Spiritual Vegetation or Secret Growth
J.J. Given Mark 4:26-29 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;… I. RELATION TO THE IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING PARABLE. This parable, which may very appropriately be called "the secret growth," is recorded by St. Mark alone. It is peculiar to his Gospel. Its relation to the parable of the sower, which precedes it, is somewhat of the following kind: - The former parable describes the soil, this one, the seed; the former the quality of the soil, and this the vitality of the seed. II. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. "The kingdom of heaven" is an expression of frequent occurrence in Scripture. Thus we read, "The kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation," that is, "outward show," as the margin expresses it; also, "The kingdom of heaven is within you," or "among you," as the margin again has it. The meaning of this important expression is sufficiently plain to every reader of the New Testament, and does not, at least in its present connection, require any lengthened explanation. It denotes the reign of Heaven's principles in the heart of man, the spread of Heaven's principles among the families of man, and the glory of Heaven's principles as exhibited in all their plenitude and in all their power in that new heaven and new earth in which dwelleth righteousness. It may be more briefly summed up as the kingdom of grace in the heart, of peace in the family, and of glory through all the world. In Luther's 'Smaller Catechism,' on that petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come," it is asked, "How does this take place?" and the answer is, "When our heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit, that through his grace we believe his Holy Word, and live a godly life, here in time and yonder in eternity." III. QUALITY OF THE SEED. The seed here, as in the former parable, is the Word of God; thus we read, at the fourteenth verse of this chapter, "The sower soweth the Word:" so also in that other Scripture, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." Husbandmen are particularly careful about the quality of the seed which they cast into the furrows of the field, and very properly so, for the prospect of the harvest depends so much thereon. They reject the seed that is mixed, or unhealthy, or dead; otherwise the result would be most disastrous. Exactly so should it be with the Word of God. Here is a duty incumbent both on those that speak and on those that hear that Word; it behoves them both to see well to it that it is in truth the Word of God which they speak and hear. It must be the Word of God - nothing less, and nothing else; the Word of God in its purity, the Word of God without any mixture, whether of human error or human passion, or doubtful disputation, or unsettling speculation, or tradition of men, or doctrines of men, or philosophy and vain deceit. That Word, too, must be faithfully spoken, not handled deceitfully; for we are not to speak as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts; the whole counsel of God must be declared, and no part kept back; its force, too, must not be weakened, or its meaning explained away. Thus, "the truth as it is in Jesus" must be exhibited faithfully and fully, plainly and openly, just as the apostle says, "But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ." The danger of the contrary course is very forcibly pointed out in a remarkable Scripture (1 Corinthians 3:12), where the apostle, after stating the true and only foundation to be Jesus Christ, proceeds to say, "Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble," that is, either doctrines more or less sound, or practice more or less consistent with profession, "the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." IV. ADAPTATION OF THE SEED TO THE SOIL. In natural husbandry men are at pains to get seed suited to the soil. Every kind of seed does not suit every kind of soil; seed suitable for one kind may not be suitable for another. There is need, therefore, of selection and adaptation. There must be proper discrimination and judicious distribution. So with the seed of the Word; there is enough for all, and something for each, but it must be duly and discreetly apportioned. This is the direction of Scripture itself, for we are told therein that there are little children, young men, and fathers in Christ, and each is to get his portion of meat in due season; and, again, milk is intended for babes, and strong meat for them that are of mature age. Accordingly, the careless are to be aroused, the unawakened are to be stirred up, the indifferent to be alarmed; the ignorant, again, are to be instructed, the timid to be encouraged, and the presumptuous to be rebuked; the tempted are to be fortified against temptation, the weak are to be strengthened, and the sorrowful to be consoled in their time of trouble; such as have backslidden, or have been overtaken in a fault, are to be restored in the spirit of meekness; saints are to be edified, believers built up in their holy faith; the lukewarm are to be brought back to their first love, and the graces of all quickened. For these various purposes there is enough in the treasury of God's Word, and out of that treasury are to be brought forth things both new and old. V. THE PART WHICH BELONGS TO HUMAN AGENCY. Man's part is to sow the seed. This is his plain duty, this is his palpable concern, and his practical part of the business. He has not to make the seed, or manufacture the seed, or meddle in any way with the production of the seed; this were a task far above his ability and beyond his power. The seed is ready to his hand, and provided for his use. All he has to do, and all that is required of him, is to put the seed into the soil, and deposit it properly in the furrows - suiting, of course, as far as may be, the seed to the soil and to the sort of previous preparation made for it. We insist on the indispensable necessity of casting the seed into the furrow of the field, and likewise of sowing the seed of truth in the human heart; we affirm, moreover, the need of diligence in accomplishing this part of the operation, which is man's work and man's duty; we assert the absolute requirement of IIuman instrumentality in this part either of natural or spiritual husbandry. The passage we are considering sets this duty clearly before us in the words, "As if a man should cast seed into the ground." VI. THE NECESSITY FOR DIVINE INFLUENCE. There must be Divine influence as well as human agency; for in Ver. 27 we read that the husbandman, after sowing the seed, may sleep by night and rise by day, while the seed springs up and grows he knows not how. Here, in the first place, we must take note of the vitality of the seed: it buds and lengthens (βλαστάνῃ καὶ μηκύνηται). God gave it this vital energy at the first, and so wonderfully powerful is this energy, that the seed which had lain three thousand years in the hand of the mummy will, when deposited in the earth under the ordinary conditions, sprout, spring up, and grow. We have seen that the deposition of the seed in the ground is necessary for any produce, but it must be added that for the development of the seed itself another distinct and indeed a Divine influence is required. Man can only go a certain length either in the department of nature or the sphere of grace. "Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but it is God that giveth the increase." When the seed has been committed to the earth in the most careful and skillful manner, the husbandman must wait for the fertilizing shower to make the seed grow and fructify. So in the spiritual sphere; not only has the seed of truth to be sown in the heart, and the lessons of God's Word to be deposited in the soul - and all this may be effected by human agency - but the influence of the Holy Spirit of God must be added. If the Word of God be the seed, as we are assured it is, then the Spirit of God is rain-shower, the descent of which on the heart, or rather on the seed sown therein, is indispensably required for germination and fructification, or whatever else may be included under spiritual growth. Thus two distinct agencies must come together, unite, and blend in this great and important as well as mysterious process of spiritual vegetation. There must be the Word of God - that is the seed; there must be the Spirit of God - that is the shower. Without the seed and the shower, without the Word and the Spirit, there can be no spiritual vegetation. The soil may be good, the seed both good and suitable; but the dews of heavenly grace - the influences of the Divine Spirit - cannot be dispensed with. Again, the influences of the Spirit may be vouchsafed at the proper season, and in sufficient abundance; but if the seed of troth, if the lessons of the Divine Word, have not been sown in the heart, there is no germination, no quickening. However favorable the conditions of growth may otherwise be, there can be no growth, for the material is wanting. There is no seed, and so no germ of life, and consequently no life. The presence of both is absolutely and indispensably necessary. There are two elements of growth in the natural world - the seed and the shower; the deposition of the former in the soil belongs to man's department of work, the descent of the latter is God's good gift. The one acts upon the other, while the united operation results in healthy vegetation. The seed supplies the material, the shower is the fructifying agency; the shower gives efficacy to the seed, the seed expands by the combined action of the sun and shower. In spiritual husbandry the seed is the Word, the shower represents the Spirit; the Word has life, but the Spirit is required to develop it. Without the Spirit the Word would remain inert, by the Spirit it is made productive; the Word is the germ of spiritual life, the Spirit unfolds and quickens it; their mutual action issues in the happiest results. VII. THE BOND OF UNION BETWEEN THE TWO AGENCIES, DIVINE AND HUMAN. The absence of either agency would end in disaster. Nothing can supply the place of the seed, neither the soil itself nor the stones imbedded in it. Where there are no seeds the showers of heaven may fall in abundance, the sunshine of heaven may be bright and beautiful, but neither, in the absence of the seed, would be of any avail. Contemplate in the season of harvest a field of golden grain; the stalks are strong and vigorous; the ear is filled with kindly fruit, and bending under the weight; the whole is white unto the harvest. Let this be the case not in one field, but in all; not in one district, but in many; not in one part of the country, but in every part where the land is arable and under cultivation; and yet not one particle of the plenty thus supposed sprang up without seed having been previously put into the earth. Among all the multitudinous stems that constitute that rich, luxuriant crop that waves in the autumn wind, and covers with such abundance the face of the earth in the time of harvest, not one is found that grew without a root, and not a root that grew without a seed. And just so it is with the seed of truth rooted in the heart, and producing the harvest of grace in the life of man. But, as we have already intimated, the fructifying energy of the Divine Spirit, whether it acts by the dew, or shower, or sunshine, or all combined, is equally important, and indeed absolutely necessary in producing the manifold blessings of the spiritual harvest. What, then, is the link that brings these two agencies together - the seed which man sows in the soil, and the shower or other influence which God sends down from the sky? What means must be used to procure for the seed, when sown in the human heart, the quickening and refreshing power of the Divine Spirit? The only means available to man is the power of prayer, and prayer is a power as well in the domain of the temporal as of the spiritual. No doubt man has done his all when he has properly deposited suitable seed in fertile soil; but, though he cannot actually and of himself go further or do more, there remains a duty, the proper performance of which may carry the work much further, and set other and mightier energies in operation; for "prayer moves the hand that moves the world." Once upon a time, long ago, in the land of Israel, drought and dearth prevailed; "the prophet prayed,... and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." So when, in answer to believing prayer, God bestows his Spirit, the seed of truth germinates in the heart, and yields the fruits of the Spirit in the life. VIII. THE FRUITFUL EARTH AND THE FAITHFUL HUSBANDMAN. "The earth bringeth forth fruit of herself." God, in his wise and powerful organization of our earth, gave it this power. In obedience to his original command, and in virtue of power originally imparted, the earth brings forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit after his kind - the three great divisions of the vegetable kingdom. The productive earth still retains the power which God at first impressed on it, and to God it is still indebted for its productiveness, as we read, "He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth." We can only follow the process of vegetation a very short way. We know, indeed, that the seed dies, and is decomposed, for it is not quickened except it die; and then it germinates, and new life succeeds. But the entire process is mysterious as it is invisible; it is hidden from man's scrutiny, and high above man's comprehension; while in those secret processes in the sky above and in the earth below we trace the handiwork of God, without which the earth would be barren as the granite and unfruitful as the sea. The faith of the husbandman rests securely ca the established law of the earth's fertility, produced and promoted as it is by the mighty power of God; while his patience is justified by the uniformity of such natural law. "Behold," says James, "the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain." This parable affords great encouragement to both faith and patience, and the encouragement thus afforded forms a main feature of the parable. When, therefore, like the husbandman, we prepare the soil of the heart diligently and dutifully, and when we sow thereon the seed with carefulness and caution, and duly supplicate the blessing of heaven on our spiritual handiwork, looking up and expecting an answer, we have no more that we can do, and no more that we need to do. We may then safely leave the result to God; we may commit it quietly and confidingly to his hand, assured that he will give the increase in due time and in due measure. This principle is embodied in the husbandman sleeping and rising night and day, while the seed springs and grows up, he knows not how. There is much comfort in this assurance, much also to strengthen faith and brighten hope. Though all our care will not cause the seed to grow, though we cannot give power to the Word, though God alone can make it effectual, though we must wait patiently for his influence, though the process is mysterious in itself and hidden from the eye of man; yet we may forbear all hurtful anxiety, and forego all unseemly impatience, leaving the issue entirely to God. We must beware of enacting the part of those silly children who pull up their plants or flowers from time to time in order to examine the roots and inspect the process of growth. Though we cannot unveil the inward processes of grace any more than of nature, yet we need not dread any failure in those processes. What is required of us is to use aright the means, and instrumentalities and agencies within our reach, without meddling with what is too high above us or too deep below us; and we may feel fully persuaded that, if we labour in the Lord, our labour will not be in vain. IX. THE GRADUAL GROWTH. By the earth of herself according to the course of nature, and by the concurring power of the God of nature, fruit is brought forth; "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." In like manner, the Word of truth received by faith into the heart becomes the work of grace. This the Spirit carries on while the preacher sleeps and can do no work, or is engaged in other business, or has entered into rest; for the Word preached not unfrequently does its work even after the preacher has been gathered to his fathers. When men sow their seed, they sow "not that body that shall be,... but God giveth it a body as it pleases him." The old dies, but the new blade shoots up; in this we have an emblem of the new nature, for "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." Next comes the ear, and in this we find the promise of, and preparation for, fruitfulness. At length we have the full corn in the ear; this is the fruit of righteousness to the praise and glory of God, and this includes all the graces of the Christian character, and all the virtues of the Christian life. Thus Divine truth, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, first enlightens the mind, then convinces the understanding, gradually quickens the conscience, and converts the heart, while, last of all and best of all, it saves the soul. X. THE HARVEST. Now the great end is attained. The faithful recipient of the Divine Word has grown in grace; he has added to his "faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity;" he has attained to deadness to the world, spirituality of mind, heavenly dispositions, resignation to the Divine will, conformity to the Divine image, and assimilation to the Divine character. When, moreover, the Christian has thus borne the fruits of godliness, made himself useful in the Church and in the world, having served his generation in both; and when the good purposes of his heavenly Father have been fulfilled in him and by him; at length the harvest comes, the sickle is put in; meetened for heaven, ripened for the garner of the skies, he is taken home like a shock of corn in his season. Thus to the child of God "to die is gain " - the gain of heaven for earth, of rest for labour, of glory everlasting instead of the varied sorrows of this present time. - J.J.G. Parallel Verses KJV: And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; WEB: He said, "The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed on the earth,