Mark 4:26

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 grain in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.

THE PARABLE OF THE SEED GROWING SECRETLY

Trench was in a great quandary between applying this parable to earthly preachers of the word or to Christ (God) the sower as in the parable of the sower. He resolved the difficulty by applying it "to Christ, though not exclusively."[29] Many opinions have been advocated as to the meaning of the harvest. Barclay thought "It means the day when all the world will accept the will of God"[30] Cranfield understood it to mean that the present ambiguity of the kingdom of God will reach a harvest by being "succeeded by its glorious manifestation."[31] Barnes, with reservations, made it the death of Christians: "As soon as he is prepared for heaven, he is taken there."[32] McMillan viewed the harvest as then present at the time Christ spoke: "Harvest has come. The seed which God planted in Israel many generations past has now come to full fruit and is waiting to be gathered."[33] "With the concentration of twentieth-century theologians on eschatology,"[34] it has been very popular to name this parable "Seedtime and Harvest," with almost exclusive emphasis on the harvest; and "The main idea then becomes that the kingdom will soon break in upon us!"[35]

This interpreter suggests a different approach to this parable, as indicated in these analogies:

The man sowing seed is the teacher or preacher of truth.

His sleeping and rising night and day indicate that human effort is not the cause of the growth of the seed.

His knowing not how the seed grows stresses the ignorance of men in both physical and spiritual areas.

His knowing when to put in the sickle, despite his ignorance of "how" it came about, answers to the ability of men to reap spiritual results without full knowledge of just "how" they are produced (John 3:5ff).

The harvest is the gathering of souls into the kingdom of Christ in this present age.

The earth bringing forth fruit of herself answers to the adaptability of human nature to the word of God.

If a man should cast seed upon the earth ... refers to human proclaimers of the gospel, and not to Christ. If God (or Christ) had been meant, he would have been proclaimed as "the sower," and not "a man." Further, the fact of sleeping and rising night and day and that of his not knowing "how" point to man and not to God.

He knoweth not how ... is perhaps the key word in the parable. Nicodemus stumbled in regard to "how can these things be?" and here is the answer to Nicodemus' question: one does not have to know how!

The earth beareth fruit of herself ... The ancients were certainly correct in seeing here the principal weight of the parable. The earth into which the seed falls is the moral and spiritual nature of man. The seed of Christianity will grow because the soil into which it will fall is suitable to nourish it. As Dummelow noted: "The human soul is naturally Christian (Tertullian), and Christianity is the `natural religion.' Christianity therefore can propagate itself without human effort, and often does so."[36] God destined every man ever born on earth to be a Christian. See full discussion of this in the Commentary on Romans, p. 318.

The blade, the ear, the full grain ... These emphasize the gradual growth of the word of God in human hearts.

The harvest is come ... We agree with Clarke that "This is not the gathering of saints to glory, but the gathering of men to Christ."[37] Likewise with Trench, "When the soul is ripe for his kingdom, and he gathers it to himself, this is the harvest."[38] In the sense that what Christ's servants (his gospel ministers) do is also done by Christ, the gathering into the kingdom or church may be expressed either way, as being done by Christ or by his servants.

[29] Richard C. Trench, Notes on the Parables (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Co.), p. 292.

[30] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 104.

[31] C. E. B. Cranfield, op. cit., p. 168.

[32] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1955), Mark-Luke, p. 344.

[33] Earle McMillan, The Gospel according to Mark (Austin: R. B. Sweet Publishing Company, 1973), p. 61.

[34] Henry E. Turlington, The Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman, Press, 1946), p. 302.

[35] Ibid.

[36] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 726.

[37] W. N. Clarke, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 63.

[38] Richard C. Trench, op. cit., p. 294.