The Parable of the Growing Seed (also called the ''Seed Growing Secretly'') is a parable of Jesus which appears only in . It is a parable about growth in the

Kingdom of God The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" ...

. It follows the

Parable of the Sower The Parable of the Sower (sometimes called the Parable of the Soils) is a Parables of Jesus, parable of Jesus found in , , and the apocrypha, extra-canonical Gospel of Thomas. Jesus tells of a farmer who sows seed indiscriminately. Some seed ...

and the Lamp under a bushel, and precedes the

Parable of the Mustard Seed The Parable of the Mustard Seed is one of the shorter parables of Jesus. It appears in Matthew ( 13:31–32), Mark ( 4:30–32), and Luke ( 13:18–19). In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, it is immediately followed by the Parable of the Leav ...

Narrative

The parable is as follows:

Interpretation

This

parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whe ...

can be seen as related to the

parable of the Sower The Parable of the Sower (sometimes called the Parable of the Soils) is a Parables of Jesus, parable of Jesus found in , , and the apocrypha, extra-canonical Gospel of Thomas. Jesus tells of a farmer who sows seed indiscriminately. Some seed ...

,George R. Knight,
Exploring Mark: A Devotional Commentary
', Review and Herald Pub Assoc, 2004, , pp. 107-108. although it does not follow that parable immediately.

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...

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

is still growing. Its growth is due to God, not man,Richard N. Longenecker,
The Challenge of Jesus' Parables
', Eerdmans, 2000, , p. 97. and follows its own timetable.James R. Edwards,
The Gospel According to Mark
', Eerdmans, 2002, , pp. 142-144.

Paul the Apostle Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

describes the growth of the church in

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

in a similar way: :''I planted the seed,

Apollos Apollos () was a 1st-century Alexandrian Jewish Christian mentioned several times in the New Testament. A contemporary and colleague of Paul the Apostle, he played an important role in the early development of the churches of Ephesus and Cori ...

watered it, but God has been making it grow''. Weigel lamp on a stand and the growing seed

Unlike the parable of the Sower, the seed here seems to represent the Kingdom of God itself. Klyne Snodgrass,
Stories with Intent: A comprehensive guide to the parables of Jesus
', Eerdmans, 2008, , p. 213. Differences in interpretation result from emphasizing different aspects of the parable, such as the seed, the sower, or the earth. Klyne Snodgrass,
Stories with Intent: A comprehensive guide to the parables of Jesus
', Eerdmans, 2008, , pp. 184-190. Leonard Goffiné answers the question of "why the word of God is compared to seed," writing, "Because as good fruits spring from good seed, so do good works from the word of God; and as it is impossible for any soil not sown to produce good fruits, so neither can men produce the fruits of the Spirit without the seed of the divine Word." Roger Baxter in his ''Meditations'' writes, "Christ our Lord is both the sower and the seed itself. He intrusts the soil of our souls with His own precious body and blood. He wishes this divine grain to yield a harvest, not of temporal and corruptible, but of eternal and incorruptible, increase. For " he who soweth in the spirit shall reap life everlasting." (Gal. 6:8)

References

{{Gospel of Mark Growing Seed, Parable of the Gospel of Mark

Narrative

Interpretation

See also

References