The Parable of the Growing Seed tells of God’s hidden work in our lives. Mark 4: 26 Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. 28 The earth produces the crops on its own. First, a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. 29 And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.” [1]
Jesus had just told the Parable of the Sower and how some seed didn’t grow. Now, Jesus continued with another “seed” parable. The farmer planted the seed but had no understanding of how it grew. The farmer’s ignorance did not hinder the plant’s growth; it matured until it was ready to harvest.
Our Part and God’s Part
The disciples had just heard how the seeds of God’s Word did not always produce a crop. Some seeds never germinated due to the hard ground, while others sprouted quickly and then wilted, and still others grew but did not produce a crop. It is our human nature to want to control our world and force things to happen as we please. Yet, there is no way we can make a seed germinate and grow. This is God’s hidden work in our lives, which we often don’t see and don’t understand.
We do have a part to play. The farmer had to plant the seeds. It is our responsibility to plant the seeds of God’s Word. Some will grow and some won’t, depending on how receptive the listener’s heart is.
1 Corinthians 3:5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work.[2]
The Harvest Will Come
As we plant seeds of God’s Word, we may not see a response to our work. We must entrust the growth of faith to God. However, in this parable, God assures us there will be a harvest. We may be the ones to see our work become fruitful, or others may harvest what they didn’t plant. Either way, God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, did the growing.
Ultimately, it is God who will harvest the earth. Revelation 14: Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was someone like the Son of Man. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came from the Temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud, “Swing the sickle, for the time of harvest has come; the crop on earth is ripe.” 16 So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the whole earth was harvested. [3]
To learn more, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/learning-from-parables
[1-3] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers.