then full (developed to full size) grain in the ear! See on this nominative standing forth in rhetorical relief from the current construction, Bernhardy, p. 68 f.

Mar 4:29 . ] is usually explained intransitively , in the sense: shall have delivered itself over, namely, by its ripeness to the harvesting. Many transitive verbs are confessedly thus used in an intransitive signification, in which case, however, it is inappropriate to supply (Khner, II. p. 9 f.). So, in particular, compounds of (see Viger., ed. Herm. p. 132; Valckenaer, Diatr. p. 233; Jacobs, ad Philostr. p. 363; Krger, 52. 2. 9); and see in general, Bernhardy, p. 339 f.; Winer, p. 225 [E. T. 315]. But of this use of there is found no quite certain instance [87] (not even in 1Pe 2:23 , see Huther); moreover, the expression itself, “the fruit has offered itself,” would be foreign to the simplicity of the style, and has a modern sound. Hence (comp. Kaeuffer, de . not. p. 49) . is rather to be explained as to allow , in accordance with well-known usage (Herod v. 67, vii. 18; Xen. Anab. vi. 6. 34; Polyb. iii. 12. 4): but when the fruit shall have allowed, i.e. when it is sufficiently ripe. Quite similar is the expression: , Polyb. xxii. 24. 9 : when the season permitted . Bleek assents to this view.

] Comp. Joel 4:13; Rev 14:15 .

The teaching of the parable is: Just as a man, after performing the sowing, leaves the germination and growth, etc., without further intervention, to the earth’s own power, but at the time of ripening reaps the harvest, so the Messiah leaves the ethical results and the new developments of life, which His word is fitted to produce in the minds of men, to the moral self-activity of the human heart, through which these results are worked out in accordance with their destination (to this is the parabolic reference of the ), but will, when the time for the establishment of His kingdom comes, cause the to be gathered into it (by the angels, Mat 24:31 ; these are the reapers, Mat 13:39 ). The self-activity on which stress is here laid does not exclude the operations of divine grace, but the aim of the parable is just to render prominent the former, not the latter. It is the one of the two factors, and its separate treatment, keeping out of view for the present the other, leaves the latter unaffected. Comp. Mar 4:24 . Bengel aptly observes on , Mar 4:28 : “non excluditur agricultura et coelestis pluvia solesque.” Moreover, Jesus must still for the present leave the mode of bringing about the (by means of His and faith thereon) to the later development of His doctrine. But the letting the matter take its course and folding the hands (Strauss) are directly excluded by , although the parable is opposed also to the conception of a so-called plan of Jesus. [88]

[85] A “tame weakening,” in the opinion of Hilgenfeld, comp. Strauss; “of a secondary nature,” in that of Weizscker.

[86] Hence there is no inconsistency with ver. 27 (Weiss). The germinative power of the seed is conditioned by the immanent power of the earth, which acts upon it.

[87] In Jos 11:19 the reading varies much and is doubtful; in Plat. Phaedr. p. 250 E, is not necessarily reflexive.

[88] Comp. Schleiermacher, L. J. p. 348 ff.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1423
THE SPRINGING FIELD

Mar 4:26-29. And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

THERE is a rich variety in the parables delivered by our Lord. Almost every thing around him was made a vehicle of divine knowledge. Agriculture in particular afforded him many illustrations of his doctrines. He dwelt on that subject the more, because it was so adapted to his hearers. In the passage before us he compares the kingdom of God to seed springing up in the field. This comparison is applicable to the erection of his visible Church in the world; but we shall consider it rather in reference to a work of grace in the soul.
There is a resemblance between seed in a field, and grace in the heart,

I.

In the manner of their growth

In the parable of the Sower, our Lord comprehends those characters who receive not the word aright. In this he confines himself to those characters that are truly upright. The growth of grace in their hearts resembles that of corn in a field, in that it is,

1.

Spontaneous

[Seed, when harrowed into the earth, is left wholly to itself. The husbandman sleeps by night, and prosecutes his labours by day, without attempting to assist the corn in the work of vegetation; whatever solicitude he may feel, he abstains from such fruitless endeavours. The earth must bring forth the fruit of itself, or not at all. There is a principle of life in the corn which causes it to vegetate; nor is it indebted to any thing but the kindly influences of the heavens [Note: 1Co 15:38.]: thus it is with divine grace when sown in the heart of man. We do not mean that any man naturally and of his own will, lives to God; this is contradicted by the whole tenour of Scripture [Note: Rom 8:7.]: but grace is a seed which has within it a principle of life [Note: 1Pe 1:23. Hence Christ, from whose fulness we receive that grace, is said to live in us, and to be our life. Gal 2:20. Col 3:4.]; it operates by a power inherent in itself, and is dependent only on Him who gave it that power [Note: 1Co 15:10.]: the exertions of ministers, however unremitted, cannot make it grow [Note: 1Co 3:6-7.]; it must be left to the operation of its own native energy [Note: Joh 4:14.]; it will then put forth its virtue, through the invigorating beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and the refreshing showers of the Spirit of God.]

2.

Gradual

[Seed does not instantly spring up in a state fit for the sickle. It passes through many different stages before it arrives at maturity. Thus also, in a work of grace, the blade, the ear, and the full corn, arise in regular succession. A Christian in his earliest attainments wears a different appearance from what he ever did before; he is not less altered than a grain of wheat when it puts forth the blade; he feels himself a sinful, helpless, and undone creature; he cleaves to Christ as a suitable and all-sufficient Saviour, and shews by his whole deportment that he has been quickened from the dead: but still he is prone to entertain self-righteous hopes, and too often yields to unbelieving fears. Hence, though sincere at heart, his attainments are but small [Note: Heb 5:13.]. In process of time he shews himself solid and hopeful as the ear: his knowledge of self is more deep, and his views of Christ more precious; his dependence on the power and grace of Christ is more simple and firm. Hence, though his conflicts may be more severe, he is more able to sustain them; nor is there any part of his conversation wherein his profiting doth not appear [Note: To this effect is St. Johns description of the young men who are in an intermediate state between children and fathers. 1Jn 2:13-14.]. After much experience, both of good and evil [Note: Heb 5:14.], he becomes like full corn in the ear. Though his views of himself are more humiliating than ever, he is not discouraged by them; he only takes occasion from them to live more entirely by faith on Christ: there is an evident ripeness in all the fruit that he brings forth. Above all, he lives in a nearer expectation of the harvest. He sits loose to all the concerns of this present life, and longs for the season when he shall be treasured up in the garner [Note: 1Co 1:7, 2Co 5:1-4.].]

3.

Inexplicable

[The most acute philosopher knoweth not how the grain vegetates. That it should die before it springs up [Note: 1Co 15:36.], and then so change its appearance as to put forth the blade, &c. is a mystery that none can explain: thus the operations of grace in the soul of man are also inexplicable. We know not how the Spirit of God acts on the powers of our mind; we discover that he does so by the effects; but how, we cannot tell. In this view our Lord compares the Spirits agency to the wind, the precise point of whose rise or destination we are unable to ascertain [Note: Joh 3:8.]: nor is the mysteriousness of these changes, which we see in the natural world, ever made a reason for disbelieving them; neither should the difficulty of comprehending some things in a work of grace render us doubtful of its reality.]

This resemblance, already so striking, may be further seen,

II.

In the end for which they grow

The seed grows up in the field in order to the harvest
[The husbandman in every part of his labour has the harvest in view; he manures, and ploughs, and sows his ground, in hopes of reaping at last. In every successive state of the corn he looks forward to the crop [Note: Jam 5:7.], and when the harvest is come, he immediately puts in the sickle.]

Thus also grace springs up in the souls of men to prepare them for glory
[God, having from the beginning chosen his people to salvation, orders every the minutest incident for the accomplishment of his own purpose [Note: 2Th 2:13-14. Rom 8:28.]. All the dispensations of his providence concur for this end; all the operations of his grace are adjusted with the same view. The first infusion of a principle of life into our souls is in order to our eternal happiness. All the ordinances, whereby that life is preserved, are for the same end: for this, the word distils as the dew, and the clouds drop fatness; for this, the very things which seem for a time to retard its growth, are permitted: the gloomy chilling influences of temptation and desertion, are overruled for its final good. When the soul is ripe for glory, immediately will the sickle be put in: when we are fully meet for the mansion prepared for us, God will receive us to it. Then will Christ, the great husbandman, rejoice in the fruit of his labours [Note: Isa 53:11.]; the ministers also, who laboured under him, will rejoice together with him [Note: 1Th 2:19-20.]; and that promise which our Lord has given us shall be fulfilled [Note: Joh 4:36.].]

This is a rich source of comfort to ministers, and of encouragement to their people

[Ministers, like the husbandman, are scattering the seeds of Gods words; but, through impatience, are often ready to complain that they have laboured in vain. They forget that the seed lies long under the clods before it vegetates, and that much of their seed may spring up, when they have ceased from their labours: they are often discouraged too by the drooping aspect of their people: they would wish them to grow up to a state of perfection at once, and to attain to ripeness without the changes of succeeding seasons; but it is by such changes that they are brought to maturity [Note: Rom 5:3-5.]. Well therefore may ministers prosecute their work with cheerfulness. Leaving events to God, they should follow the direction given them in the word [Note: Ecc 11:5-6.] and expect that the promised success shall in due time attend their labours [Note: Isa 55:10-11.]. People also, of every description, may receive much encouragement. They often are ready to doubt whether the root of the matter be indeed in them: because their progress is not so rapid as they could wish, they are apt to despond. It is right indeed to examine whether we be really endued with life; nor should we rest contented with low degrees of growth. Whatever joy we feel in seeing the blade, we should grieve if it made no progress. Thus we should never be satisfied without going on unto perfection. But let us wait with patience for the former and the latter rain. Let us expect a variety of seasons as well in the spiritual as the natural world: let us commit ourselves to God, that he may perfect us in his own way. Thus in due season shall we be fit for the granary of heaven [Note: Job 5:26.]; the sickle shall then separate us from all our earthly connexions; and we shall be carried in triumph to our appointed rest.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

(26) And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground: (27) And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. (28) For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. (29) But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

I consider this Parable, though short, yet as sweet, as either of our LORD’s Parables in the illustration of his grace to his people. So is the kingdom of GOD, which is known by grace here, and glory hereafter, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and sleep and rise, night and day, while the seed springeth and groweth he knoweth not how. We cannot err in considering this seed, as the incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth forever: and that it is so, is evident from its growth and quality. But the man who is said to cast seed into the ground, cannot mean our LORD JESUS CHRIST, for he neither slumbereth nor sleepeth; neither can it be ever said of him, that his seed springeth, and groweth he knoweth not how. Psa 121:4 ; Isa 27:2-3 . His servants are said to minister to the Churches of the Spirit. Gal 3:5 . And of them it may be truly said, the seed groweth they know not how. And although, all faithful dispensers of the word, do watch over the spiritual plantation, and steep the word sown both in tears and prayers; yet, from their natural infirmity, they too often sleep, though not the sleep of spiritual death! The harvest however arrives not, to their consciousness, in the fields of their labors in numberless instances, until they themselves have fallen asleep in Jesus. Many a seedtime, and many a day’s labor, followed up with prayer, do faithful ministers of JESUS leave behind them, which are answered, when their poor bodies are mouldering in the grave.

And the latter part of the Parable, is not less beautiful than the former. The earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; that is, not the unrenewed heart of man, which the earth figuratively represents; but the renewed heart, now considered, as in the kingdom of grace, which this Parable is said to represent. It bringeth forth fruit void of the husbandman’s care, who sleeps night and day, while the seed is growing he knoweth not how. A most precious and blessed proof of the SPIRIT’s work in the heart; and that the whole is according to that sweet scripture: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, said the LORD. Zec 4:6 . And the process of the whole proves the work wholly of the same. First the blade, then the ear; after that the full corn in the ear. As in nature, so in grace. The child, though perfect in all its parts, hath to grow from the babe to the young man, and at length to the father in GOD. And when grace is ripened for glory, like the fruit ripe for harvest, Jesus takes home his redeemed to him, to his harvest in heaven. Reader! do not overlook in the beauties of the Parable, the sweet enjoyment of a personal interest in it. The seed cast in the renewed heart, made so by grace, gives the sure earnest of the harvest. Though men sleep, and know not how the advance is made, JESUS both knows, gives the needed supply, and watches over the whole plantation. To you, to me, things may at times appear, as in a wintry dispensation. But to JESUS the progress, is advancing. The promise is absolute from GOD the FATHER. I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring. Isa 44:3 ; Isa 59:21 . And a soul renewed in CHRIST, must be separated from CHRIST, before those promises can fail. Rom 8:39 . Blessedly, therefore, the Apostle sings, to the full assurance of faith, when he saith, Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is GOD, who hath also given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 2Co 5:5 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;

Ver. 26. So is the kingdom of God ] God sows and reaps in the Church, though none observes it, and hath his fruit in due season.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

26 29. ] PARABLE OF THE SEED GROWING WE KNOW NOT HOW. Peculiar to Mark . By Commentators of the Straussian school it is strangely supposed to be the same as the parable of the tares, with the tares left out . If so, a wonderful and most instructive parable has arisen out of the fragments of the other, in which the idea is a totally different one . It is, the growth of the once-deposited seed by the combination of its own development with the genial power of the earth, all of course under the creative hand of God, but independent of human care and anxiety during this time of growth.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

26. ] Observe , without implying that He is now proceeding with his teaching to the people : cf. Mar 4:33 .

] Some difficulty has been felt about the interpretation of this man , as to whether it is Christ or his ministers . The former certainly seems to be excluded by the , and , Mar 4:27 ; and perhaps the latter by . ., Mar 4:29 . But I believe the parable to be one taken simply from human things, the sower being quite in the background, and the whole stress being on the SEED its power and its development. The man then is just the farmer or husbandman, hardly admitting an interpretation , but necessary to the machinery of the parable.

Observe, that in this case it is not as in Luk 8:5 , and the agent is only hinted at in the most general way, e.g. . . ., without a nom. case expressed. If a meaning must be assigned, the best is “human agency” in general. (It will be seen from this note, that I regard the exposition given in my first edition as a mistaken one.)

, shall have cast past tense, whereas and . are present . The construction seems to be, The Kingdom of God is thus, that a man shall have cast, i.e. shall be as though he have cast : but it is not easy, and, as far as I know, unexampled. It looks like a combination of . , and . .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mar 4:26-29 . Parable of the Blade, the Ear, and the Full Corn . Peculiar to Mark and beyond doubt a genuine utterance of Jesus, the doctrine taught being over the head of the reporter and the Apostolic Church generally.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mar 4:26 . , and He said, to whom? The disciples in private, or the crowd from the boat? The absence of after ( cf. Mar 4:21 ; Mar 4:24 ) is not conclusive against the former, as Weiss and Meyer think. On the latter view Mar 4:21-25 are a parenthesis. In any case this new parable refers to the disciples as representing the fertile soil, and is a pendant to the parable of the Sower, teaching that even in the case of the fourth type of hearers the production of fruit is a gradual process demanding time. Put negatively it amounts to saying that Christ’s ministry has as yet produced no fruit properly speaking at all, but only in some cases met with a soil that gives promise of fruit (the disciples). The parable reveals at once the discrimination and the patience of Jesus. He knew the difference between the blade that would wither and that which would issue in ripe grain, and He did not expect this result in any case per saltum . A parable teaching this lesson was very seasonable after that of the Sower.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar 4:26-29

26And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; 27and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and growshow, he himself does not know. 28The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. 29But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Mar 4:26 “seed” This parable is unique to Mark. Because of Mar 4:14 we know this refers to the gospel message. Growth is a result of good seed and good soil. This is the divine and human aspects of covenant.

Mar 4:27-29 This may reflect salvation as a process (cf. 1Co 1:18; 1Co 15:2; 2Co 2:15; 2Pe 3:18). This parable describes the mysterious and amazing growth of faith in the life of the fallen children of Adam. The goal is fruit!

SPECIAL TOPIC: SALVATION (GREEK VERB TENSES)

Mar 4:29 “puts in the sickle” This is a metaphor for the end-time harvesting. It refers to judgment day (cf. Joe 3:13; Mat 3:12; Mat 13:30).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

So = Thus.

if. A contingent hypothesis. App-118.

a man. Greek. anthropos. App-123.

should cast = should have cast.

seed = the seed.

into = upon. Greek. epi. App-104.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

26-29.] PARABLE OF THE SEED GROWING WE KNOW NOT HOW. Peculiar to Mark. By Commentators of the Straussian school it is strangely supposed to be the same as the parable of the tares, with the tares left out. If so, a wonderful and most instructive parable has arisen out of the fragments of the other, in which the idea is a totally different one. It is, the growth of the once-deposited seed by the combination of its own development with the genial power of the earth, all of course under the creative hand of God,-but independent of human care and anxiety during this time of growth.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mar 4:26. , a man) With this man God and Christ are compared, with a view to describe the several ages and grades [stages of progress] of the whole Christian Church; comp. Mar 4:29.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mar 4:26-29

5. PARABLE OF THE SEED

Mar 4:26-29

26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth;–The main point is that although man must sow and reap, all that lies between these two extremes is not only independent of his power but beyond his observation. The growth and increase is with God. Such is the reign of Christ in its growth and development in the hearts of men. It is like the case of the seed planted in the ground. The seed, its germination and growth, is the prominent thing in the parable. The seed is the word of God, the gospel. The kingdom of God always begins in communities by the spiritual seed, the word of God, being sown in the hearts of individuals, as vegetable crops start by seed being planted in the soil.

27 and should sleep and rise night and day,–[Should sleep in the night, and rise by day. That is, live in his usual way while giving the seed time to germinate and come forth. The germinating and coming forth is God’s part. Here man is helpless–he has no control over the seed germinating and the plant springing forth. The seed is left hid out of his sight, to the life God has given it, and to the forces of nature. Man cannot give the seed life nor make it grow. Here he must rest in hope both day and night.]

and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how.–Here the wisdom of God is too deep for the mind of man. He cannot fathom it. Human wisdom cannot penetrate it. Here modern science, like all human wisdom, must pause. It has failed to find what the life in the seed is. Here science is forced to bow to the wisdom of God. After all the researches of philosophers, not one has been able to tell the way in which seed grows. They can observe one fact after another–they can see the changes–they can see the necessity of rain and sunshine, of care in the sowing, but beyond this they cannot go.

28 The earth beareth fruit of herself;–It is done while man sleeps by night and is engaged in other things by day. We are not to suppose that Jesus meant to say that the earth had any productive power of itself, but only that it yields its fruits, not by the power of man. God gives its yielding power. It, like man, has no power of its own. So the word of God in the heart is not by the power of man. It grows he cannot tell how. It is by the power of God. At the same time, as without labor man would have no vegetable harvest, so without active effort he would have no fruit of the Spirit. Both are connected with and enjoyed in his efforts–both are to be measured by his efforts.

first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.–There is an orderly development both in natural and spiritual growth. This growth is in harmony with law. We cannot hope to find the ripened Christian experience in the young convert, any more than the fully matured corn in the first appearance of the blade. He who expects the end at the beginning will be disappointed. The Christian’s growth is like climbing Jacob’s ladder with many steps, the face always looking up toward God. There are different stages in all life. In the animal, there is childhood, youth, and manhood. In the spiritual, there is conversion, the newborn babe in Christ, childhood, and the manhood stages. The young and tender Christian, like the tender plant, needs care, kindness and culture. A light frost, a cold wave, or a burning sun alike injures the tender blade. So tender piety in the heart of a newborn babe in Christ needs shelter from the frosts and storms of a cold unfeeling world. It needs the genial dews and mild sunshine of heaven. That is, it needs instruction, prayer, and counsel from parents, teachers and all experienced Christians, that it may grow and bring forth the full fruits of righteousness.

29 But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.–All the growth was toward this end for which the seed was planted. Man’s agency now begins again, after having been suspended since sowing the wheat. Harvest time has come, therefore time again for man to work. One sows the word of God, he doesall he can in this particular, passes on to other duties, and in due course of time the seed germinates, grows, develops, and produces a harvest. It requires time to produce a harvest. It is not neglect in the man who sows wheat or other grain and sleeps during the night and is up during the day doing other things until the harvest; neither is it neglect to preach the gospel and await the time for its development in the hearts of the hearers. As the earth must receive the seed and do its part in producing a harvest, so all hearers must receive the word of God and by all processes necessary produce a harvest. The sower must do his duty in sowing and not withhold any of the seed–that is, any part of the word of God; the hearers must do their duty in bearing fruit.

In this parable Christ was showing how the kingdom of God arose and bore fruit in this life. The word of God is received into the heart. It changes the feelings, the purposes, the thoughts, and bears fruit in the life. When the fruit is ripened, the sickle is put in and reaped for the garner of God.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

CHAPTER 17

Spiritual Growth

And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

(Mar 4:26-29)

In these verses Mark records one of our Lords parables that none of the other gospel writers was inspired to record. It was delivered by our Master shortly after the parable of the sower, just before the parable of the mustard seed. This parable about spiritual growth was delivered immediately after our Lord said, With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you. If we have reason to hope we are Christians, we ought to be very interested in the teachings of our Lord in this parable. It is deeply instructive. It summons us, wrote J.C. Ryle, to an examination of our experience in divine things. This parable, though very short, is just as sweet and instructive as our Lords other parables. It sets before us a history of Gods work of grace in chosen sinners.

I asked the Lord that I might grow

In faith, and love, and every grace;

Might more of His salvation know,

And seek more earnestly His face.

`Twas He Who taught me thus to pray,

And He, I trust, has answered prayer;

But it has been in such a way

As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,

At once Hed answer my request;

And, by His loves constraining power,

Subdue my sins and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel

The hidden evils of my heart,

And let the angry powers of hell

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea, more, with His own hand He seemed

Intent to aggravate my woe;

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,

Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this? I trembling cried;

Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?

`Tis in this way, the Lord replied,

I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ,

From self and pride to set thee free;

And break thy schemes of earthly joy,

That thou mayest seek thine all in Me.

John Newton

Our Lord here uses the growth of a grain of a tiny seed into a strong and fruitful plant to teach us four specific lessons about every believers growth in grace. So is the kingdom of God. Lets look at these four lessons together, praying that God the Holy Spirit, who inspired Mark to record this parable, will be our Teacher.

The Sower

First, as the growth of corn requires that someone sow the seed, in Gods work of grace in his kingdom there must be a sower to sow the precious seed of the gospel. And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground (Mar 4:26).

The earth never brings forth corn on its own. Left to itself, since the sin and fall of our father Adam, this sin-cursed earth brings forth nothing but weeds, and briars, and thorns. This produces weeds, but never wheat, thorns, but never corn. The hard earth must be broken up by the farmers plow and harrow. The seed must be sown by the hand of man. Otherwise, there would be no harvest.

So it is with the heart of man. No man left to himself would ever turn to God in repentance, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and obey the Word of God. The heart of man is totally depraved, void of all that is spiritual, good, righteous, and gracious. Man, by nature, is dead in trespasses and in sins, spiritually dead. The heart of man is enmity against God. No sinner is capable of any righteous, spiritual activity. A dead man can do nothing for himself. His condition is altogether and utterly helpless.

The Son of God must break up the fallow ground of the depraved heart by his Spirit. He must sow the seed of life by his power, as his servants scatter the precious seed, and create life in the dead sinner. Otherwise, the lovely plant of grace will never spring to life in the city of Mansoul. Grace in the heart of man is an exotic plant. It is an altogether new thing. It comes down from heaven. Left to himself, no man would ever even know his need of Christ, much less seek after him. Grace, righteousness, and spiritual life, inward godliness, is the work of God alone.

Yet, in this parable, and throughout the New Testament, our Lord teaches us that in communicating grace, God works by appointed means: The Preaching of the Gospel! Those who despise the appointed means and yet hope to obtain Gods grace might just as well expect to see a field of corn grow in an uncultivated jungle where no seed has been sown.

The man in this parable is a gospel preacher, one who is sent forth by Christ, bearing precious seed. Robert Hawker rightly observed, The man who is said to cast seed into the ground, cannot mean our Lord Jesus Christ, for he neither slumbereth nor sleepeth; neither can it be ever said of him, that his seed springeth, and groweth he knoweth not how (Psa 121:4 : Isa 27:2-3).

The Seed

The Seed sown is the Word of God, the Gospel of Gods free and sovereign grace in Christ, the incorruptible seed that lives and abides forever (1Pe 1:23-25).

It is, John Gill wrote, so called for its smallness, the diminutive character it bears, and contempt it is had in by some; and for its choiceness and excellency in itself, and in the account of others; and for its generative virtue under a divine influence. The Gospel is like the manna, which was a small round thing, as a coriander seed; and as that was contemptible in the eyes of the Israelites, so the preaching of the Gospel is, to them that perish, foolishness. And yet it is choice and precious seed in itself, and to those who know the value of it, by whom it is preferred to thousands of gold and silver. As worthless and unpromising as it may seem to be, it has a divine virtue put into it; and, under the influence of powerful and efficacious grace, it is the means of regenerating souls, and produces fruit in them, which will remain unto everlasting life. Yet, as the seed is of no use this way, unless it is sown in the earth, and covered there, so is the Gospel of no use for regeneration, unless it is by the power of God let into the heart, and received there, where, through that power, it works effectually.

Casting the seed into the earth is the preaching of the gospel. Faithful gospel preachers do not spread divers and strange doctrines. Their ministry is one. They all see eye to eye (Isa 52:7-8). They always sow the same precious seed, without any mixture of the tares of free will, works religion. Gods servants do not deal out the truths of the gospel in a narrow and niggardly way. They do not restrain and conceal any part of Holy Scripture. They proclaim pure gospel truth from the housetop and set before their hearers the whole counsel of God. I quote Gill again

Though there may be many discouragements (that) attend them, many temptations arise to put off from sowing the word; the weather bad, storms and tempests arise, reproaches and persecutions come thick and fast, still they go on; using all that heavenly skill, prudence, and discretion God has given them, preaching the word in season, and out of season; and when they have done, they leave their work with the Lord, knowing that Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but it is God only that gives the increase.

The ground into which the Seed is cast are the different hearers of the Word. In this parable our Lord is describing those who hear and receive the gospel as seed sown in good ground. Those whose hearts are broken up by the Spirit of God, the stoniness of them taken away, are made receptive hearers of the good Word of God.

The Growth

Second, in the growing of corn and in the work of grace there is much that is beyond mans comprehension and control. And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how (Mar 4:27).

The sleep mentioned here is not a natural sleep. Our Lord is teaching spiritual lessons, not natural lessons. Gods servant ministers to his people (Gal 3:5). Yet, as the seed of the gospel takes root in the hearts of sinners and grows, he readily acknowledges that, he knoweth not how. Though every faithful gospel preacher watches over the garden of God, soaking the Word sown with tears and prayers, the fruit is brought forth as they sleep. I am confident that our Savior did not use the word sleep here to refer to slothfulness on the part of faithful men, though faithful men know their own slothfulness. The sleep mentioned here may refer either to the sleep of death or to the confidence of faith.

Our Lord may be talking here about the sleep of death. Frequently, the fruitfulness of a faithful mans labor is not known until after he sleeps in his Masters arms. The churches and people among whom and for whom he has faithfully labored bring forth fruit after he has been taken from the scene. As Robert Hawker put it

The harvest arrives not, to their consciousness, in the fields of their labors in numberless instances, until they themselves have fallen asleep in Jesus. Many a seed time, and many a days labor, followed up with prayer, do faithful ministers of Jesus leave behind them, which are answered, when their poor bodies are mouldering in the grave.

Perhaps our Lords words refer to the confidence of faith in which faithful men labor. Faithful men believe God. They labor with confidence and satisfaction, leaving the work in Gods hands. They are confident that God who sent his Word will make his Word fruitful. Thus, when the day is done, they sit down with the confidence of faith, with the satisfying security that their labor will be fruitful in the souls of men, in the kingdom of God and for the glory of God. Gods servants do not despair of success. They know that they shall be successful (Isa 55:11; 1Co 15:58; 2Co 2:14-17).

Like diligent farmers, faithful pastors rise night and day. They constantly attend to their work. It is always on their minds. It is a weight in their souls and a burden in their hearts. It never leaves them. Yet, they know that it is God alone who gives the increase; and they wait for him to do so.

Whether he knows it or not, every good farmer exemplifies faith in and resignation to the sovereign will of God. He labors with great diligence, sows his seed with great care, and waits for God to give the increase. Though he labors with great care, the seed springs to life and grows up, he knoweth not how. He sows good seed, and plenty of it, in good ground. Yet, no farmer can command the grain to grow, keep the crows from stealing it, or even tell you exactly what corn is in all of its components, though he knows corn when he sees it. He cannot tell you exactly when the corn sprang to life; but he knows whether the seed has sprung to life. He cannot define what life is; but he can discern it.

So it is in the works of grace in the hearts of chosen sinners. The greatest abilities, the most powerful preaching, and the most diligent labors cannot command success. Only God can give life to dead sinners (Joh 3:8). Yet we labor with confidence, knowing that our only work is to sow the seed. God alone can and will, as he sees fit, cause the Seed sown to spring forth into life. God giveth the increase!

Mysterious as nature is, grace is indescribably more mysterious. We sow good seed under the clods of the earth. There, the seed dies before it springs to life, grows, and brings forth fruit. In Gods mighty operations of grace, the gospel, planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit, becomes the engrafted Word. But no man can know when or how Gods saving grace is, by this means, implanted in the heart (Joh 3:8). These things are not even known to the sinner who experiences them, let alone to others. Suddenly, the sinner, who could not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, finds himself trusting the Son of God and rejoicing in his salvation; but he cannot tell how it happened. This marvellous, wondrous work of grace, this mighty operation of God is done secretly and powerfully, under the influence of divine grace, without their knowledge.

Particularly, our Lord here teaches us that it is accomplished without the knowledge of the instrument God uses to perform the work. Though God uses men as instruments to sow the Seed, it springs to life and grows up he knoweth not how, in the night as he sleeps. Though the sowing and planting are the preachers responsibility, all the increase is Gods work alone. The earth (the regenerate heart) is said to bring forth fruit, as the man who sowed the seed sleeps night and day, while the seed is growing without his knowledge, because Gods work in the heart is Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord (Zec 4:6). Salvation is of the Lord!

Gradual Growth

Third, in both the cultivation of corn and in the work of grace life is made manifest gradually by degrees. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear (Mar 4:28). Two things are set before us in this verse.

1.The earth bringeth forth fruit of herself. Once the seed is sown, and watered, and fertilized, the farmers work is over. And once the gospel is preached, watered, and fertilized by prayer, the preachers work is over. As the fruitfulness of the earth is Gods production and Gods work, so the fruitfulness of the Word is Gods production and Gods grace (Rom 9:16).

No one would imagine that our Lord means for us to understand that the earth actually produces life. Yet, many would have us believe that man himself brings forth fruit unto everlasting life by his own will! Nothing could be further from the truth. The whole work of grace is Gods work. Repentance is the gift of God (Rom 2:4; Act 5:30-31). Faith is the gift and operation of grace (Eph 2:8-9; Col 2:12). Love is the fruit of the Spirit. Joy is the result of Gods work in us. Peace is the product of grace (Gal 5:22-23). Sanctification is Gods work for us and in us, not our work for God (Heb 10:10-14; Jud 1:1). Commenting on our Lords words here, John Gill wrote

All these things are owing to the Spirit, power, and grace of God. Men are regenerated according to the abundant mercy of God, of water and of the Spirit, by the word of truth, through the sovereign will and pleasure of God. They are quickened, who before were dead in trespasses and sins, and were as dry bones, by the Spirit of God breathing upon them.

Conversion in the first production, is the Lord’s work; turn thou me, and I shall be turned. Faith in Christ is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God; and so is repentance unto life. Love is one of the fruits of the Spirit. In short, the whole work of grace is not by might, nor by power of man, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts; who begins and carries on, and performs it until the day of Christ.

The work of sanctification is therefore called the sanctification of the Spirit. It is through him the deeds of the body are mortified. Indeed, without Christ, believers themselves can do nothing at all; even cannot perform good works, or do any action that is truly and spiritually good.

The design is to show, that as the earth without human power, without the husbandman, under the influence of the heavens, brings forth fruit. So without human power, without the Gospel minister, the word having taken root under divine influence, through the Sun of Righteousness, the dews of divine grace, and operations of the blessed Spirit, it rises up and brings forth fruit.

2.Gods works of grace in us are gradual works. Nothing in nature grows suddenly except weeds. The same thing is true in the kingdom of God. The seed does not burst forth into life as soon as it is sown. The ripe corn does not appear the day after the first green blade shoots out of the ground. It takes a while. The plant goes through many stages of growth before it is ready for harvest, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” Yet, the plant is living.

In the kingdom of God things are exactly the same. Gods works of grace in the hearts of his elect proceed by degrees. None of the Lords children are born full grown. None of them are born with mature and perfect faith, hope, knowledge, and love. Our beginning is a day of small things. We see in part and know in part. We see our sinfulness, but only in small measure. We see Christs fulness, but only in small measure. We know that Gods grace is sufficient, but have no idea how sufficient it will prove to be!

Yet, wherever there is faith, even as a grain of mustard seed, there is life. Without question, there is weakness and infirmity; but still there is life. The seed of grace has come up in the heart, though perhaps only as a tender plant, a tiny blade shooting out of the ground.

There is much instruction here. He that is wise will lay it to heart. The strongest man was a helpless baby once. Everything must have a beginning. We must never despise the day of small things. We must never look upon, or treat, a brother or sister in Christ as though they are unregenerate because they are babes in grace or weak in faith. As it is in nature, so it is in grace. The child, though perfect in all its parts, must grow from the babe to the young man, and at length to the father.

And, as Hawker wrote, when grace is ripened for glory, like the fruit ripe for harvest, Jesus takes home his redeemed to him, to his harvest in heaven. The seed cast in the renewed heart, made so by grace, is the sure earnest of the harvest. Though men sleep, and know not how the advance is made, Jesus both knows, gives the needed supply, and watches over the whole plantation. To you, to me, things may at times appear, as in a wintry dispensation. But to Jesus the progress is advancing. The promise is absolute from God the Father. I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon Mine offspring (Isa 44:3; Isa 59:21). And a soul renewed in Christ, must be separated from Christ, before those promises can fail (Rom 8:39). Blessedly, therefore, the Apostle sings, to the full assurance of faith, when he saith, Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who hath also given unto us the earnest of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 5).

Seedtime and Harvest

Fourth, in the cultivation of corn and the kingdom of God there is both seedtime and a time for harvest. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come (Mar 4:29). There is a time appointed for the harvest. No farmer thinks of cutting his wheat while it is green, or gathering his corn before the ears are formed. He waits for the sun and rain, the heat and cold to do their work. Then, when the golden grain bows and the ears are full, but not until then, he puts in his sickle and reaps the harvest. Things are exactly the same in the kingdom of God.

God never gathers his people out of this world until they are ripe for harvest. He never takes his chosen until grace has made them ready. He never removes his elect until their work is done. Gods children always die at precisely the right time. The great Husbandman never cuts the corn early or late.

So now the future holds no fear,

God guards the work begun;

And mortals are immortal here,

Until their work is done.

And our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come at exactly the right time to gather his harvest out of the world. When all things are ready, when everything has been done that God purposed to do, when all the elect are saved, then the Lord will come again and gather in his harvest. He is gathering his harvest by gospel preachers today. He gathers his harvest by his holy angels as he calls his elect up to heaven at death. He shall gather his harvest personally in resurrection glory at the last day.

May God the Holy Spirit enable us to carry the teachings and the comfort of this small, but instructive parable in our hearts. The next time a brother or sister is taken in death, remember this parable. Our Lord only gathers his harvest at the right time. There are no chances, accidents, or mistakes with our God. He knows best what to do in his own garden and with his own wheat.

It is our responsibility to sow the Seed. God will give the increase as he sees fit, when he sees fit. Wherever there is life there is growth. The growth is gradual, but sure; and it is Gods work. At his appointed time, the harvest will come.

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

kingdom

(See Scofield “Mat 6:33”)

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

So: Mat 3:2, Mat 4:17, Mat 13:11, Mat 13:31, Mat 13:33, Luk 13:18

as: Mar 4:3, Mar 4:4, Mar 4:14-20, Pro 11:18, Ecc 11:4, Ecc 11:6, Isa 28:24-26, Isa 32:20, Mat 13:3, Mat 13:24, Luk 8:5, Luk 8:11, Joh 4:36-38, Joh 12:24, 1Co 3:6-9, Jam 3:18, 1Pe 1:23-25

Reciprocal: Isa 61:11 – as the earth Mat 13:26 – General Joh 3:8 – so 1Co 3:9 – ye are God’s 1Co 15:38 – General Col 1:6 – bringeth

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

NATURAL LAW IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD

And (Jesus) said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

Mar 4:26-29

The central thought of this parable is that Gods own Divine power is at work in Gods own Kingdom. The earth bringeth forth fruit of herselfnot of herself apart from God, but apart from the man who sows the seed. He does his work; the seed springs up and grows he knows not how. So is the Kingdom of God.

I. The working of the Kingdom.What hope have we that this Kingdom will come? What is our consolation in regard to it amidst all the discouragements of the time? The same hope and the same encouragement that the man has who casts his seed into the ground. The earth bringeth forth of herself apart from him. So that on the working of the Kingdom of God amongst men we fall back upon the same kind of forces as we do in the working out of our natural life. Everywhere men are dependent upon the great power which is working behind. In this day of material progress and trial we are apt to look rather at the organisations than at the spirit that breathes through them, at what men do rather than at what God does behind.

II. The need of patience.In this great work of elevating the world the element of time must be taken into account, and we must wait with patience. The man sows his seed, but he does not see the harvest immediately. Corn takes time, but character is more precious than corn, and takes a longer time for its development. A man may be converted in a moment of time, but the development of his life must needs take many years. For the truth is, salvation means not merely delivering a man from sin and every evil thing, but building him into all nobleness. It is not merely the putting aside of what is weak and sinful, but the attainment of all that is noble and true. And you find that the attainment of power to a man of spiritual power is always a work of time.

III. The law of continuity.Our Lord says that there is a natural law of continuity in the spiritual life as there is in other things. First the blade, and then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. We can never do without any of the intervening stages.

(a) There is first the green blade trembling in the breeze, the stirring of spiritual life in the young disciple.

(b) There is next the green ear; and it seems sometimes as if there were very little value to be attached to it except for what comes afterwards. Sometimes a man thinks he is losing ground and going back, when, in point of fact, God is training him for higher service, and leading him to the heights of the Christian life.

(c) Then comes the time of the full ripe corn in the ear, the time which Bunyan sets before us in the picture of the land of Beulah. Beautiful the faith and love of the young disciple, but more beautiful still the faith and love of the aged Christian who has felt that Christ has been with him through the battle of life, has been with him in storm and in sunshine, and has brought him on his way to the city of God.

IV. The harvest.If the principles at work in us, the powers that are most dominant, are Godlike, there will certainly come the harvest, and then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

Illustrations

(1) This parable is found only in the Gospel of Mark, and is one of the most brilliant examples of the perfect naturalness of our Lords teaching, and of the way in which He shows the underlying connection between the two worlds, natural and spiritual. At first sight it might seem as if there were but few points of comparison between these two, between the work going on, for example, in a cornfield and the work going on in a human soul. For while trees and shooting corn have power to grow, they have no power to will, while man has both. And it is this real power to will which is the determining factor in character and destiny. You can have a fixed and determined science of natural forces, but not of the forces of a mans inner life. You can measure to a point the pressure of steam, but you cannot tell beforehand what may be the effect of a single speech or a single book upon a nations history. You may predict beforehand the return or the transit of a planet, but you cannot tell beforehand when the hour of a spiritual conflict may come in the life of your child. And yet while these worlds are so separate there is an underlying unity, and it is this unity which really springs out in the parable.

(2) John Wesleys dying words are words of comfort to the Church in all the centuries. Best of all, God is with us. If He were not, our hope would be scant indeed.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

ATTRIBUTES AND USES OF THE DIVINE SEED

The seed springs and grows up from its own inherent vitality; and, moreover, it does so apart from and independently of human aid and instrumentality. Thus we have in the text two attributes of the Divine seed: (1) its native vitality; (2) its sovereign independence.

I. Its native vitality.This important principle lies at the foundation of all missionary and evangelistic effort. We may find the illustration of the principle

(a) In the teaching of Christ. Consider the humble, lowly origin of the Man Christ Jesus. Yet at this moment the six or seven great Powers which control the destinies of our race are by profession at least the followers of Jesus Christ. This is a phenomenon which exists, not a theory, but a facta unique fact in the history of the race, and can be explained on no other assumption than that of the inherent and superhuman vitality of the Divine Word.

(b) In the teaching of the Apostles. The work of the world has been commonly done by few; the great turning-points of history have often been the work of one man, e.g. Mohammed, Luther, Napoleon, and many others. As a rule, such men left no successors; it was as if nature had exhausted itself in the effort and could do no more. It was not so with the personality of Christ; He, indeed, stands alone, unique and unapproachable; but He left behind Him successors, second only to Himself in their influence upon the world; and that because their teaching was the reproduction and illustration of His own. Every page of apostolic history is an illustration of this truththe vitality of the Divine seed.

(c) In the experience of believers. The fruit is the product of the seed, and every true Christian is thus a witness to the inborn vitality of the Divine Word. Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth.

II. Its sovereign independence.The sower is represented as absenting himself after he has committed the seed to the ground, and the seed as growing up without any action or intervention on his part. What does this mean? The Divine seed when sown can, and often does, dispense with the co-operation of man because

(a) It contains essential truth.

(b) Sets forth a Divine revelation.

(c) It is attended always by the ministry of the Holy Ghost.

It is, so far as man is concerned, sovereign and independent in its action.

III. The uses to which this lesson may be put are many and various.

(a) Its evidential value should not be lost sight of in a day of bold criticism and sceptical doubt. The Bible has become the battlefield of Christianity; and we need to look well to our defences. Those defences are neither few nor feeble; but to the Christian there are none perhaps so assuring, so convincing, as the self-evidential character of the Word of God.

(b) Its personal value is another consequence. The Bible has a voice for all men: Unto you, O men, I call; and My voice is to the sons of man (Pro 8:4); but it speaks to the individual.

(c) Its universal ministry. The Bible for the world, and the world for the Bible, is an axiom of all missionary enterprise, at home and abroad. The individual agent is necessarily local and limited in its action, the Divine seed is unlimited and universal. The field is the world, and our warrant for believing in the efficacy of such sowing is not only the inherent vitality of the seed, but also its sovereign independence.

Rev. Sir Emilius Laurie, b.d.

Illustration

When a man preaches to me, said Daniel Webster, the American statesman, I want him to make it a personal matter, a personal matter, a personal matter! And no doubt the more each individual can feel that he is the very person to whom Scripture addresses itself, that such is its versatility, such its wonderful adaptation to the ever varying needs of the human heart, that its eye, to use Kebles illustration, like that of a portrait, is ever fixed upon us, turn where we will, the greater will be the profit we derive from it. Thou art the man, writes Dean Stanley, is or ought to be the conclusion, expressed or unexpressed, of every parochial sermon.

(THIRD OUTLINE)

WHAT IS YOUR GROWTH?

Men, women, take your true measure.

I. Is it towards evil?Look back to days when you gazed on life with the bright, expectant eyes of youth. Remember those ideals of yoursthose resolves, those pure purposeswhich you know were the upward strivings of the spiritual life-germ within you. But what growth has there been through the years? Are you more hard and proud, more selfish and shallow, more careless and cold than formerly? Is there rock below the root, and are there thorns about the blade? Do the weeds choke and strangle the life? Then beware lest your soul shall never recover its lost growth. There was one brilliant man who at the end of life wrote thus miserably:

My years are in the yellow leaf,

The flowers and fruits of love are gone;

The worm, the canker, and the grief

Are mine alone.

Beware, I say, lest the worm of vain regret and the canker of useless self-condemnation be yours in that day when the growing-time of lifes opportunities shall have gone by you into the irrevocable past.

II. Is it towards good?Are you truer, kinder, broader, more just and generous than before? Is the self-love weaker and the care for others stronger? Are you less earth-bound, less earth-satisfied, more heavenly-minded? You hardly like to admit so much. And yet you do love your neighbour better than in former days, and you can look up to God with fuller trust. Happy man! You are Gods husbandry, His tilled field, His planting. His grace is sufficient for you. He Who fulfils His purpose of growth in every living thing will not fail in His purpose of growth in your soul.

III. We were meant to grow.Nothing on earth is lovelier than a child. But a child which never grew would be an abortion which must shrivel and die. Would the mother be content to have her babe always such? Nay; she nourishes it that it may grow. She looks for the ripening of its powers and for brave deeds nobly done. And can you think that the Eternal Parent is satisfied with poor, dwarfed, shrivelled-up souls? Nay; but He would lay us on His breast and feed us with HimselfTill we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Rev. C. H. R. Harper.

Illustration

Look into your own souls, and ask yourselves if the seed God has given to you has sprung up and borne fruit. The best of people will be the readiest to own how far the field of the soul has fallen short of the harvest-field, yet their lives are brighter and less unattractive than they once were; they know that they love where once they disliked, that they strive often to win those who dislike them to a better mind, that they strive to think well even of the unthankful and the evil; best of all, they know they have the power sometimes to draw souls, by the sweetness and gentleness of their lives, to Jesus Christ. They know what it is to be useful, too. They gladly comfort the sad, and try to raise the fallen; and they minister to the sick, and pray and watch by the bedsides of the dying. And, looking back over their lives, they can realise that there has been growthgrowth in purity, in grace, in faith, in holiness.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Chapter 28.

The Parable of the Fruitgrowing Earth

“And He said, So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come”-Mar 4:26-29.

A Difficult Parable.

This is not a parable altogether easy of interpretation. In fact, scarcely two of the commentators I have consulted agree as to what is the real heart of the parable. And the difference between them becomes evident by the different titles they give to it In our English Bible the parable is spoken of as the parable of the “Seed growing secretly,” and in that description of it, apparently, Bishop Chadwick and Archbishop Trench agree. That places the centre of gravity of the parable in Mar 4:27, and makes the sentence “the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how,” the salient and all-important sentence. Dr. A. B. Bruce, on the other hand, calls the parable “The Blade, the Ear, the Full Corn,” and he maintains that the chief lesson of the parable is that of the orderly development of the Kingdom of God. Dr. Salmond takes yet another point of view, and calls the parable the Parable of the Fruit-bearing Earth, and finds its central lesson in the statement, “The earth beareth fruit of itself;” and apparently Dr. Glover agrees with Dr. Salmond, for he says that the subject of the parable is the power of growth inherent in things divine.

A Parable of Encouragement.

Now, when commentators diner so widely, it is perhaps presumption for an ordinary working minister to express an opinion. Especially, as all the truths which the different commentators maintain to be the central and primary truths are to be found in it. For the secret and mysterious growth of the seed is certainly here; and the orderly growth of the seed is also here; and the fruit-bearing power of the earth is also here. It is only a question, after all, of relative importance. It is only a question which of these various truths which are to be found in the parable is to be regarded as the central and primary one. On that question I side with Dr. Salmond and Dr. Glover, and believe that the lesson the parable is meant chiefly to emphasise is that there is a power of growth inherent in things Divine, “and that the Kingdom of God working, in quiet and without haste, through the moral forces deposited in human nature and society, is moving on to its assured end, by laws of its own.” The parable is meant to be a parable of encouragement and in that respect is a complement to the Parable of the Sower.

Complementary to the Parable of the Sower

The Parable of the Sower, from one point of view, was a discouraging parable. For it spoke of the disappointments and failures that attend upon the work of the man who sows the Gospel seed. It mentions three cases of failure to one case of success. In the case of the wayside hearer and the rocky-ground hearer and the thorn-patch hearer, the seed might just as well not have been sown, for it brought forth no fruit to perfection. Now, I say, that was a discouraging parable, enough almost to frighten any one from work attended with so much disappointment. This parable is meant in a way to counteract any discouraging effect produced by the former parable. For this parable speaks, as Dr. Salmond says, of hidden forces beyond our knowledge or control, which secure the growth of the seed; it speaks of secret and prolonged processes, and tells us how seed which we have sown and almost forgotten, may at last issue in the full corn in the ear. This parable is the New Testament counterpart of that great Old Testament promise, “As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth; it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa 55:10-11).

The Limitation of Human Effort

Now let us turn to the parable itself. “So is the Kingdom of God,” says our Lord, “as if a man should cast seed upon the earth; and should sleep and rise night and day” (Mar 4:26-27, R.V.). What is the meaning of this sentence about “sleeping and rising night and day?” Does it signify indolence or carelessness, or indifference to the fate of the seed? Not at all, but rather the consciousness that the farmer had done all he could do, and that he must just leave the rest to Nature’s processes. In connection with the seed and its growth, the farmer has something to do at the beginning, and he has something to do at the end. He has to do the sowing, and when the harvest is ripe he has to do the reaping. But all that lies between the sowing and the reaping is God’s part, and not man’s. No anxiety on the farmer’s part will help the growth of the seed; it depends now on the sunshine and the dew and the rain-things in God’s control, and not in his. There is a limit to what a man can do in the matter of preparing for a harvest. He can prepare the earth, and sow the seed in it. There is practically nothing else that he can do. Having done that, he may sleep and rise night and day, i.e., go about the ordinary duties of life, and pursue his varied avocations, for the future growth of the seed depends not upon him, but upon Nature and Nature’s God.

-The Spiritual Endeavour.

And the Kingdom of God in its growth and development is much like that. There is a strict limit to what man can do. The growth of religion in the soul is not a human work, it is a Divine work. What can a man do? He can sow the seed. He can preach the Word. But having done that he has practically done all that he can do. Nothing that we can do can ensure that the seed shall take root and fructify. Nothing that we can do can ensure the thirty-fold and the sixty-fold and the hundred-fold. We have not the power to give a man a new heart, or to beget within him a new life. In a word, we have not the power to change and convert men. We can sow the seed, and we can take care it is good seed that we sow, but the question of fruitage and harvest we must leave entirely to God. The best and saintliest of men have to leave it there. Paul may plant, Apollos may water, but God giveth the increase. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zec 4:6).

-A Fact to be recognised with Thankfulness.

This is a fact to be recognised with humility and thankfulness, says Dr. Bruce. With thankfulness, for it relieves the heart of the too heavy burden of an unlimited responsibility. It would be more than flesh and blood could bear, to think that it depended upon us, and us alone, whether men were saved or not. But God relieves us of that heavy burden. We have to scatter the seed; to preach the Word, to declare the Gospel in all sincerity and earnestness. We must leave results and effects to God. Our business is to do the sowing; the harvest is God’s care.

-And with Humility.

It is a fact to be recognised also with humility. For it teaches us that the real worker is God, and it drives us to a more humble dependence upon Him. We can oftentimes do more by prayer and humble waiting upon God than we can by fussy zeal. I am not sure whether we do not sometimes think we can manufacture a harvest of our own. I mean this; the tendency of our time is perhaps to multiply our forms of activity, and to neglect prayer. But the limits of the good that any activities of ours may do are very quickly reached. No amount of activity on our part can make religion take root and grow in the soul. That is God’s work. And, if we want to see a harvest from the seed we scatter, it is to Him we should address ourselves. “My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him” (Psa 62:5).

The Quietness of Growth.

The farmer flings his seed upon the ground, and leaves it there. He goes off to other work, to one or other of the varied duties of the farm. He sleeps and rises night and day; and what of the seed itself? The seed springs up and grows, he knoweth not how; quietly and silently. Here we are at that truth which our Authorised Version emphasises as the central lesson of the parable-the lesson of the quiet and steady growth of the seed. You have noticed how silently the very mightiest forces work. The law of gravitation that holds the worlds in their places makes no noise. The light that transforms the entire face of nature comes without tumult. The sunshine and the dew that cause the earth to bring forth and bud, visit us with absolutely noiseless tread. But there is no process more wonderful than the death and resurrection process, that takes place in the history of every seed planted in the bosom of the brown earth. God has, as Dr. Raleigh used to say, His laboratory beneath the soil. He opens in every field ten thousand times ten thousand fountains of life. He kindles there ten thousand invisible fires; He never leaves the field. And by and by, for every seed he scattered, the farmer receives back thirty, sixty, and a hundred. This marvellous multiplying process has taken place in absolute silence and quietness. You can see and hear a building grow. You can mark its rise, brick by brick, storey by storey; but you cannot trace the growth of the seed beneath the soil. The child who plants the seed to-day, and then digs it up to-morrow, will not see the growth. It is a silent, quiet, imperceptible process, and it is like that, our Lord says, with the Kingdom of God.

The Growth within the Community.

I think that possibly the original reference in the parable is not so much to the growth of religion in the individual soul, as to the spread of religion in the community. The disciples were expecting an outward and visible Kingdom. They wanted it to come at once. You remember their question, “Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel?” (Act 1:6). They did not see why it should not come suddenly, as the result of some great act of power. But “The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation” (Luk 17:20). Men can never say, “Lo, here! Lo, there!” And yet quietly it is growing, ceaselessly growing, and grow it will till the kingdoms of the world become the Kingdoms of our God and of His Christ.

The Growth in the Individual Soul.

But though the primary reference may be to the Kingdom in its broadest sense, what our Lord says here is true of the growth of religion in the individual soul. Spiritual growth is mysterious in its beginning. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit” (Joh 3:8). And it is quiet and imperceptible in its development. God is quietly at work in many hearts unknown to us. We can see no signs of life or change, perhaps; and yet the seed is springing and growing up.

Encouragement for Workers.

There is infinite encouragement and hope in all this. We soon come to the end of our little resources, and we grieve that we see no visible results. But when that is so, remember that God never leaves the field. He never ceases His work, and under His fostering care the seed we scattered, unknown to us and unseen by us, is growing up. Where we never see it, faith is in existence. Where we never suspect it, it has often made considerable progress. Think of God’s answer to Elijah, when he moaned out, that he alone in the whole of Israel was left to worship the living God. “Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel,” was God’s word to him, “all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal” (1Ki 19:18). Think of God’s message to Paul, when he was cast down and almost broken-hearted, at the seeming failure of his work at Corinth. Our Lord appeared to him in a vision by night, and told him, “I have much people in this city” (Act 18:10). The seed that Paul thought had been scattered in vain had all the time been growing secretly. And so still in unsuspected places, and without any arresting sign, the truth takes effect. The minister sees nothing. Members of the family see nothing. Companions see nothing. Yet under God’s fostering care the seed is growing up.

A Personal Reminiscence.

Shall I tell you a personal incident? When I was at Lincoln I preached a sermon on “Friendship.” It was addressed especially to young men. I remember feeling particularly discouraged after preaching that day. I kept company with Elijah under the juniper tree, and felt I had laboured for naught and in vain. But since coming to Bournemouth I received a letter from Australia about that very sermon. And this was what it said. The writer was in Lincoln the Sunday I preached it. He was a complete stranger, and quite casually, or rather shall we say providentially, he turned into my old Church. He went out to Australia immediately afterwards, and lived rather a rough and careless life; but the sermon he heard at Lincoln clung to him. In his wildest days he said he kept hearing the appeal to make a Friend of Him who sticketh closer than a brother. And at last, six years after the sermon was preached, he gave himself body and soul to the Lord. Who would have thought of what was passing in the heart of that young fellow during these wild and careless years? Let us be of good cheer. Let us scatter the seed. In the most solitary places, in the most stubborn and obstinate hearts, it grows and springs up we know not how.

The Spontaneity of Growth.

“For,” says our Lord, “the earth beareth fruit of herself.” This is not meant, of course, to exclude the Divine agency. What our Lord means to say is this; that when man has done with the seed, other forces begin to act upon it, forces inherent in the earth to which it is committed, forces of God’s own providing in the way of fructifying sun and showers. Thus the truth Jesus wants us to remember is, that there are other forces besides our own human efforts which make for the growth and development of the seed.

-From the Life in the Seed and the Possibilities of the Soil.

First of all, there is an amazing life in the seed itself, “The Word is quick and powerful.” By itself and of itself often the mere Word seems to effect great spiritual changes. Then let us never forget that the heart of man is made for the reception of the Divine Word. We say that the heart of man is “desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9); and that is true. But we have to remember the truth expressed by Augustine in that well-known saying, “O God, Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.” There are hearts described by our Lord as “good ground,” hearts favourable to the growth of the Divine Word. Is not Augustine himself an illustration of this. His mother’s prayers and teaching for years seemed wasted upon him, while he plunged into folly and excess and sin. But all the time the heart was retaining the Word, and bringing it to fruition, and then one day, to his mother’s delighted surprise, Augustine gave himself in glad surrender to the Lord. And then, in addition to the life in the seed and the capacity of the heart, there is the ceaseless ministry of the Spirit of God. He is continually working upon the souls of men, and in the most wonderful ways bringing the seed to harvest. And so my brethren we may venture to hope and trust; though we may see no sign of harvest, yet we may with patience wait for it.

The Orderliness of Growth.

“The earth heareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear,” (Mar 4:28, R.V.). Notice the progression. “First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.” This is the orderliness of growth. Through all these stages the corn passes, and you must give it its time. You must not expect the full corn in the ear in the springtime. It is the blade that you will see then. The full corn in the ear belongs to the golden and mellow autumn. There are similar stages in the development of the good seed of the Kingdom. There are the feeble beginnings, the enlarging strength, and the full maturity of Christian growth. There are some Christians who are in the infant class, engaged with the beggarly elements. There are some who are pressing on to perfection. John in his Epistle seems to refer to three distinct stages of Christian development. There are the little children who have had their sins forgiven,-the blade; there are the young men who are strong and have overcome the evil one-the ear. There are the fathers rich in experience, mature in knowledge, who have known Him who is from the beginning (1Jn 2:12-14)-the full corn in the ear. The Christian life is a gradual and ordered growth. Sanctification is a lifelong process. And this ought to teach us patience and kindliness. You have no right to expect in the young beginner the rich experience of an old disciple. However crude the beginner’s religion may be, hope the best, and believe the best. When Dr. Dale was a young man, many of the old saints in Carr’s Lane shook their heads over him. I daresay his preaching then was a little violent and ill-balanced. “Let him alone,” said John Angell James; “he’ll come right.” The blade with patience and kindly care will develop into the ear, and the full corn in the ear.

Questions for Ourselves.

In what stage are we? Some of us have been Christians for many years. Is our sanctification making progress? Are we getting to that stage of Christian life when our Lord is getting a rich harvest in us? When He sends forth the sickle, because the harvest is come, will He find us with full corn in the ear?

Fuente: The Gospel According to St. Mark: A Devotional Commentary

6

This short parable has an important lesson. What we do becomes an influence that lives and acts even when we are not aware of it. How necessary it is, then, that we guard our every act.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

THE parable contained in these verses is short, and only recorded in Mark’s Gospel. But it is one that ought to be deeply interesting to all who have reason to hope that they are true Christians. It sets before us the history of the work of grace in an individual soul. It summons us to an examination of our own experience in divine things.

There are some expressions in the parable which we must not press too far. Such are the “sleeping and rising” of the husband-man, and the “night and day.” In this, as in many of our Lord’s parables, we must carefully keep in view the main scope and object of the whole story, and not lay too much stress on lesser points. In the case before us the main thing taught is the close resemblance between some familiar operations in the culture of corn, and the work of grace in the heart. To this let us rigidly confine our attention.

We are taught, firstly, that, as in the growth of corn, so in the work of grace, there must be a sower.

The earth, as we all know, never brings forth corn of itself. It is a mother of weeds, but not of wheat. The hand of man must plough it, and scatter the seed, or else there would never be a harvest.

The heart of man, in like manner, will never of itself turn to God, repent, believe, and obey. It is utterly barren of grace. It is entirely dead towards God, and unable to give itself spiritual life. The Son of man must break it up by His Spirit, and give it a new nature. He must scatter over it by the hand of his laboring ministers the good seed of the word.

Let us mark this truth well. Grace in the heart of man is an exotic. It is a new principle from without, sent down from heaven and implanted in his soul. Left to himself, no man living would ever seek God. And yet in communicating grace, God ordinarily works by means. To despise the instrumentality of teachers and preachers, is to expect corn where no seed has been sown.

We are taught, secondly, that, as in the growth of corn, so in the work of grace, there is much that is beyond man’s comprehension and control.

The wisest farmer on earth can never explain all that takes place in a grain of wheat, when he has sown it. He knows the broad fact that unless he puts it into the land, and covers it up, there will not be an ear of corn in time of harvest. But he cannot command the prosperity of each grain. He cannot explain why some grains come up and others die. He cannot specify the hour or the minute when life shall begin to show itself. He cannot define what that life is. These are matters he must leave alone. He sows his seed, and leaves the growth to God. “God giveth the increase.” (1Co 3:7.) [Footnote: “A grain of corn, committed to the ground by the hand of man, will sprout and shoot; the shoot will disclose the stem, the stem the ear, and the ear the fruit; and were the most illiterate and unphilosophical person to be asked why all this should necessarily follow from the mere act of burying a seed in the earth, he might be disposed to laugh at the apparent simplicity of the question. Yet no human wisdom was ever able to return the answer to this question-no human sagacity ever yet could penetrate into the true causes of this effect; and no human knowledge, upon such subjects, has ever gone further than the mere discovery, by a regular and constant experience, that such and such consequences will uniformly follow from such and such previous acts.”-Greswell on the Parables. Vol. ii ; p. 132.]

The workings of grace in the heart in like manner, are utterly mysterious and unsearchable. We cannot explain why the word produces effects on one person in a congregation, and not upon another. We cannot explain why, in some cases-with every possible advantage, and in spite of every entreaty-people reject the word, and continue dead in trespasses and sins. We cannot explain why in other cases-with every possible difficulty, and with no encouragement-people are born again, and become decided Christians. We cannot define the manner in which the Spirit of God conveys life to a soul, and the exact process by which a believer receives a new nature. All these are hidden things to us. We see certain results, but we can go no further. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” (Joh 3:8.)

Let us mark this truth also, for it is deeply instructive. It is humbling no doubt to ministers, and teachers of others. The highest abilities, the most powerful preaching, the most diligent working, cannot command success. God alone can give life. But it is a truth at the same time, which supplies an admirable antidote to over-carefulness and despondency. Our principal work is to sow the seed. That done, we may wait with faith and patience for the result. “We may sleep, and rise night and day,” and leave our work with the Lord. He alone can, and, if He thinks fit, He will give success.

We are taught, thirdly, that, as in the growth of corn, so in the work of grace, life manifests itself gradually.

There is a true proverb which says, “Nature does nothing at a bound.” The ripe ear of wheat does not appear at once, as soon as the seed bursts forth into life. The plant goes through many stages, before it arrives at perfection-“first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.” But in all these stages one great thing is true about it-even at its weakest, it is a living plant.

The work of grace, in like manner, goes on in the heart by degrees. The children of God are not born perfect in faith, or hope, or knowledge, or experience. Their beginning is generally a “day of small things.” They see in part their own sinfulness, and Christ’s fullness, and the beauty of holiness. But for all that, the weakest child in God’s family is a true child of God. With all his weakness and infirmity he is alive. The seed of grace has really come up in his heart, though at present it be only in the blade. He is “alive from the dead.” And the wise man says, “a living dog is better than a dead lion.” (Ecc 9:4.)

Let us mark this truth also, for it is full of consolation. Let us not despise grace, because it is weak, or think people are not converted, because they are not yet as strong in the faith as Paul. Let us remember that grace, like everything else, must have a beginning. The mightiest oak was once an acorn. The strongest man was once a babe. Better a thousand times have grace in the blade than no grace at all.

We are taught, lastly, that, as in the growth of corn, so in the work of grace, there is no harvest till the seed is ripe.

No farmer thinks of cutting his wheat when it is green. He waits till the sun, and rain, and heat, and cold, have done their appointed work, and the golden ears hang down. Then, and not till then, he puts in the sickle, and gathers the wheat into his barn.

God deals with His work of grace exactly in the same way. He never removes His people from this world till they are ripe and ready. He never takes them away till their work is done. They never die at the wrong time, however mysterious their deaths appear sometimes to man. Josiah, and James the brother of John were both cut off in the midst of usefulness. Our own King Edward the Sixth was not allowed to reach man’s estate. But we shall see in the resurrection morning that there was a needs-be. All was done well about their deaths, as well as about their births. The Great Husbandman never cuts His corn till it is ripe.

Let us leave the parable with this truth on our minds, and take comfort about the death of every believer. Let us rest satisfied, that there is no chance, no accident, no mistake about the decease of any of God’s children. They are all “God’s husbandry,” and God knows best when they are ready for the harvest.

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Mar 4:26. And he said. The instruction to the people is resumed, or to them would probably be added.

As if a man, i.e., any one. It is not necessary to interpret this; the main point is the seed, the agent being in the back-ground throughout. Besides, it is difficult to apply it either to Christ (except on one theory suggested below) or to His ministers; for the language of Mar 4:27 seems inappropriate in the case of our Lord, and the putting in the sickle inapplicable to His ministers. Human agency in general may be referred to.

Should cast seed upon the earth, literally, shall have cast seed upon the earth. A single past act of sowing, not involving great care, as the expression plainly intimates.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

This parable of our Saviour’s is an instructive lesson to the ministers of the gospel, faithfully to do their parts in sowing the seed of the word amongst their people, and then not to be over-solicitous about the event, but to leave the issue to God; not to be discouraged, though the fruit of their labour doth not presently appear.

Accordingly Christ propounds the laborious husbandman to his ministers’ imitation. As the husbandman, when he has prudently and painfully cast his seed into the ground, is not anxiously disquieted, but goes to bed, and rests in hope, and at length the corn springs up; first the blade, then the ear, then the grain.

In like manner let the ministers of God do their duty without discouragement; in the morning sow their seed, and in the evening not withhold their hand. And although the seed sown doth not appear presently, (it may be in in our days,) but seems rotting among the clods; yet may it appear afterwards with a plentiful increase, when our own heads are laid among the clods; verifying that saying of our Saviour, One soweth, and another reapeth.

Learn hence, 1. That the ministry of the word is the ordinary, the necessary and the principal means which God has appointed for sowing the seed of grace in the hearts of his people: So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground.

2. That the virtue and efficacy of the word preached doth not depend upon the parts of a man, but upon the power of God; The seed springeth up, he knoweth not how.

Learn, 3. That the word of God sincerely preached may be successful, though it be not presently successful; the seed sown in one minister’s days, may spring up in another’s.

Happy we, if as God’s husbandmen we be employed in plowing, sowing, or reaping; our Lord will reward us secundum laborem, non fructum; not according to our success, but according to our endeavours. The care and endeavour is ours, but the blessing and success is God’s.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mar 4:26. So is the kingdom of God The gospel dispensation, whereby God overthrows the kingdom of Satan, collects subjects to himself, and erects and establishes his own kingdom. The grace of God in the soul is also included, erecting that kingdom which is within men, and is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, Rom 14:17. As if a man should cast seed into the ground The seed of Gods word a preacher of the gospel casts into the field of the world, and into the hearts of the penitent and believing. And sleeps and rises night and day That is, he has it continually in his thoughts. Meantime, it springs and grows up, he knows not how Even he that sowed it cannot explain how it grows. Here we are taught, that as the husbandman does not by any efficacy of his own, cause the seed to grow, but leaves it to be nourished by the soil and the sun; so Jesus and his apostles, having taught men the doctrines of true religion, were not by any miraculous force to constrain their wills; far less were they, by the terrors of fire and sword, to interpose visibly for the furthering thereof, but would suffer it to spread by the secret influences of the Spirit, till at length it should obtain its full effect. Moreover, as the husbandman cannot, by the most diligent observation, perceive the corn in his field extending its dimensions as it grows, so the ministers of Christ cannot see the operation of the gospel, [and of divine grace,] upon the minds of men; the effects, however, of its operation, when these are produced, they can discern, just as the husbandman can discern when his corn is fully grown and fit for reaping. In the mean time, the design of the parable is not to lead the ministers of Christ to imagine that religion will flourish without due pains taken about it. It was formed to teach the Jews in particular, that neither the Messiah nor his servants would subdue men by the force of arms, as they supposed he would have done; and also, to prevent the apostles from being dispirited when they did not see immediate success following their labours. Macknight. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself Greek, , spontaneously. For, as the earth, by a certain curious kind of mechanism which the greatest philosophers cannot fully comprehend, does, as it were, spontaneously, without any assistance from men, carry the seed through the whole progress of vegetation, and produce first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear; so will the gospel gradually spread in the world; and so the penitent, believing soul, in an inexplicable manner, brings forth first weak graces, then stronger, then full holiness: and all this of itself, as a machine whose spring of motion is within itself. Yet, observe the amazing exactness of the comparison: the earth brings forth no corn, (as the soul no holiness,) without both the care and toil of man, and the benign influence of Heaven. When the fruit is brought forth That is, when the corn is full and ripe; he putteth in the sickle God cutteth down and gathereth the fruit into his garner.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

LIV.

THE FIRST GREAT GROUP OF PARABLES.

(Beside the Sea of Galilee.)

Subdivision C.

PARABLE OF THE SEED GROWING ITSELF.

bMARK IV. 26-29.

b26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth; 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. [In the kingdom of grace, as well as in the kingdom of nature, we are laborers together with God. As preachers, teachers, or friends we sow the seed of the kingdom and God brings it to perfection ( 1Co 3:6-9). The seed here spoken of, being wheat or barley, needed no cultivation, and hence the planter let it alone, and did not know how it grew, whether fast or slow, or even whether it grew at all.] 28 The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come. [Truth, spoken, lies hidden in the human breast, and we do not see its earliest stages of its development, but as it proceeds toward perfection, it becomes step by step more visible. In both fields the sower has little to do with the field between the time of sowing and reaping. In the spiritual field, however, it is well to keep sowing until the grain shows signs of sprouting.]

[FFG 336]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

THE PROGRESSIVE GRACE IN THE HEART

Mar 4:26-34. And He said, Thus is the kingdom of God as if a man may cast seed upon the ground, and he may sleep, and it springs up, night and day, and the seed germinates and grows, while he did not know it. For the earth spontaneously brings forth fruit, first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear, and when the fruit may develop, immediately he sendeth forth his sickle, because the harvest is at hand. While the Divine economy, like the vegetable world, beginning with germination, grows on to maturity, yet, as we here see, periods and epochs are recognizable in the progressive development. The appearance of the blade marks germination

i.e., regeneration; the formation of the wheat-head, sanctification, which is the fruit, as above revealed; finally, the full corn in the ear i.e., the ripening of the wheat-heads symbolizes glorification, the consummating work of the Holy Ghost, preparatory for the heavenly harvest, when the saints are gathered into the glorified presence of God.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Mar 4:26-32. The teaching in parables to the multitude is now resumed, and two further examples are given, those of the seed growing secretly and the mustard seed. The first is peculiar to Mk. Loisy interprets it thus: The kingdom of God is also a sowing whose inevitable growth is independent of mens will and even of the will of the sower. Like the labourer, Jesus sows the kingdom by preaching the gospel: it is not His work to bring the harvest, i.e. the complete coming of the kingdom, and one must not grow impatient if its coming does not follow at once: that is Gods business. . . . It is none the less certain that the harvest will come without delay. This is the right line of interpretation; the emphasis falls, not on the gradual character of growth, but on its independence of human willing and desiring when once man has done his part. In the mustard-seed, attention is directed to the immense difference between the beginnings of the kingdom and its consummation. We should note that all these parables imply that the kingdom is already present in germ through the activity of Jesus Himself. They are also characteristic of the simplicity and naturalness of the illustrations used by Jesus.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Mar 4:26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; 27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. 28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. 29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle because the harvest is come.

A simple illustration to convey the truth that there is a harvest coming. When the harvest is ready it will most certainly come to pass. When the fruit is ready it will be picked. This life will one day be over for each of us and the fruit of our labors will be harvested. The fact of the differing amounts of fruit in the earlier account may indicate the accounting at the judgment seat of Christ where our fruit is examined and our reward given.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

4:26 {4} And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;

(4) The Lord sows and reaps in a manner unknown to men.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The parable of the seed growing by itself 4:26-29

Since this parable supplements the parable of the soils, it appears that Jesus addressed it to the multitudes (cf. Mar 4:1-9). Mark is the only evangelist who recorded this part of the discourse. Each parable to the multitudes illuminated something about the messianic kingdom.

The identity of the man in the parable is secondary, though in view of the former parable he represents Jesus and His disciples. The significant element is how the seed grows. In the former parable the seed represented the good news about the kingdom, and it means the same thing here. The primary motif of the parable is the seed. [Note: Guelich, p. 240.]

The seed enters into the ground and grows mysteriously, without the continuing work of the sower. God causes it to grow. Farmers know the conditions that help or hinder plant growth, but they do not fully understand the growth process nor can they cause growth. Only God can do that. The earth itself appears to cause plants to grow automatically as they move through the various stages from germination to maturity. Jesus stressed this fact by putting the Greek word automate ("by itself") in the emphatic first position in the sentence. Finally the sower, who had played no visible role in the growth of the crop, returned to the field as its reaper. The same divine person who sows also reaps.

This parable would have encouraged the disciples to realize that the preaching of Jesus and their own preaching in anticipation of the kingdom would bear fruit in time. God would cause the seed that they planted in the ears and minds of many to germinate into new life and to grow. Growth of the believing community would increase, though no one could really explain why it was growing except that God was responsible for it (cf. Mat 16:18). Eventually there would be a harvest of the crop when God, the ultimate sower, saw that the time was right. Probably this refers to the end of the messianic kingdom. The parable bridges history from the initial time of sowing in Jesus’ day culminating in the harvest at the end of the messianic (millennial) kingdom.

Another interpretation of this parable views it as describing growth within individual believers. [Note: E.g., R. A. Cole, The Gospel According to Mark, p. 151.] The problem with this view is the identity of the kingdom of God. Other interpreters see it as picturing the mysterious appearing of the messianic kingdom at the time of harvest. [Note: E.g., Cranfield, p. 168; J. Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus, pp. 152-53; and Wessel, pp. 652-53.] However the emphasis in the parable is on the growth of the seed, not the harvest of the crop. A third view takes the period of growth to be the inter-advent age with the harvest occurring when Jesus returns to establish His kingdom on earth. [Note: E.g., J. Dwight Pentecost, The Parables of Jesus, pp. 49, 53; and Grassmick, p. 121.] This view limits the parable to the "mystery form" of the kingdom. I find nothing in the text to justify interpreting the kingdom as the Old Testament predicted it as the mystery form of the kingdom. I believe that when Jesus said the kingdom of heaven (or God) was similar to something, what He described included the messianic (millennial) kingdom. It did not just represent the inter-advent age leading up to its beginning.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER 4:26-29 (Mar 4:26-29)

THE SEED GROWING SECRETLY

“And He said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth; and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.” Mar 4:26-29 (R.V.)

ST. Mark alone records this parable of a sower who sleeps by night, and rises for other business by day, and knows not how the seed springs up. That is not the sower’s concern: all that remains for him is to put forth the sickle when the harvest is come.

It is a startling parable for us who believe in the fostering care of the Divine Spirit. And the paradox is forced on our attention by the words “the earth beareth fruit of herself,” contrasting strangely as it does with such other assertions, as that the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, that without Christ we can do nothing, and that when we live it is not we but Christ who liveth in us.

It will often help us to understand a paradox if we can discover another like it. And exactly such an one as this will be found in the record of creation. God rested on the seventh day from all His work, yet we know that His providence never slumbers, that by Him all things consist, and that Jesus defended His own work of healing on a Sabbath day by urging that the Sabbath of God was occupied in gracious provision for His world. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” Thus the rest of God from creative work says nothing about His energies in that other field of providential care. Exactly so Jesus here treats only of what may be called the creative spiritual work, the deposit of the seed of life. And the essence of this remarkable parable is the assertion that we are to expect an orderly, quiet and gradual development from this principle of life, not a series of communications from without, of additional revelations, of semi-miraculous interferences. The life of grace is a natural process in the supernatural sphere. In one sense it is all of God, who maketh His sun to rise, and sendeth rain, without which the earth could bear no fruit of herself. In another sense we must work out our own salvation all the more earnestly because it is God that worketh in us.

Now this parable, thus explained, has been proved true in the wonderful history of the Church. She has grown, not only in extent but by development, as marvelously as a corn of wheat which is now a waving wheat-stem with its ripening ear. When Cardinal Newman urged that an ancient Christian, returning to earth, would recognize the services and the Church of Rome, and would fail to recognize ours, he was probably mistaken. To go no farther, there is no Church on earth so unlike the Churches of the New Testament as that which offers praise to God in a strange tongue. St. Paul apprehended that a stranger in such an assembly would reckon the worshippers mad. But in any case the argument forgets that the whole kingdom of God is to resemble seed, not in a drawer, but in the earth, and advancing towards the harvest. It must “die” to much if it will bring forth fruit. It must acquire strange bulk, strange forms strange organisms. It must become, to those who only knew it as it was, quite as unrecognizable as our Churches are said to be. And yet the changes must be those of logical growth, not of corruption. And this parable tells us they must be accomplished without any special interference such as marked the sowing time. Well then, the parable is a prophecy. Movement after movement has modified the life of the Church. Even its structure is not all it was. But these changes have every one been wrought by human agency, they have come from within it, like the force which pushes the germ out of the soil, and expands the bud into the full corn in the ear. There has been no grafting knife to insert a new principle of richer life; the gospel and the sacraments of our Lord have contained in them the promise and potency of all that was yet to be unfolded, all the gracefulness and all the fruit. And these words, “the earth beareth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear,” each so different, and yet so dependent on what preceded, teach us two great ecclesiastical lessons. They condemn the violent and revolutionary changes, which would not develop old germs but tear them open or perhaps pull them up. Much may be distasteful to the spirit of sordid utilitarianism; a mere husk, which nevertheless within it shelters precious grain, otherwise sure to perish. If thus we learn to respect the old, still more do we learn that what is new has also its all-important part to play. The blade and the ear in turn are innovations. We must not condemn those new forms of Christian activity, Christian association, and Christian councils, which new times evoke, until we have considered well whether they are truly expansions, in the light and heat of our century, of the sacred life-germ of the ancient love.

And what lessons has this parable for the individual? Surely that of active present faith, not waiting for future gifts of light or feeling, but confident that the seed already sown, the seed of the word, has power to develop into the rich fruit of Christian character. In this respect the parable supplements the first one. From that we learned that if the soil were not in fault, if the heart were honest and good, the seed would fructify. From this we learn that these conditions suffice for a perfect harvest. The incessant, all-important help of God, we have seen, is not denied; it is taken for granted, as the atmospheric and magnetic influences upon the grain. So should we reverentially and thankfully rely upon the aid of God, and then, instead of waiting for strange visitations and special stirrings of grace, account that we already possess enough to make us responsible for the harvest of the soul. Multitudes of souls, whose true calling is, in obedient trust, to arise and walk, are at this moment lying impotent beside some pool which they expect an angel to stir, and into which they fain would then be put by some one, they know not whom — multitudes of expectant, inert, inactive souls, who know not that the text they have most need to ponder is this: “the earth beareth fruit of itself.” For want of this they are actually, day by day, receiving the grace of God in vain.

We learn also to be content with gradual progress. St. John did not blame the children and young men to whom he wrote, because they were not mature in wisdom and experience. St. Paul exhorts us to grow up in all things into Him which is the Head, even Christ. They do not ask for more than steady growth; and their Master, as He distrusted the fleeting joy of hearers whose hearts were shallow, now explicitly bids us not to be content with any first attainment, not to count all done if we are converted, but to develop first the blade, then the ear, and lastly the full corn in the ear.

Does it seem a tedious weary sentence? Are we discontent for want of conscious interferences of heaven? Do we complain that, to human consciousness, the great Sower sleeps and rises up and leaves the grain to fare He knows not how? It is only for a little while. When the fruit is ripe, He will Himself gather it into His eternal garner.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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