"This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were
to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear,
then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields
the sickle at once, for the harvest has come." (Mk 4,26-29)
When Jesus narrated this parable, he would have had a smile on
his lips. That is a "man would sleep and rise night and day".
Jesus knows well that man, of his own, cannot do anything.
Even what he does is significantly nothing. Everything is
work of creation and the creator. Man only sows the seed and
waters and then he sleeps and rises.
Does Jesus say that man can only sleep and rise
and he is not capable of doing anything else?
Probably that is what Jesus wants his listeners to understand.
Man is just an instrument in the created world.
He himself is a creation of God. He can only assist or
continue the work of creation.
By saying 'sleep and rise night and day' Jesus wants the man
to admire and wonder at the creation and the work of GOD.
Man should realize his dependability on God.
When this parable is taken in the context of the Kingdom
of God the disciple should realize that he is nothing.
Kingdom is the work of God. God works the kingdom in the world
and man does the minimum and he sleeps and rises.
Kingdom works its way through in spite of disciple's sleep.
(in spite of sleepy disciples!!!)
It is God's work. Man can not boast of anything.
GOD WORKS HIS KINGDOM ON HIS OWN
