Mark 4:26-34

Mark 4:26-34

Jesus said to the crowds, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’

He also said, ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for it? It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’  Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it. He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were alone.

Food for thought!

Let us begin by the end. The gospel says, “He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were alone.” What does this mean? It means that after Jesus had spoken the crowds dispersed; but there was a little company who lingered with him and did not want to leave him. It was to them that he unfolded the meaning of everything. In the last analysis, if a man is a really great teacher, it is not so much the man's teaching that we wish to know, but the man himself. His message will always lie not so much in what he says as in what he is. The man who wishes to learn from Christ must company with Christ. If he does that he will win, not only learning, but life itself. To those that stayed with him, Jesus must have told the unmistakable truths of this parable.

(i) He must have explained to them the helplessness of man. The farmer does not make the seed grow. In the last analysis he does not even understand how it grows. It has the secret of life and of growth within itself. No man has ever possessed the secret of life; no man has ever created anything in the full sense of the term. Man can discover things; he can rearrange them; he can develop them; but create them he cannot. But behind all things is God and the power and will of God.

(ii) He must have told them that nature's growth is often imperceptible. If we see a plant every day we cannot see its growth taking place. It is only when we see it, and then see it again after an interval of time that we notice the difference. It is so with the Kingdom. There is not the slightest doubt that the Kingdom is on the way if we compare, not to-day with yesterday, but this century with the century which went before.

(iii) He must have told them that nature's growth is constant. Night and day, while man sleeps, growth goes on. The work of God goes on quietly; unceasingly God unfolds his plan.

(iv) He must told them that nature's growth is inevitable. There is nothing so powerful as growth. A tree can split a concrete pavement with the power of its growth. A weed can push its green head through an asphalt path. Nothing can stop growth. It is so with the Kingdom of God. In spite of man's rebellion and disobedience, God's work goes on; and nothing in the end can stop the purposes of God.

(v) He must have told them that there is a consummation. There is a day when the harvest comes. History is going somewhere; there is an end to our stay on earth; the world as we know it, will end some day. This summons us to preparedness. If there will be consummation we must be ready for it. It is too late to prepare for it when it is upon us. We have literally to prepare to meet our God.