And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like this: as when a man casts seed into the ground.
Here Christ presents a new parable, which only Mark passes on to us in this way. The kingdom of God is compared to a seed that a man throws into the ground. This again shows that the kingdom begins in a small, sometimes unnoticed way. It is not first of all a noisy outward phenomenon, but a divine life growing from within. A man throws the seed, but the deep mystery of its growth is beyond his control. This parable has a special comfort, because it reminds us that God’s work often moves forward quietly, hidden, and gradually. At first a man may not see anything great, but the seed in the ground has already begun its course.