The Parable of the Seed Growing, Part 4
The Significance and Application of Mark 5:26-29's Ecological Nature
Continuing from the previous post, I will be sharing portions of my work submitted as an overview of Mark 4:26-29. The goal of this body at the time of publication was to demonstrate the ecological nature of what Jesus shared with his followers, as documented in Mark’s Gospel.
I hope you, as the reader, take away that your place in the Kingdom matters. You have a role to fill that is yours and yours alone. You also have roles that are not yours to own and fulfill, and that’s okay. Ultimately, trusting in the Lord’s movement is what we are called to do.
In this final portion, I move from the exegetical inquiry of the passage to how we as believers can apply such a parable in our day and age.
Significance & Application
With the parable’s meaning pointing to the inevitability of God’s Kingdom permeating the physical world, there is great significance for both the original audience and the modern reader regarding how Jesus’s words apply both now and then. For the believer, knowing that the Kingdom seed works regardless of the actions of the sower should provide both comfort and conviction as they seek to honor the call of God to spread the Gospel. It was a concept that the disciples who heard the parable firsthand needed this reminder. Brooks writes, “Jesus by telling the story—and Mark by recording it—encouraged disciples who were experiencing rejection of their message and frustration at their lack of understanding of God’s mysterious purposes that God’s kingdom would surely come.”1 This encouragement regarding what the disciples lacked in response and understanding demonstrates an essential two-pronged point of application: as believers respond to the call to spread the Gospel of the Kingdom, they should find comfort in the fact that their work is not in vain in the absence of a response, as well as feel convicted for trying to work in ways God never intended for them.
Regarding the first piece of application, it should be a comforting feeling to know that the Gospel will not return void2, no matter how eloquent, thorough, or convincing it may or may not be. Akin writes, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not contingent or dependent on human activity. The seed of the gospel prospers and grows of itself. Once it is sown, a process is set in motion that cannot and will not be stopped, even though its growth is a total mystery to us.”3Lowe and Lowe further iterate this point when they write, “The parable teaches us that we cannot make anything grow on our own. We can only set the ecological conditions for growth. The farmer fulfills his or her role and God fulfills his.”4No matter what the believer may encounter as they preach the Good News, they complete their part by sharing in the first place. As recorded by Luke, Jesus confirms this when He says, “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me,” removing the responsibility of coercing or forcing hearers to decide to follow Christ. Therefore, it rings true that believers should find comfort in the efficacy of the Gospel regardless of how they present it.
Building upon the idea that the responsibility for accepting the Gospel does not rest on the believer’s shoulders as they share it, it should be convicting for the believer when, in light of the Kingdom’s autonomous nature, they overstep their bounds and attempt to work in such a way that God never intended. Too often, the desire for instant gratification pushes believers beyond their realm of responsibility and causes them to push for a response to the Gospel message. Geddert writes, “During the present stage of the kingdom’s presence and growth, there will not be many assurances of the kingdom’s ultimate success... Setbacks may occur (or so it will seem). But the seed has been planted. The promise has been given. The disciples need to trust and be patient.”5 While it is challenging to exhibit patience in circumstances where unbelieving friends and family may resist the Gospel, this is what the parable points to as it outlines the unassisted growth process for the seed below the surface. Rodney L. Cooper writes in his commentary on Mark as part of the Holman New Testament Commentary series, “[W]hen the time is right, when the harvest has come, then the sickle will be put to the grain in the harvest. We can be assured that growth is taking place by God’s good grace and that his harvest will eventually come to fruition.”6 Believers who find themselves in such a position to accelerate a response to the Gospel should repent of their sins and resist the temptation to force those they love to decide to follow Jesus, responding themselves to the conviction from reading this parable.
In conclusion, the parable of the seed growing found in Mark 4:26-29 exists to show that the Gospel of God’s Kingdom will spread, infiltrate, and grow in ways unknown to believers. Written to a predominantly Roman audience, Mark uses the parable Jesus shared to show how the Kingdom moves and works despite the believer’s best efforts to present it in a neatly packaged manner. Lowe and Lowe summarize and interpret the parable best when they write, “Perhaps the point of the parable is to remind us to have faith in the processes of growth that God has established in nature and the kingdom.”7With this in mind, Christians should take heart and rest in God’s control over His Kingdom and how it spreads, willing to play their part in God’s divine mystery.
1 Brooks, Mark, 85.
2 Is. 55:10-11.
3 Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, 94.
4 Lowe and Lowe, Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age: Spiritual Growth through Online Education, 43.
5 Geddert, Mark, 103.
6 Rodney L. Cooper, Mark, vol. 2, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 71.
7 Lowe and Lowe, Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age: Spiritual Growth through Online Education, 44.