Mark 4:26-29

Mark 4:26-29
388 Downloads

WHILE THIS PARABLE IS NOT LOCATED IN MATTHEW 13, it is like those parables. This parable is only found in the Gospel of Mark and is located just after the parable of “The Seed of the Sower” and just before the parable of the “Mustard Seed.” Mark did not record all the parables in Matthew 13 but stated: “And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.” (Mark 4:33)

Mark admittedly did not record all the parables, but in the case of the parable of “The Full Corn,” he was the only Gospel writer who recorded it. This parable is different from the first group of kingdom parables of Matthew 13 and is likened unto the parable of “The Hidden Treasure.” This parable is about the hidden growth of the Kingdom of God (Israel).

The Parable: Casting Seed: “And he said, so is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground.” (Mark 4:26) The parable is readily identified as a kingdom parable by the introduction, “So is the kingdom of God.” The man doing the sowing is God; the seed being sown is identified in verse 28 as corn.

The prophet Amos likened corn to the nation of Israel: “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” (Amos 9:9) Israel was sown (scattered (Deuteronomy 4:26-31; James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1) as corn is sifted in a sieve. The analogy of corn to Israel seems quite plain.