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Commentary on Mark 4 verses 21–34
The lessons which our Saviour designs to teach us here by parables and figurative expressions are these: -
I. That those who are good ought to consider the obligations they are under to do good; that is, as in the parable before, to bring forth fruit. God expects a grateful return of his gifts to us, and a useful improvement of his gifts in us; for (Mar 4:21), Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? No, but that it may be set on a candlestick. The apostles were ordained, to receive the gospel, not for themselves only, but for the good of others, to communicate it to them. All Christians, as they have received the gift, must minister the same. Note, 1. Gifts and graces make a man as a candle; the candle of the Lord (Pro 20:27), lighted by the Father of lights; the most eminent are but candles, poor lights, compared with the Sun of righteousness. A candle gives light but a little way, and but a little while, and is easily blown out, and continually burning down and wasting. 2. Many who are lighted as candles, put themselves under a bed, or under a bushel: they do not manifest grace themselves, nor minister grace to others; they have estates, and do no good with them; have their limbs and senses, wit and learning perhaps, but nobody is the better for them; they have spiritual gifts, but do not use them; like a taper in an urn, they burn to themselves. 3. Those who are lighted as candles, should set themselves on a candlestick; that is, should improve all opportunities of doing good, as those that were made for the glory of God, and the service of the communities they are members of; we are not born for ourselves.
The reason given for this, is, because there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested, which should not be made manifest (so it might better be read), Mar 4:22. There is no treasure of gifts and graces lodged in any but with design to be communicated; nor was the gospel made a secret to the apostles, to be concealed, but that it should come abroad, and be divulged to all the world. Though Christ expounded the parables to his disciples privately, yet it was with design to make them the more publicly useful; they were taught, that they might teach; and it is a general rule, that the ministration of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal, not himself only, but others also.
II. It concerns those who hear the word of the gospel, to mark what they hear, and to make a good use of it, because their weal or woe depends upon it; what he had said before he saith again, If any man have ears to hear, let him hear, Mar 4:23. Let him give the gospel of Christ a fair hearing; but that is not enough, it is added (Mar 4:24), Take heed what ye hear, and give a due regard to that which ye do hear; Consider what ye hear, so Dr. Hammond reads it. Note, What we hear, doth us no good, unless we consider it; those especially that are to teach others must themselves be very observant of the things of God; must take notice of the message they are to deliver, that they may be exact. We must likewise take heed what we hear, by proving all things, that we may hold fast that which is good. We must be cautious, and stand upon our guard, lest we be imposed upon. To enforce this caution, consider,
1.As we deal with God, God will deal with us, so Dr. Hammond explains these words, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you. If ye be faithful servants to him, he will be a faithful Master to you: with the upright he will show himself upright."
2.As we improve the talents we are entrusted with, we shall increase them; if we make use of the knowledge we have, for the glory of God and the benefit of others, it shall sensibly grow, as stock in trade doth by being turned; Unto you that hear, shall more be given; to you that have, it shall be given, Mar 4:25. If the disciples deliver that to the church, which they have received of the Lord, they shall be led more into the secret of the Lord. Gifts and graces multiply by being exercised; and God has promised to bless the hand of the diligent.
3.If we do not use, we lose, what we have; From him that hath not, that doeth no good with what he hath, and so hath it in vain, is as if he had it not, shall be taken even that which he hath. Burying a talent is the betraying of a trust, and amounts to a forfeiture; and gifts and graces rust for want of wearing.
III. The good seed of the gospel sown in the world, and sown in the heart, doth by degrees produce wonderful effects, but without noise (Mar 4:26, etc.); So is the kingdom of God; so is the gospel, when it is sown, and received, as seed in good ground.
1.It will come up; though it seem lost and buried under the clods, it will find or make its way through them. The seed cast into the ground will spring. Let but the word of Christ have the place it ought to have in a soul, and it will show itself, as the wisdom from above doth in a good conversation. After a field is sown with corn, how soon is the surface of it altered! How gay and pleasant doth it look, when it is covered with green!
2.The husbandman cannot describe how it comes up; it is one of the mysteries of nature; It springs and grows up, he knows not how, Mar 4:27. He sees it has grown, but he cannot tell in what manner it grew, or what was the cause and method of its growth. Thus we know not how the Spirit by the word makes a change in the heart, any more than we can account for the blowing of the wind, which we hear the sound of, but cannot tell whence it comes, or whither it goes. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness; how God manifested in the flesh came to be believed on in the world, Ti1 3:16.
3.The husbandman, when he hath sown the seed, doth nothing toward the springing of it up; He sleeps, and rises, night and day; goes to sleep at night, gets up in the morning, and perhaps never so much as thinks of the corn he hath sown, or ever looks upon it, but follows his pleasures or other business, and yet the earth brings forth fruit of itself, according to the ordinary course of nature, and by the concurring power of the God of nature. Thus the word of grace, when it is received in faith, is in the heart a work of grace, and the preachers contribute nothing to it. The Spirit of God is carrying it on when they sleep, and can do no business (Job 33:15, Job 33:16), or when they rise to go about other business. The prophets do not live for ever; but the word which they preached, is doing its work, when they are in their graves, Zac 1:5, Zac 1:6. The dew by which the seed is brought up tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men, Mic 5:7.
4.It grows gradually; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear, Mar 4:28. When it is sprung up, it will go forward; nature will have its course, and so will grace. Christ's interest, both in the world and in the heart, is, and will be, a growing interest; and though the beginning be small, the latter end will greatly increase. Though thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, yet God will give to every seed its own body; though at first it is but a tender blade, which the frost may nip, or the foot may crush, yet it will increase to the ear, to the full corn in the ear. Natura nil facit per saltum - Nature does nothing abruptly. God carries on his work insensibly and without noise, but insuperably and without fail.
5.It comes to perfection at last (Mar 4:29); When the fruit is brought forth, that is, when it is ripe, and ready to be delivered into the owner's hand; then he puts in the sickle. This intimates, (1.) That Christ now accepts the services which are done to him by an honest heart from a good principle; from the fruit of the gospel taking place and working in the soul, Christ gathers in a harvest of honour to himself. See Joh 4:35. (2.) That he will reward them in eternal life. When those that receive the gospel aright, have finished their course, the harvest comes, when they shall be gathered as wheat into God's barn (Mat 13:30), as a shock of corn in his season.
IV. The work of grace is small in its beginnings, but comes to be great and considerable at last (Mar 4:30-32); "Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God, as now to be set up by the Messiah? How shall I make you to understand the designed method of it?" Christ speaks as one considering and consulting with himself, how to illustrate it with an apt similitude; With what comparison shall we compare it? Shall we fetch it from the motions of the sun, or the revolutions of the moon? No, the comparison is borrowed from this earth, it is like a grain of mustard-seed; he had compared it before to seed sown, here to that seed, intending thereby to show,
1.That the beginnings of the gospel kingdom would be very small, like that which is one of the least of all seeds. When a Christian church was sown in the earth for God, it was all contained in one room, and the number of the names was but one hundred and twenty (Act 1:15), as the children of Israel, when they went down into Egypt, were but seventy souls. The work of grace in the soul, is, at first, but the day of small things; a cloud no bigger than a man's hand. Never were there such great things undertaken by such an inconsiderable handful, as that of the discipling of the nations by the ministry of the apostles; nor a work that was to end in such great glory, as the work of grace raised from such weak and unlikely beginnings. Who hath begotten me these?
2.That the perfection of it will be very great; When it grows up, it becomes greater than all herbs. The gospel kingdom in the world, shall increase and spread to the remotest nations of the earth, and shall continue to the latest ages of time. The church hath shot out great branches, strong ones, spreading far, and fruitful. The work of grace in the soul has mighty products, now while it is in its growth; but what will it be, when it is perfected in heaven? The difference between a grain of mustard seed and a great tree, is nothing to that between a young convert on earth and a glorified saint in heaven. See Joh 12:24.
After the parables thus specified the historian concludes with this general account of Christ's preaching - that with many such parables he spoke the word unto them (Mar 4:33); probably designing to refer us to the larger account of the parables of this kind, which we had before, Mt. 13. He spoke in parables, as they were able to hear them; he fetched his comparisons from those things that were familiar to them, and level to their capacity, and delivered them in plain expressions, in condescension to their capacity; though he did not let them into the mystery of the parables, yet his manner of expression was easy, and such as they might hereafter recollect to their edification. But, for the present, without a parable spoke he not unto them, Mar 4:34. The glory of the Lord was covered with a cloud, and God speaks to us in the language of the sons of men, that, though not at first, yet by degrees, we may understand his meaning; the disciples themselves understood those sayings of Christ afterward, which at first they did not rightly take the sense of. But these parables he expounded to them, when they were alone. We cannot but wish we had had that exposition, as we had of the parable of the sower; but it was not so needful; because, when the church should be enlarged, that would expound these parables to us, without any more ado.
The kingdom of God is the Church, which is ruled by God, and herself rules over men, and treads down the powers which are contrary to her, and all wickedness.
For the seed is the word of life, the ground is the human heart, and the sleep of the man means the death of the Saviour. The seed springs up night and day, because after the sleep of Christ, the number of Christians, through calamity and prosperity, continued to flourish more and more in faith, and to wax greater in deed.
But when He says, He knoweth not how, He is speaking in a figure; that is, He does not make known to us, who amongst us will produce fruit unto the end.
That is, fear. For the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Then the full corn in the ear; (Ps. 111:10. Rom. 13:8) that is, charity, for charity is the fulfilling of the Law.
The sickle is death or the judgment, which cuts down all things; the harvest is the end of the world.
(non occ.) Again it may be said, that he hath not, who has not truth. But our Lord says that he hath, because he has a lie, for every one whose understanding believes a lie, thinks that he has something.
(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) A parable occurred, a little above, about the three seeds which perished in various ways, and the one which was saved; in which last He also shows three differences, according to the proportion of faith and practice. Here, however, He puts forth a parable concerning those only who are saved. Wherefore it is said, And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, &c.
(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) Or else He calls by the name of kingdom of God, faith in Him, and in the economy of His Incarnation; which kingdom indeed is as if a man should throw seed. For He Himself being God and the Son of God, having without change been made man, has cast seed upon the earth, that is, He has enlightened the whole world by the word of divine knowledge.
(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) Or Christ Himself is the man who rises, for He sat waiting with patience, that they who received seed should bear fruit. He rises, that is, by the word of His love, He makes us grow to the bringing forth fruit, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand, by which is meant the day, and on the left, by which is meant the night of persecution; for by these the seed springs up, and does not wither. (2 Cor. 6:7)
(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) Or else He says, He knoweth not, that He may show the free-will of those who receive the word, for He commits a work to our will, and does not work the whole Himself alone, lest the good should seem involuntary. For the earth brings forth fruits of its own accord, that is, she is brought to bear fruit without being compelled by a necessity contrary to her will. First the blade.
(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) Or, first it produces the blade, in the law of nature, by degrees growing up to advancement; afterwards it brings forth the ears, which are to be collected into a bundle, and to be offered on an altar to the Lord, that is, in the law of Moses; afterwards the full-fruit, in the Gospel. Or because we must not only put forth leaves by obedience, but also learn prudence, and, like the stalk of corn, remain upright without minding the winds which blow us about. We must also take heed to our soul by a diligent recollection, that, like the ears, we may bear fruit, that is, show forth the perfect operation of virtue.
(in Ezech. 2. Hom. 3) Or else; Man casts seed into the ground, when he places a good intention in his heart; and he sleeps, when he already rests in the hope which attends on a good work. But he rises night and day, because he advances amidst prosperity and adversity, though he knows it not, for he is as yet unable to measure his increase, and yet virtue, once conceived, goes on increasing. When therefore we conceive good desires, we put seed into the ground; when we begin to work rightly, we are the blade. When we increase to the perfection of good works, we arrive at the ear; when we are firmly fixed in the perfection of the same working, we already put forth the full corn in the ear.
Or else Christ sleeps, that is, ascends into heaven, where, though He seem to sleep, yet He rises by night, when through temptations He raises us up to the knowledge of Himself; and in the day time, when on account of our prayers, He sets in order our salvation.
For we put forth the blade, when we show a principle of good; then the ear, when we can resist temptations; then comes the fruit, when a man works something perfect. It goes on: and when it has brought forth the fruit, immediately he sendeth the sickle, because the harvest is come.
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SUMMARY
Mark 4:29 concludes the unique Parable of the Growing Seed, illustrating the mysterious, divinely orchestrated growth of the Kingdom of God. It highlights the decisive moment when the spiritual "fruit" reaches full maturity, prompting an immediate and inevitable "harvest." This verse underscores God's sovereign timing and the certainty of His purposes reaching their appointed culmination, whether in individual spiritual development or the ultimate consummation of His kingdom.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Mark 4:29, as part of the Parable of the Growing Seed, is rich in Agricultural Imagery, drawing on familiar farming practices to convey profound spiritual truths. The entire parable functions as a Metaphor for the Kingdom of God, where the seed represents the Word, the growth represents the mysterious work of God, and the fruit and harvest represent the culmination of His work. The "sickle" and "harvest" are powerful Symbols of divine judgment, the gathering of God's people, or the ultimate consummation of God's plan. The Irony in the parable lies in the farmer's passive role in the growth process ("sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how"), yet his decisive, immediate action when the harvest is ready. This highlights the distinction between human effort in sowing and God's sovereign work in bringing forth the fruit and orchestrating the final ingathering.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Mark 4:29 profoundly illustrates the eschatological certainty of God's Kingdom. It assures believers that despite the often unseen and mysterious nature of its growth, the Kingdom of God is moving inexorably towards its divinely appointed culmination. Just as a farmer trusts the natural process of growth and knows the harvest will inevitably arrive, so too must God's people trust in His sovereign timing for the full manifestation of His purposes, whether in individual spiritual maturity or the final consummation of all things. This verse connects the quiet, internal work of God in the present to the glorious, decisive future.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Mark 4:29 offers both profound comfort and a sober challenge to believers. It provides comfort by reassuring us that the growth of God's Kingdom, both globally and within our own lives, is ultimately God's work. We are called to faithfully sow the seed of the Word and nurture its early growth, but we must trust God's mysterious power and perfect timing to bring forth the fruit to maturity. This encourages patience and perseverance in ministry, knowing that our efforts are part of a larger, divinely orchestrated plan that will inevitably culminate in a harvest. The challenge, however, lies in the certainty of that harvest. Just as a farmer assesses the ripeness of the crop, so too will there be a divine assessment of the "fruit" in our lives and in the world. This calls us to live intentionally, striving to bear good spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) that will stand the test of time, knowing that the time for gathering and reckoning will surely come.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Who is "he" who puts in the sickle in Mark 4:29?
Answer: While the parable uses the imagery of a farmer, in the spiritual interpretation of the Kingdom of God, the "he" who puts in the sickle represents God Himself, or His appointed agents (such as angels or even Christ Himself), who initiate the final, decisive action of harvest. This "harvest" can symbolize the gathering of believers, the culmination of God's redemptive plan, or a time of divine judgment, as seen in various biblical passages. For example, in the Parable of the Weeds, Jesus explicitly identifies the reapers as angels at the end of the age.
What does the "fruit" represent in this parable?
Answer: The "fruit" in Mark 4:29 represents the full maturity and development of the sown seed. Spiritually, it can symbolize the spiritual maturity of individuals (the development of Christ-like character and good works), or more broadly, the full manifestation and growth of the Kingdom of God itself, reaching its intended purpose and readiness for culmination. It signifies the desired outcome of the divine process of growth, a yield that is ready to be gathered.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Mark 4:29, with its imagery of a divinely orchestrated harvest, finds its ultimate and profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate Sower of the Word (as seen in the Parable of the Sower), and He is also the ultimate Harvester. The "fruit" that is "brought forth" by the mysterious power of God culminates in the establishment and growth of His Kingdom, which is intrinsically tied to Christ's redemptive work. The "harvest" that "is come" points directly to Christ's decisive actions: His first coming inaugurated the Kingdom, and His second coming will bring about its glorious consummation. Passages like John 4:35, where Jesus tells His disciples, "Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest," foreshadow His role as the one who gathers. Ultimately, the imagery of the sickle and harvest in Revelation, particularly Revelation 14:14-16, depicts the "Son of Man" (a clear reference to Christ) wielding a sharp sickle to reap the earth's harvest, signifying the final ingathering of the righteous and the judgment of the wicked. Thus, Mark 4:29 anticipates the decisive, culminating work of Christ, who brings God's purposes to their glorious and inevitable completion.