Mark 4:26 Commentary and Bible Study

(Synoptics: Mark 4:26-29) The subject is still sowing and reaping. Now this is an interesting parable of witness, and it's only in Mark’s Gospel. You say, ‘No, it’s in Matthew also.’ No, no. The story in Matthew is more complex. There are other factors which are not here in Mark. It is obviously told on a different occasion. Some of the elements are the same, but it is a different parable. This version of the parable is only in Mark’s Gospel, and it was told within moments of the Parable of the Sower, so it's helpful to us. The kingdom of God is people, and Christ is the king: saved people, Jews and Gentiles. ‘So is the kingdom of God’, and this is how it's built up; this is how it comes about. ‘As if a man should cast seed into the ground.’ Like the Parable of the Sower the sowing is indiscriminate. ‘Cast’: this isn’t a measured application; this isn't a specific sowing: I will sow this seed in this place. It's an indiscriminate sowing of the seed. It is the gospel call, the tender of salvation to all people, even the non-elect, the unsaved. We preach the gospel to all.