Mark: An 8-Day Devotional Reading PlanSample

Crops and the Kingdom

I love to garden. I enjoy tilling the soil, spreading some fertilizer, and planting rows of seeds. In a week or so a stem starts to sprout, then a leaf. Gradually that seed turns into a plant that produces vegetables that are part of a family feast. Even though I know a bit about photosynthesis, I still don’t really grasp how or why these things happen.

Mark 4:26–29 portrays a similar wonder. Jesus is explaining what the kingdom of God is like. Someone scatters seeds that grow, but he doesn’t understand how. Yet he reaps a full harvest. It’s a simple illustration, but rich in meaning. It explains some things we need to pay attention to if we want to have the kind of ears described in verses 9 and 23: ears that hear. Let’s consider four of these things. First, our “sowing” role is sharing God’s Word (Mark 4:14), specifically the gospel. In Mark 1:15, Jesus announces that “the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” The gospel is the good news that Jesus, God’s Son, came into our world, fulfilled God’s commandments, and then became the sacrifice for sinners like us. His death and resurrection open the door to forgiveness and salvation for all who repent and believe.

We also recognize that the Holy Spirit fulfills the “growing” role, not us. Some people think that we can increase God’s kingdom by our actions—that when we help the poor, for example, we are bringing in his kingdom. Jesus’s teaching corrects that. Acts of service are good and right, but they don’t establish the kingdom. They do give opportunities to tell the gospel message, but kingdom growth involves the redemption of people’s souls, and only the Spirit can bring that about.

Next, kingdom expansion is a long-term process. Jesus spoke to crowds who thought he would quickly establish a kingdom on earth. Sometimes we expect instant blessings in our lives, too. But this parable describes something different: God’s kingdom goes from something hardly noticeable and continues to increase in size over time until it reaches its full glory at Christ’s return. So, over decades and centuries, people continually come to faith and grow as Christians.

Finally, the growth of God’s kingdom is sure. It spreads steadily even in ways we don’t comprehend or foresee. It increases in spite of all opposition. Therefore, we can be confident that, when we sow seeds by explaining the gospel, some will take root. Some people will respond. The Holy Spirit is working. The kingdom of God will come to fruition—as surely as a seed of wheat comes to harvest. Those of us who hear and believe Jesus’s words will “from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:8).—LeAnn Stiles