The Growing Seed is the parable only Mark records,
of a man who scatters seed on the ground and then sleeps and rises.
The seed sprouts and grows;
he knows not how.
The earth produces by itself,
first the blade,
then the ear,
then the full grain in the ear.
When the grain is ripe,
at once he puts in the sickle,
because the harvest has come.
Jesus has just spoken of the sower and of the lamp and of taking care how you hear. Then He says the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed and go on with ordinary nights and days. He does not stand over the furrow with a lecture. The seed works. Blade, ear, full grain—an order no farmer invented. By itself in the Greek is automate: the earth yields in the way God built it to yield. The man is not idle forever. When the grain is ripe he puts in the sickle at once.
- Joel had said put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
- Revelation will show a Son of Man with a sickle.
The parable sits between two errors.
- One error is that the kingdom waits on our techniques.
- The other is that there will be no harvest, so the sower can forget the field.
Growth is God’s work in the word that was sown. The church sleeps and rises and the gospel still runs. Patience is not unbelief. Sleep here is the rest of a man who has already scattered, not the sleep of the path where the birds ate the seed. When the head is full, delay is no longer faith. The sickle is obedience to a finished ripening.
- He knows not how is humility, not sloth. The mystery of growth belongs to God.
- Blade, ear, full grain is sequence. Do not demand the barn on the day of sowing.
- By itself does not mean without a Sower. It means the life is in the seed.
- Sleep and rise are ordinary time. The kingdom uses ordinary time.
- Ripe grain and the sickle belong together. Harvest is as sure as growth.
- Mark alone keeps this story. It is the kingdom’s quiet engine.
- The word grows whether or not we understand the biology of faith.
- Scattered – The word is thrown; the man has done that part.
- Night and Day – Life goes on while the seed works.
- He Knows Not How – Growth is God’s, not a method we own.
- Blade, Ear, Full Grain – Stages that must not be skipped.
- By Itself – The earth yields as it was made to yield.
- Ripe – A fullness you can see.
- Sickle at Once – Harvest without delay when the time has come.
- Mark 4:26-29 – “And he said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.’”
- Mark 4:14 – “The sower sows the word.”
- Mark 4:20 – “But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
- 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 – “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”
- Isaiah 55:10-11 – “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout… so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty.”
- James 5:7-8 – “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
- Joel 3:13 – “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full.”
- Revelation 14:14-16 – The Son of Man with a sharp sickle; the earth was reaped.
- John 4:35-38 – Look, the fields are white for harvest; one sows, another reaps.
- Matthew 13:31-32 – The mustard seed: smallest, then larger than the garden plants.
- Ecclesiastes 11:4, 6 – He who observes the wind will not sow; in the morning sow your seed.
- 2 Timothy 2:9 – “The word of God is not bound.”
- Colossians 1:5-6 – The gospel has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing.
- Philippians 1:6 – He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
- 1 Peter 1:23 – You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.
- Hosea 10:12 – Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground.
- Psalm 126:5-6 – Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy.
A man scatters seed and sleeps and rises. The seed sprouts and grows. He knows not how.
The earth produces by itself: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain.
When the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.
I planted. Apollos watered. God gave the growth.
My word shall not return to Me empty.
Be patient. The farmer waits for the precious fruit. The coming of the Lord is at hand.
Scatter the word. Do not pretend you invented the blade. Do not sleep through the ripe field. When the harvest has come, put in the sickle.
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