Gospel Conversations 2024 June 16 Mark

A seed sown in the ground... the farmer sleeps, wakes, sleeps, wakes, and the seed mysteriously grows. It's a familiar image even today for many of us, but what was Jesus meaning when he used the image as a parable? We have three wise and experienced heads tackling that question this week, with Graham Redding (Knox Church, Dunedin), Bishop Kelvin Wright, and Wendy Scott (St Matthew's, Masterton) joining Michael.
Mark 4:26-34
26 He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’
30 He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’
33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.