PARABLE| Parable of the Growing Seed

PARABLE| Parable of the Growing Seed

Parable of the Growing Seed

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 4:26-29, English Standard Version

Interpretation
This parable can be seen as related to the parable of the Sower, although it does not follow that parable immediately. Seventh-day Adventist writer George Knight suggests that it serves as a "correction provided for any ancient or modern disciples who might be feeling discouraged with the amount of fruitless labor they had extended toward those" who failed to hear the message of which the parable of the Sower spoke. Even when the farmer sleeps, the Kingdom of God is still growing. Its growth is due to God, not man, and follows its own timetable.

Paul the Apostle describes the growth of the church in Corinth in a similar way:

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.

Illustration together with the preceding parable of the lamp under a bushel.
Unlike the parable of the Sower, the seed here seems to represent the Kingdom of God itself. Differences in interpretation result from emphasizing different aspects of the parable, such as the seed, the sower, or the earth.