The Seed Growing Secretly Until the Harvest (4:26-29).
Jesus now illustrates the certainty of the harvest which will come about through God's secret work in the world. Man casts the seed on the earth, but it is God Who causes it to grow, and then, even when men are least expecting it, and it is beyond their understanding, God produces His harvest, which He has been secretly developing all the time. For it is all a part of His purpose. And once the harvest is ripe, the sickle is put in and it is reaped.
Analysis.
· And he said, “So is the Kingly Rule of God, as if a man should cast seed on the earth” (Mark 4:26).
· “And should sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he does not know how” (Mark 4:27).
· “The earth bears fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear” (Mark 4:28).
· “But when the fruit is ripe (literally, ‘when the fruit allows'), he puts forth the sickle because the harvest is come” (Mark 4:29).
Note that in ‘a' he sows the seed and in the parallel he reaps the harvest. In ‘b' he does not understand the process of growth, and in the parallel that growth takes place regardless.
‘And he said, “So is the Kingly Rule of God, as if a man should cast seed on the earth, and should sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he does not know how. The earth bears fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe (literally, ‘when the fruit allows'), he puts forth the sickle because the harvest is come.” '
Here the parable is said to specifically apply to the Kingly Rule of God. Here He is saying that the effect of the Kingly Rule of God over men will occur, not in some cataclysmic way, but secretly over time, (secretly in the sense that although we see the consequence we do not understand or observe the process), brought about by God once man has sown the seed. The time may not be too long, for the period between sowing and reaping is not long, but it will be sufficient for God to do His work quietly and secretly. The point is that what is now happening is very much of God. The seed is sown by ‘a man', who responds to the time of opportunity, but then the rest remains in the hands of God. The man carries on with his life in the normal manner (‘night and day' reflects the Jewish day as beginning in the evening) leaving the seed to be established, and then the seed springs up and grows, and the man does not know how. It grows little by little, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. And then finally the corn is fully grown ready for harvest and the man takes the sickle and harvests the grain.
The parable brings out man's limited responsibility, which is to sow the seed, and God's major responsibility, which is to do the rest. As with seeding, once the man has planted the word of God his task is over. It is God Who will cause the gradual growth until the grain is ready for harvest. And because it is God Who ensures the growth the harvest is guaranteed. By their fruits they will be known.
As with many of Jesus' parables this is midway between simple parable and allegory. It brings out that man is responsible to sow the seed, that God in His own ways causes slow and gradual growth, and that there will be a reaping of a great harvest. The description of the harvest must surely have in mind Joel 3:13, ‘Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe.' The sickle is to be put in because the time of harvest has come. Thus salvation is seen to be the sovereign work of the sovereign God ending in this case in fullness of blessing.
But there is another important thought here, and that is that the Rule of God is not to be brought about by force. Man is to proclaim the word but God will work in His own time and in His own way to make it effective. Thus the Kingly Rule of God is not to be established by force of arms. It is not something that happens abruptly. ‘He who believes will not be in a hurry' (Isaiah 28:16). The struggle is to be God's not man's. Our part in it is to trust Him.
It is, however, possible that Jesus has in mind in this parable Himself as the representative man (which is part of the significance of Jesus' use of ‘Son of Man'). Then it is He Who is to be seen as initially sowing the word of God and the truth that the Kingly Rule of God is drawing near. The consequence of this is that He will sleep, in death, and rise again. Darkness will be followed by light, night by day (for this concept of night see John 9:4; John 13:30). Compare Isaiah 53:11 (as found in LXX of Isaiah supported by Hebrew texts 1QIsa and 1QIsb at Qumran) which says, ‘From the travail of his soul he shall see light and shall be satisfied'. Then when the harvest is ready, He will, as the Great Reaper, reap the harvest. This may be so because Jesus has a tendency to drop these hints about His future which are not clear at the time but become clear later (compare Mark 2:20). The one thing that tells against this is the suggestion ‘he knows not how'. This could not really be said about Jesus in the spiritual realm. But it may be that that there is intended to be a combined meaning and that we are to see in the ‘man' both Jesus and His followers.