Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:30-32 – Kingdom Like a Mustard Seed

Mark 4:30-32 – Kingdom Like a Mustard Seed

|| Matthew 13:31, 32;[1] Luke 13:18, 19

MK4:30 Jesus said: “With what will we compare God’s Realm? Or, what parable might we use to explain it? MK4:31 It is like a mustard-seed[2] when first planted in the ground is among the tiniest of all seeds. MK4:32 But once grown it becomes one of the largest of all bushes, so even the birds of the sky nest in its shade.”

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[1] Matthew 13:31, 32: For details see notes in Nazarene Commentary 2000 on Matthew.

[2] Mustard-seed: The Church begins with essentially twelve men and a few score disciples. It grows over three centuries into a massive bush, almost like a tree. Had anyone predicted to the Jews or Romans that within three centuries the Nazarene movement would become the state religion and that Emperor himself would be a Christian – there would have been universal laughter. Had those persons in the 3^rd Century been told that Christianity would become the world’s largest religion with two billion adherents among the most powerful nations on earth – none would have believed it.

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Preceding

Matthew 13:31-32 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Parable of the Mustard Seed

Matthew 17:14-21 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Faith the Size of a Mustard Seed

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:1-9 – Teaching in Parables

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:10-13 – How Will You Understand?

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:14-20 – Sower Parable Explained

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:21-23 – Light Exposes

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:24, 25 – Hearing and Responsibility

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:26-29 – The Sleeping Farmer

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Additional reading

1. Seeds, weeds and kingdoms
2. Unbelief, faith and mustard seed
3. A Living Faith #1 Substance of things hoped for

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Related

1. Mark 4:26-34
2. Seed Power
3. Seeds of Mustard and Kudzu
4. Morning Musing: Mark 4:30-32
5. The Mustard Seed
6. A Little Mustard Seed
7. Mustard Seed
8. Handing Over the Keys
9. Gardening from Seed
10. Mustard Seeds
11. From One Seed – Many Seeds
12. Weed or towering cedar? The Kingdom of God.
13. Text Study for Mark 4:26-34 (Pt. 2); 3 Pentecost B 2021
14. Seeds Harvest Growth- Worship Resources based on Mark 4.26-34
15. God of the Little – Prayer
16. The Kingdom is not in us. We are in the Kingdom.
17. Growing the Kingdom: It’s Not About Us
18. Gardening with God
19. Stay in the Soil
20. Never Underestimate the Power of a Seed
21. “God Changes Things!”
22. An Everlasting Kingdom
23. Setting Our Stories Straight: The Myth of Progress

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:26-29 – The Sleeping Farmer

Mark 4:26-29 – The Sleeping Farmer

MK4:26 Then Jesus said: “God’s Realm[1] is as if a person scattered seed on the ground, MK4:27 then goes to sleep at night and rises the next day. The seed sprouts and grows and the person has no idea how.[2] MK4:28 For the ground produces by itself: first the blade, then the stalk, and finally the full head of grain. MK4:29 But, when the crop is ready, at once the sickle is put in, for the harvest has arrived.”

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[1] God’s Realm: Jesus uses the designation to refer to the Church, or the Realm of Profession, the domain or territory over which Christ reigns by God’s power. This parable is unique to Mark and there are several views.

[2] The person has no idea how: The growth of the Church has occurred miraculously as without any outside help, like a seed that grows of itself to produce fruitage. Here the Sower has planted the seed, and then it would seem to the world, showed no interest in how it develops. Like a planted seed, the grow of the Church has amazed historians, and certainly no one could have predicted that within three centuries such a small movement would become the state religion. As a comparative analogy see Paul’s example in 1 Corinthians 13:9-12.

“9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 However, when full maturity arrives, the part will be rendered useless. 11 When I was an infant my speech was infantile. I thought like an infant. I reasoned like an infant. When I will have finally become an adult man, I will have made the infantile things useless. 12 For right now we are looking through an enigmatic mirror, but then face to face. Right now I know in part, but then I shall know completely just as I am also completely known.” (1Co 13:9-12 mhm)

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Preceding

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:1-9 – Teaching in Parables

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:10-13 – How Will You Understand?

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:14-20 – Sower Parable Explained

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:21-23 – Light Exposes

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:24, 25 – Hearing and Responsibility

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Related

1. Sow and See
   Seeds Harvest Growth- Worship Resources based on Mark 4.26-34
2. Daily Devotion – Mark 4:26-29
3. 11 Ordinary Time Sunday
4. Playing Your Part
5. Scattering Seeds
6. Scattering, Burying, Dying and Rising
7. A Growing Seed
8. “God Changes Things!”
9. Mustard Seeds

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:10-13 – How Will You Understand?

Mark 4:10-13 – How Will You Understand?

|| Matthew 13:10-15;[1] Luke 8:9, 10

MK4:10 Now later when Jesus was alone, the Twelve and others around him asked him about the parables. MK4:11 So, Jesus said to them: “You have been entrusted with the knowledge of the mystery regarding God’s Realm, but to those outside everything is spoken in parables. MK4:12 ‘So that they may look, but, behold! they do not understand! And, hearing they may hear and yet still not understand. Otherwise, they at some time might turn around and their sins be forgiven.’”[2] [Isaiah 6:9, 10] MK4:13 So Jesus said to them: “If you do not understand this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?”

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[1] Matthew 13:10-15: For details see notes in Nazarene Commentary 2000 on Matthew.

[2] Forgiven: Some mss say “healed.”

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Preceding

Matthew 13:10-15 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Why Speak in Parables?

Mark 4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 4:1-9 – Teaching in Parables

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Additional reading

1. Light and Salt – Parables of Influence
2. Jesus the Storyteller 2 Interpreting Jesus’ stories
3. Jesus the Storyteller 3 Reflections of/ on Jesus’ ministry

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Related

1. Do we need to hear stories or the truth?
2. I will open my mouth in parables
3. Whose Voice Do I Hear?

Matthew 21:28-32 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Parable of Two Children

Matthew 21:28-32 – Parable of Two Children

MT21:28 “However, what is your view? A father had two children. Approaching the first, he said, ‘Child, go work today in the vineyard.’ MT21:29 Now, this child responded, ‘I will, Sir,’ but did not leave for the vineyard. MT21:30 The father approached the second child and requested the same, who said, ‘I will not!’ but later felt regret and went into the vineyard. MT21:31 Now, which of the two did the will of their father?” The priests and elders answered, “The last one.” Then Jesus said to them: “I tell you this truth: Tax-collectors and the sexually immoral[1] are going ahead of you[2] into the Realm of The God. MT21:32 John came to you in righteousness way and you did not believe him. But the tax-collectors and sexually immoral believed him. Not you – though seeing you did not feel regret later and so believe in John.

The Parable of the Father and His Two Sons in the Vineyard. [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

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[1] Sexually immoral: Or, fornicators. The Greek is PORNAI which is drawn from “to buy” and means prostitute or harlot. See notes under PORNEIA or fornicator. Or, KJV: harlots; GDSP: prostitutes.

[2] Going ahead of you: Or, preceding you.

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Preceding

Matthew 21:1-3 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Sent Ahead for a Donkey

Matthew 21:4-5 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Your King Is Coming upon a Donkey

Matthew 21:6-9 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Blessed the One Coming in God’s Name!

Matthew 21:10-11 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Who Is This?

Matthew 21:12-14 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Temple Cleansed

Matthew 21:12-14 – From a den of thieves to a house of prayer

Matthew 21:15-17 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Out of the Mouth of Babes

Matthew 21:18-22 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: A Cursed Fig Tree a Lesson in Faith

Matthew 21:23-27 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: The Question of Authority

Authority from the One God to one mediator between God and men

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Further related

1. Breaking Free from Sex Trafficking
2. Meaning and doing what we say
3. Passion Week – Killing the Master’s Son: Matthew 21:33-41
4. “at evensong, one hour before the sun go down”: a Sermon on the Parable of the Vineyard
5. How to Subvert Divine Justice and Turn Everybody’s Lives Upside Down
6. Rise Up, My Love (291): Everything We Have Is His!