Mark 4:26-34 (NRSV)
Read Mark 4:26-34 on biblegateway.com
Verse 26He also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, Verse 27and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. Verse 28The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. Verse 29But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come."
Verse 30He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? Verse 31It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; Verse 32yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."
Verse 33With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; Verse 34he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
Devotion
The harvest will come. That prediction delights the heart of every farmer. God’s harvest will come, too. It must also delight the heart of God. Now, however, is still seeding time.
Being reared on a farm, the automatic action of the seed in the soil always amazes me. The latest edition of Biblical Archaeology reports that a 2,000-year-old seed from a fig tree was planted and a healthy young tree is growing.
Never doubt the enduring power of God’s word. It may lie buried, but it is not dead. Before the seed can produce a new plant, it must die (John 12:24). Jesus’ death was the seed that gave birth to the church. The effects of the resurrection are appearing everywhere in the world. To live with Christ, we also must die to ourselves and to the spirit of this age every day.
God’s seeding and harvesting is going on all the time. We are the harvest of that “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17), the fruit of the good seed he gave on the cross.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, grant that our lives may become a bountiful harvest. Amen.