The very short parable of the seed growing in secret is the subject of today’s blog article.
He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.
The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29).
Bible scholars differ on how best to understand this parable. Most of them see this parable as an answer to the question: “If God’s kingdom is present, why don’t we see more evidence of it?”
In the years before and after Jesus’ ministry, Messianic expectations were high in Israel. They culminated in a war in the 130s A.D. when Rome totally destroyed the nation. The nation was so devastated that it didn’t come back as a nation until 1948.
You can imagine, with such strong expectations, how people wanted to see more evidence of change than what Jesus appeared to be giving.
The message of the parable was that just as seed operates underneath the soil before it produces fruit, so does the kingdom of God. In other words, just because they weren’t seeing Messianic activity didn’t mean something wasn’t happening.
This parable was delivered in Galilee months, possibly a year or more from Jesus’ encounter with the religious authorities in Jerusalem. One can only imagine how people felt about the Messiah and kingdom activity when they saw the Messiah hanging on a cross on a hill outside of Jerusalem.
When you’re expecting the might of God released, defeating enemies and setting up a kingdom on earth, and instead you get the Messiah dead on a cross, it is very difficult to believe that God is at work.
“Surely,” they thought, “there must be someone else to take his place.”
In fact, even after the resurrection of Christ and the establishment of the church, other Messiah figures appeared in Israel, claiming to do what the populace wanted.
Waiting on God
The parable encourages God’s people to patiently wait on God’s activity. It may be under the surface, but it is active and will produce both fruit and a time of judgment.
Isaiah understood what it meant to “wait” on God. Here are four passages from the prophet’s pen that highlight the underlying message of Jesus’ parable.
I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him (Isaiah 8:17).
It will be said on that day,
“See, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9)
To wait on the Lord is to trust God’s activity, even when we can’t see it. When we wait on Him, we are trusting Him for His salvation and His deliverance.
We are hoping in Him, not just hoping that He will do something, but trusting that He is actively at work in our lives.
The cross and cross-like activities in our lives cause us to wonder, where is the mighty hand of God in all of this? Yet, if we wait on God and trust Him, as did Isaiah, we will see that He is active beneath the surface, whether we can see it or not.
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him. (Isaiah 30:18)
Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
Isaiah and others like him know that God is gracious, merciful, just, and active in our lives.
As we wait for Him, trusting His plans and His ways, we know that He will strengthen us and give us the ability to continue walking in His way.
This parable of the seed that grows in secret reminds us to keep on waiting and trusting God. He is at work, even though the world may look very problematic and difficult. We can trust Him and do things His way, knowing that He will strengthen us, care for us, and those for whom we pray.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Ruse Kirby, and I discussed this parable on today’s YouTube video. It’s on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 