“26 Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.”
30 He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples” Mark 4:26-34.
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The words in verse 29 are a quotation from the Prophet, Joel 3:13: “At once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.” Joel is speaking about the coming Day of the Lord. God will reign terrible devastation on creation, then restore their fortunes, pour out His Spirit on them, and reap a harvest of judgement against the unfaithful nations. When judgement comes, it will look different. But it will come!
Notice how Jesus describes the germination and growth of the seed. The farmer goes to bed, gets up, goes to bed, night and day…but still doesn’t know how the seed sprouts and grows (see verses 26-29). This is how God’s creation works: night and day, seedtime and harvest, they cycle of life within God’s created order.
But how does this reflect the coming of the Kingdom of God? Answer: the seed is planted in the earth and then rises. The sprouting seed is resurrection language!
Now Jesus’ ministry in Galilee doesn’t look like the long-awaited coming of the Kingdom of God that people were expecting. But this parable was warning us not to look down on what Jesus did in Galilee. We have to remember the great work that God was yet to do. In other words, a moment when two or three people meet to pray and plan — that can speak to the start of some great initiative that God has in mind. It’s like the second story of the tiny mustard seed. We have to be patient to see it grow into something huge!
So today I hear God telling us to remain faithful in the little things each day. God will use our little acts of faithfulness and turn them into something strong and deep! Pray then today that, no matter what you are struggling with, you will remain faithful and patient. The Kingdom of God is coming!
So what we have to do — or be — is God’s Kingdom Workers! We have to be God’s Kingdom Explainers!
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
From the Bible:
“Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world’” John 18:36.
Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” Mark 1:15.
“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” Matthew 4:17.
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” Matthew 6:10.
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