Mark 4:26-29, The Parable of the Seed Growing

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” [This a parable of growth, unique to Mark, that continues what we learned in the Parable of the Sower. The process of growth is spontaneous in the kingdom of God but a mystery to natural human understanding. The harvest is a common Old Testament picture of judgement. This will be the final phase of the rule of God that he has begun in Jesus.]