This coming Sunday is the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mark alone records the parable of the “Seed that Grows Itself”:  26 He said, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land 27 and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. 28 Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”

Placed after the parable of the Sower (vv.1-9) and its explanation, it is easy for the significance of this parable to be lost in the fast-paced narrative of Mark’s gospel. In the parable of the Sower, the meaning of the interim time before the fruits appear has a positive sense: the time of waiting is a time for sowing, an opportunity for seed to be scattered in the field. There is also a teaching that in that interim period there will be barriers, resistance, and problems encountered in the sowing of the seed as it comes to fruition. As in the earlier parable, the sower is not involved with the subsequent growth of the seed. It grows and produces “of itself” (v. 28).

As to the parable at hand, Eduard Schweizer [The Good News According to Mark, 103] notes: “The parable with its assurance that the harvest will come stands in opposition to any form of doubt or care which, instead of waiting for God to fulfill his promise, endeavors to force the coming of the Kingdom or to build it — by a revolution like the Zealots, by exact calculations and preparation like the Apocalyptists, or by complete obedience to the law like the Pharisees. Thus the parable is asking if we are willing, for Jesus’ sake, to wait with him for God to do what he is sure to do, and if we are willing to wait with the carefree attitude which is becoming to the children of God, without any spiritual maneuvering or misguided efforts. To build one’s life in this way — entirely upon God’s promise and no longer upon one’s own ability or inability — demands all the feeling, thinking, doing, and speaking of which we are capable.”

Consider that in the parable, as soon as ripe grain appears, the sower comes to harvest the crop. One need only mention “harvest” and one can easily assume it is a metaphor for the final judgment:  Consider the words of v.29: “when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.” Now compare those to the words from Joel 4:13: “Wield the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.” There is no doubt in Joel that the words refer to the coming judgment.

If a final judgment is intended here in our parable, then we are left to understand the oddly passive man who sowed the seeds as symbolizing God. Pheme Perkins [The Gospel of Mark, 577] offers that the stress in the parable falls less upon the identification of the “passive sower” as God, but more on the sowing of the seed as a messianic work which unleashes mysterious forces operating of themselves in the achievement of the purposes of God. For the attentive listener, this parable highlights Jesus’ mission and what is to be expected. Jesus’ work was sowing; only after a certain lapse of time will there be the gathering of the harvest. The period between sowing and harvest, however, is not insignificant; for in that period something happens.

Clearly in v. 27, the seed germinates and sprouts; it springs up and matures in a mysterious manner that goes almost unnoticed: “sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.” This is the emphasis behind Mark’s phrase “he knows not how.”  It is clearly not by human intervention that the seed grows (v.28); the earth produces fruit “spontaneously.”  This does not mean that the sower abandons his work, nor that he is uninterested in what takes place, for this is not the point in the reference to his sleeping and rising. It means that the seed must be allowed its appointed course, as the process of growth and ripening advances toward a harvest that is approaching.

The sower takes account of the growth of the seed, but he cannot fully understand it. His ultimate interest is in the purpose for which the seed was sown—the harvest; when the grain is ripened, he immediately sends forth the sickle into the grain. These expressions exhibit aspects of the mysterious manifestation of the Kingdom of God in history. It comes mysteriously, by God’s initiative and appointment, without human intervention.

“Depending on the perspective from which the parable is viewed, the seed growing secretly may be a warning about the suddenness of the coming judgment. No one knows when the hour will come (Mark 13:20-23, 32). When it does arrive, the kingdom that has been hidden will be manifested to all. Or it may be understood as a word of consolation for those who feel that God delays decisive action. Human actions can brother hasten or delay the coming of the kingdom, which has begun in Jesus’ ministry.” (Perkins, 577)

The comments by Schweizer and Perkins are biblically solid, but there is something left uneasy. Commenting specifically on Schweizer’s view (above), Brian Stoffregen writes:“While I agree that this is a valid understanding of the parable; it is not too helpful if we already have a congregation full of people sitting around waiting for God to take care of everything. Often our problem is not with people thinking that their work will bring in the kingdom; but with people who are doing no work.”

We are reminded by St. Paul: “What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, just as the Lord assigned each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth…For we are God’s co-workers.” (1 Cor 3:5–9). Without a doubt the power of God unlines, drives and empowers growth, but nonetheless we are called to know our role in leading others to an acknowledgement and understanding of the Kingdom of God.

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