"Give All Credit To God Who Does All the Work" (a research paper with 132/140 mark received on 4/03/2025)

Introduction

“We live in a time of war, and this is the rhetoric of war, And during this time of war, socio-economic crisis, panic and dread, and in the midst of the cacophonous noise of bombs and propaganda, the Christian community tries to hear what Jesus might say.”^[1]

       ¹The passage in Mark 4:23-29 is widely known as the “the Parable of the Seed’s Growth” and even though it may be one of the lesser known “seed” parables (Vs. more popular or widely quoted “Mustard Seed” or “Grower’s Seed” parables for example) which our Lord told during His earthly public ministry for teaching purpose, it nevertheless encapsulates the essence of the nature of kingdom of heaven; yes, it is an important kingdom parable complementing the others  since it also very well demonstrates the inner and outer workings of the spiritual realm where the Almighty Creator God reigns supremely—over all things including the physical world wherein the hopeful future heavenly entrants into the transfigured state of the righteous co-live, co-work an interact on daily basis.

       As apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (New American Standard Bible), “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth,” the believers of the gospel do what they can to spread and evangelize the gospel of Good News in the secular world in order to reach every single unreached people groups as tasked in the Great Commission Command as pastors, missionaries, mission boards and laypeople alike carrying out their own given specific task while being intricately and harmoniously interconnected by the spirit, grace and love of God. 

       However, despite the fact that we don’t fully understand the nature of causative forces of  each agent interacting with one another, the end result is that the growth did occur. The seed grew and is growing. And it is getting bigger and bigger.  The growth ought to be attributed to

God alone and His Providence since no single earthly element can claim a divine authority which rightfully belongs to God. It was God indeed who made the growth possible.

        And as with any growth of a viable organism / entity in the ecosystem the growth happens in stages; it is a gradual stepwise process as told in the parable where the crop first transforms into having stalk spring up to its head forming to a full grain as the final product. That is how the growth of kingdom does happen— in increments.  Just imagine and visualize, if one can, how a single egg turns into a bland caterpillar which then goes through the next succeeding processes of transformation to finally turn into a beautiful butterfly displaying its full luxurious colors.

         Hence, the patience and perseverance of the faithful is much needed as the kingdom of heaven is being built. When the harvest is ready at last, however, then a sickle will be deployed to gather in the crops. It should be interpreted as an individualistic salvation when the culmination of hundreds of thousands of hours of God’s salvific work coming to its fruition.  This reference of a sickle is not an echo of pugilistic scene  as in Joel 3:10 (NASB), “Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, “I am a mighty man.” A mighty warrior indeed comes  to reap and proclaim the kingdom of God for Himself to glorify the Father as on the Lord’s Day. However, His kingdom is that of love, self-sacrifice, kindness, healing, peace, righteousness, forgiveness, resurrection, sanctification and everlasting life as He gathers in the remnants of those who endured to the end. 

Context: historical, cultural, and literary contexts of the passage selected

       The world in which Jesus lived two thousand years ago was significantly different from  how our twenty-first century modern world is now today; contrary to high technology-driven, sophisticated manufacturing industry- and service-based and complex globally intertwined web of cutting-edge economic forces which thrust and drive our economic engine forward, the first century Israel or anywhere else in the world for that matter was vastly an agrarian society upon which the livelihood and economic output largely depended. An average person knew the language of a farmer  and could relate to the terminology spoken of and about a simple plain garden. After all, they most likely had a farmer or a gardener in their very household who cultivated the field, pruned and harvested the crops.  They spoke the common language of God’s ecology.

         What is paradoxically striking is the fact that that is normally how Jesus related to the common folks around him—speaking the “common” vernacular of the day which anyone could understand and relate to. He was like no other. Unlike any who assumed the position of teaching, a leadership, a role of rabbi. He was the most prudent, wise and knowledgeable rabbi of all time the world has ever seen and witnessed; however, He was not speaking in some metaphysical or abstract language of Aristotelian philosophy. It would have easily flown over the head of common folks, which comprised the vast majority of populace which were following Him around in total awe and wonderment. What got them was not language Jesus was speaking to them, but the meaning of it. They became baffled, bewildered and confused.

       Vast majority of a large throng was illiterate even when Gentiles were mixed in. His humility and considerateness show time and again throughout the gospel narratives in how He came down to the level of people around Him and related to them in a verbiage which they could at least draw a parallel to even when being obtuse as not to grasp the syntax of it.  

       Also, the time in which Jesus lived and told these every day ecology-derived garden variety of sort parables to His disciples and the crowds who followed Him was a tumultuous and painful chapter in Israel’s long history of polical and nationalistic instability; since the fall of both the

Northen Kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah in the seven century BC, the remanants of Jews were ruled and subjugated by the foreign powers such as Assyrians,

Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, then Romans in that order.  The anticipation of Messiah was at an all-time high in Israel and those in diaspora.

       However, in the aftermath of the long-sustained ordeal and brutal oppression which they had undergone at the hands of foreigners in long stretches totaling for seven hundred years by the arrival of Jesus, their Messiahship changed significantly over time by then. Instead of holding onto the orthodox version of meek and humble servant Messiah as described in Isaiah for instance, who would come from king David’s lineage as a prince of peace, the suffering  Jews developed an adulterated version of messiahship which would portray their anointed one as a militaristic conquering hero who would free them from oppression, bondage of slavery by crushing their enemies with an iron fist. Only then when their mortal enemies were wounded and decisively and completely defeated under their feet, then the true peace would be restored to Israel and the rest of God’s kingdom with Jerusalem at the center and the Jews as the world’s ruling dominant power acting as the masters of the world in the Jewish-centric post-world of Messiah-led dominance. This is Zionism.

        Suffering servant Jesus who would be crucified on the Roman cross after being mercilessly handled by elders, scribes and the high priest as Jesus tried to educate them on? No chance in the world for them to accept and embrace such a nonsensical unarmed savior from now disregarded, hidden and dilapidated chapter 53 of Isaiah so that even Peter rebuked Jesus for the announcement of coming passion in the aftermath of making a profound confession at Caesarea

Philippi, “You are the Christ and the Son of Living God.” 

      Nevertheless, the true story of the Messiah had to be told authoritatively and conclusively in its full orthodox version by our Lord Himself. And the nature of kingdom and the operating forces was in need to be explained clearly and poignantly—repeatedly if need be. And He did.

And they were.

Meaning

        As one delves deeply into the parable itself, it appears that the Growth Parable recorded in

Mark 4:23-29 should be looked at and ought to be exegeted (together) in combination with other “Seed Parables” which immediately follow it or even with a group of those non-seed parables which precede it. Let’s take an exegetical approach by looking at it from one verse to the next quoting what some leading theologians of the past had to say:

     In verse 26 (“And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.” (English Standard Version), the phrase “And he said” (Καὶ ἔλεγεν) appears four times in Mark, three in this chapter (4:9, 26, 30; cf. 14:36). Expanded forms appear in 12:35 (Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἔλεγεν)  and 12:38 (Καὶ ἐν τῇ διδαχῇ αὐτοῦ ἔλεγεν), but these give every indication of being traditional  formulas which Mark may well have expanded. It is quite likely, therefore, that the formulas point to a pre-Markan combination of this and the following see parable with the Parable of the Seeds in 4:3-8, 14-20.”^[2]  Then, at this point it appears appropriate and helpful to look at these aforementioned two complementary parables which are allegedly linked / grouped together along with the Growth Parable (Mark 4:26-29) before proceeding further with its exegesis in its proper place.

     The parable from Mark 4:3-8 is a popular parable referred to as “the Parable of the Sower” or “the Parable of the Soils”, and is widely known for its illustrations about the growth of Kingdom or of the Kingship (of  God) regarding how the Word (“the Good News of Gospel”) gets sowed  in the form of germinating seeds in different types of soils—the side road, thorny ground, rocky road, and good soil—and how well each different soil with different contrasting conditions produces or not produce the growth from the planted seeds fruits or not. Ultimately, it is only the good soil which ends up yielding the crop.

       The four types of soils can be viewed as four different types of “hearts”, and the receptivity and the growth of sowed seeds entirely depend upon, what else, the soil itself. Nature takes over and there is nothing which a sower can do much about its growth. Or the lack thereof. The germination of the seed in good soil, nevertheless, seems inevitable, and it will eventually take place in due course. This particular parable is quite popular and widely-used for its exegetical preaching purpose in church and bible study class all over.

         Clearly then, one can see the connection between the seed parables with their specific  but interdependent Kingdom / Kingship implications as “Mark himself reinforces the connection of the first with the following parables by adding the question in 4:13 that assumes understanding the first parable has implications for understanding “all the parables,” a reference which must certainly include these “Kingdom” parables. This emphasis on the Kingdom in Mark corresponds with Ambrozic’s (Kingdom) and Kelber’s (Kingdom) findings that make clear how central Jesus’ message of the Kingdom was for Mark’s Gospel.”^7[3] It seems as though then Lord Jesus told the seed parables with specific teaching purpose and intent in mind befitting the individual events and people that appeared in His public ministry at appointed time and place.

        The phrase ““scatter (cast) the seed on the ground” (βάλῃ τὸν σπόρον), (v. 26), is an unusual way of describing the act of sowing but not so novel (cf. Luke 13:19) as to connote a careless act of simply tossing out the seed (so Lohmeyer, 86; Baltensweiler, Oikonomia, 72). Yet the expression may describe the farmer’s action of literally casting seed on the ground in a way that disassociates the seed from the farmer and eliminates any hint of his contributing to the seed’s germination. The aorist subjunctive in contrast to the subsequent present subjunctives reflects the difference in activities. The seed is cast only once upon the ground; the other activities are continuous.”^[4] The “dissociated” sower described, then should be any human agent who “spreads the word” / evangelizes in a form of preacher, layperson or even an organization, or a group; there is no divine character about this sower, but he / she is simply a tool or a machine used to spread the seed. 

       To iterate, “what is sown is ‘the word’ (v. 14) the gospel / Good News, which in this context must mean the message about God’s rule which Jesus has been preaching; so this parable, like those that follow in vv. 26-29 and 30-32, is about what happens when that message is proclaimed.”^[5] Humans plant, sow, and water but the ensuing growth is off their hands (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7). Let’s move on to the next verse.

      What is seen in verse 27 (“He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.” (ESV)), is an invisible hand which induced and facilitated the growth of seed while a sower slept soundly through the night and to the time has elapsed to day. No one knows exactly how but the inevitable growth did occur. In the midst of the two seemingly contradictory actions (“sleeps” Vs. “sprouts and grows”), the kin which take place which gives a perspective into how the kingdom, its inevitable expansion and gradual growth pan out; imperceptibly and invisible to the naked eye or perception by man. “Nature’s growth is inevitable. There is nothing so powerful as growth. A tree can split a concrete pavement with the power of its growth. A weed can push its green head through an asphalt path. Nothing can stop growth. It is so with the kingdom of.  In spite of human rebellion and disobedience, God’s work goes on; and nothing in the end can stop the purposes of God.”^[6]

        When the seed of faith takes a firm root inside a person’s heart, (be it “good soil”), described as in the vernacular of agrarian terminology of the seed parables, germinates and then starts its gradual  growth towards being harvest ready one day, do people really understand how the processes  happen? Do people know all the mechanisms associated with the growth of a seed which fostered, managed, while interacting with the natural environment controlling the amount of the sunlight , wind blown, rainfall absorbed, wild animals visiting, etc., down to its utmost detailed atomic level ? NO. However, the end result is that they do happen since the growth is visible to the naked eye. It can be seen and felt physically. It is palpable and observable so that a sower and all the associated farm hands on deck know its existing viability and productivity. The kingdom of God functions much like this as Jesus pointed out. Somewhere somehow there was a communication within the invisible realms which brought about the growth (of the kingdom).

      In verse 28 (“The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear, (ESV))”,  the burgeoning transformation of dynamic seed is vividly illustrated as it grows into bigger and more noticeable form in the latter stages as in the green blade, the  ear then the full ripe grain being ready for the ultimate harvest to come. The growth of a person’s faith does take a similar route going from first accepting the word of gospel into heart, being baptized in spirit and water by confessing one’s utter sinfulness and fully acknowledging Jesus as one’s Savior and Lord, being justified & regenerated, and continuously walking with God in daily journey towards celestial home one day while being sanctified in the likeness of Christ more and more—growing in faith and righteousness. That is the all-important sanctification process. It is worthwhile to note that the growth ought to continue as go forward, not backward, and not perish at all at any point so that it would eventually reach its full maturity (cf. Matthew 24:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; Colossians 2:6-7).

     Lord Jesus commanded, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

(Matthew 5:48, ESV). Furthermore, once “the chief of all sinners” apostle Paul pointed out, “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things” (1 Cor. 13:11, NASB). Both statements point to the same thing—the growth of faith, a process of becoming ke the Heavenly Fatherer words becoming more like Jesus in all manners, is an ongoing, timeconsuming tedious process. However, at the end there is a full grain r

     Once again, with humility and cogency the “autonomous” (gradual) growth and yielding of a crop by earth / soil as in “the earth produces by itself,” should be wholeheartedly embraced and recognized by the believers as the “automate” refers to the DIVINE work alone. NO human agents should take a credit for it where there is none to go around; it categorically alludes to the unseen intervention and fostering at the hands of Divinity / Providence ALONE for His Holy Name’s sake.

     In verse 29 (“But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”(ESV)), finally the crop is ready for harvest. And a farmer gets busy putting his sickle to the (peaceful and constructive) task of cutting down the stalks as the full-grown grain is brought in. When is the Kingdom, the Kingship of God finally realized according to the Parable of the Growth? How does the realization of His Kingship take place—in what form, at what state, space or temporal level? These are all important questions which need to be explored if not answered with 100% clarity.

      A thing which needs to be pointed out is that the Kingdom will NOT be realized if the grain is not grown fully and ripe. This reference has an element of  “here but not yet” eschatological tone and meaning as many of Jesus’ parables do; what or where is the ultimate destination / fate of the harvested full grain? Individually, it could be the culmination of one’s faith which results in personal salvation of a soul. Spiritually and temporally, it could be what the Revelation 7:9-10 (NASB) describes as in, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;  and they cry out with a loud voice, saying,

      “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” One believer would certainly hope that that will be the case. (Cf. Isaiah 25:6;  Luke 14:15-24; Rev. 19:9).

     “The hidden growth of the seed is not so much evidence of the presence of the kingdom, though it is sometimes so interpreted, as of its proximity and certainty. The time is near; the seed has already been sown, and the harvest must inevitably follow before long by the slow but relentless march of the seasons; nature’s laws are really the laws of God. Even apart from vs. 29, the tone of the parable is eschatological; what it meant to Mark and his readers must have been assurance that the apparent delay in the coming of the kingdom was only apparent, not real. The final result had been guaranteed from the beginning.”^[7] As apostles prayed and longed for, “so be it Lord, hasten Your return,” then could be our present rallying cry and daevalent spiritual warfare at all fronts against the forces of darkness.

Significance and Application

      Now, what should be pointed out and re-emphasized is that Our God is a spiritual being; He resides in the spiritual world even though He is ubiquitous and omnipresent. Even though on special occasions He has His angels working in human forms to carry out a certain mission, if need be by Divine Order, as illustrated in the accounts of Lot in the destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, where, apparently, two angels appeared in flesh as body guards escorting who appeared to be God Himself. God figure talked to Abraham and relayed the message of long-awaited birth of a legitimate son Isaac to Sarah, who scorned at a silly idea. However, such theophanies as in God(-like figure) appearing  in physical form visible to human eyes like Samson’s parents, Hagar, or to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were rare and much far in between. Mostly, God had human agents as in spirit-empowered prophets to carry out the works of heavenly kingdom.  In other words, the believers got to get to work too, even though it is God ultimately who is responsible for all the growth of work to occur. He alone should be credited for that since He is the source of life and a Provider of all sustenance.  And the work He does is marvelous and wonderful although no one is able to quite figure out how He does it. So perfectly so graciously so beautifully with perfect balance and perfect timing for everything.

       It needs to be mentioned that this unique and short parable is a similitude in its content and is not found in any other synoptic gospels. Throughout His three-year public ministry, Jesus told  several dozens of parables, at least what is recorded by the writers of the gospels; The book of  the gospel of Mark is the first gospel ever recorded out of the four; the date is believed to be  around between 50 and 70 AD. Although there were people such as Augustine of Hippo who  suggested the writing of the Book of Mark behind the book of Matthew, based on careful  analysis it is a consensus of majority now that the Markan account was the first one to be written  from which the contents of books of Matthew and Luke were derived. 

        Historically-speaking, “the Gospel of Mark was neglected by early Christian tradition, rarely—if ever—used in preaching. The Gospel of Matthew surpassed it in both length and detail^[8]. Mark was seen as something of a poor cousin to the great Gospel of Matthew, used so consistently by the fathers of the church. Already at the turn of the first Christian century authors were citing Matthew (the Didache [90s C.E.], 1 Clement [96–98 C.E.], Barnabas [about 110 C.E.], and Ignatius of Antioch [110 C.E.]).”⁴ However, that was in the past and now the scenery has changed a great deal since the antiquity as in “the first shall be last, and the last shall be the first.” The Book of Mark has taken on an elevated status as the progenitor of the rest of the synoptic gospels which followed it.

            Despite the fact that “Most commentators either accept the Markan version of the parable as authentic or reject the possibility of uncovering a version more original than Mark’s,”[9] due to its belated recognition of being designated as the first gospel written and its dynamic fast-paced movement from a passage to a passage employing the word “immediately” over forty times throughout the book, “It could be claimed that gospel scholarship over the past 150 years has been dominated by a fascination with the Gospel of Mark. The turn to the Gospel of Mark was initiated by the so-called source critics who began to question the long-held tradition that Matthew was the first gospels to appear., In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the source critics established the priority of Mark over Matthew and Luke. The traditional “Second Gospel” (hence) became the first gospel.”^[10] Indeed, the Book of Mark now stands alone in its significance and importance as 1/3 of indispensable triumvirate synoptic gospel book.                

     What is significant is that the Parable of the Sower confirms the autonomous nature of the kingdom of God where the Almighty God alone reigns supremely and us human beings as mere instruments only, no more and no less. In the contemporary landscape of mega churches with do-it-all superstar celebrity preachers and equally toxic environment of secular world where the perishable attributes of the human race is notoriously trumpeted and lauded upon, the conclusive view of the singular causative power of the Providence, All-Powerful and All-Encompassing, is that much refreshing and welcoming in biblical perspective. It certainly invokes Jesus’ gentle reminder that “Nor shall you take an oath by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. But make sure your statement is, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil origin.” (Matthew 5:36-37, NASB). YES, yes.

Bibliography

Barclay, William, The Gospel of Mark, [Westminster John Knox Press, 2001].

Crossan, John D, The Seed Parables of Jesus, [Journal of Biblical Literature. Jun., 1973], Vol. 92, No. 2, pp. 244-266.

France, Dick, Seed Thoughts from Saint Mark, Rural Theology, 8:2, 103-113, DOI:

10.1588/ruth.v8i2.103 [Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group, 2010], p.106

Guelich, Robert A., Word Biblical Commentary Mark 1-8:26, [Zondervan Academic, 2014], pp.239-241.

The Interpreter’s Bible Vo.7: New Testament Articles-Matthew, The Gospel According to St. [Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1951] Mark, p.706.

Loenhard, Barbara, OSF, The Parables of Jesus, [FranciscanMedia.ORG, April, 2015] pp.14-19.

Moloney, Francis J, The Gospel of Mark : A Commentary, [Baker Academic, 2012]. ProQuest Ebook Central,

http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=1057135. Created from liberty on 2025-02-27 00:42:34.

Pavur, Claude N, The Grain is Ripe: Parabolic Meaning in Mark 4:26-29, [Biblical Theology Bulletin, 2024].

Walsh, Brian J, How Will the Kingdome come? [New Catholic Times, January 6, 2002].

Weeden, Sr., Theodore J., Recovering the Parabolic Intent in the Parable of the Sower, [Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Oxford University Press, Mar, 1979, Vol. 47, No,. 1], pp, 97-120.

[1] Brain J Walsh

[2] Robert A Guelich, p. 239

[3] Robert A Guelich, p. 240

[4] Robert A Guelich, p.241

[5] Dick Francis

[6] William Barclay, p.124

[7] The Interpreter’s Bible, p. 706

[8] Francis J Moloney

[9] Theodore Weeden

[10] Francis J Moloney