MARK 4: 26-29
26 And he said: So is the kingdom of God, as when a man puts seed on the ground; 27 and he sleeps and gets up, day and night, and the seed grows and grows without knowing how. 28 For the earth itself bears fruit, first grass, then ear, then whole grains in ear; 29 and when the fruit is ripe, the cutting is immediately placed, because the harvest has come.
REFLECTION:
This is another parable about the growth of the kingdom of God. When Jesus went to Galilee to preach the gospel, he said: The time of God has been fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1: 14-15); In the book of events, we observe that when people heard the message of salvation and believed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the kingdom of God began to grow (Acts 4: 4), which was different from the kingdom they expected. the Jews, a political empire. His eleven apostles and other disciples, as Jesus Christ suffered, resurrected, ascended to heaven and was filled with the Holy Spirit, were responsible for spreading this message about the kingdom. Jesus, compares this growth of the kingdom with a man who sows a seed in the ground and falls asleep, at night the seed sprouts and begins to grow. Man sleeps and the seed grows, but he does not know how that growth occurs internally, because it is God who gives the growth. In the same way, we do not know how interior the heart of a dead person is when the Holy Spirit produces the new birth, a heart of stone passes to a sensitive one who listens to the voice of God. In the conversation that Jesus has with Nicodemus, he tells him: Truly, truly, I say, whoever is not born of water and the Spirit cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3: 5) and he also tells him: the wind blows there it wants, and you hear its sound; but you don’t even know where it comes from or where it is going; so are all who are born of the Spirit (John 3: 8). We do not know how interior the heart of a dead person is when the Holy Spirit produces the new birth, a heart of stone passes to a sensitive one who listens to the voice of God. In the conversation that Jesus has with Nicodemus, he tells him: Truly, truly, I say, whoever is not born of water and the Spirit cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3: 5) and he also tells him: the wind blows there it wants, and you hear its sound; but you don’t even know where it comes from or where it is going; so are all who are born of the Spirit (John 3: 8). We do not know how interior the heart of a dead person is when the Holy Spirit produces the new birth, a heart of stone passes to a sensitive one who listens to the voice of God. In the conversation that Jesus has with Nicodemus, he tells him: Truly, truly, I say, whoever is not born of water and the Spirit cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3: 5) and he also tells him: the wind blows there it wants, and you hear its sound; but you don’t even know where it comes from or where it is going; so are all who are born of the Spirit (John 3: 8). the wind blows there it wants, and you hear its sound; but you don’t even know where it comes from or where it is going; so are all who are born of the Spirit (John 3: 8). the wind blows there it wants, and you hear its sound; but you don’t even know where it comes from or where it is going; so are all who are born of the Spirit (John 3: 8).
Man can weed, find compost, water it, but only God is the one who produces the growth, as expressed in 1 Corinthians 3: 6-7, “I planted, Apollos watered; but the growth has been God-given. So neither the one who plants is something nor the one who waters without God giving the growth ”.
At the end, when the plant goes through the whole growth process, it will be mature, and it will be the time of harvest, therefore the cutting can be inserted, so that the fruits can be collected, then the kingdom of God will grow. and grow, but the time will come when the good fruits will be gathered and will go to the Father’s grain. This last section refers to the perfection of time. Jesus said: Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43).
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.
Good advice: read chapter 4 of Mark