[pg 106] CHAPTER IV THE SECRET OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 1. The Parables of the Secret of the Kingdom of God. WE have to do here with the “secret of the Kingdom of God” (Mk 4:11), which is dealt with in the parables of the sower, of the self-growing seed, of the grain of mustard, and of the leaven. We commonly find in these parables the illustration of a constant and gradually unfolding through which the petty initial stage of a development is connected with the glorious final stage. The seed that is sown already contains the harvest, inasmuch as each seed is devised for the production of plant and fruit. They develop from the seed by natural law. So it is likewise with the development of the Kingdom of God from small and obscure beginnings. This attractive interpretation of the parables takes from them, however, the character of _secrets,_ for the illustration of a steady unfolding through the processes of nature is no secret. Hence it is that we fail to understand what the secret is in these parables. [pg 107] We interpret them according to our scientific knowledge of nature which enables us to unite even such different stages as these by the conception of development. By reason of the immediateness with which the unschooled spirit of olden time observed the world, nature had, however, still secrets to offer,—in the fact, namely, that she produced two utterly distinct conditions in a sequence, the connection of which was just as certain as it was inexplicable. This immediateness is the note of Jesus’ parables. The conception of development in nature which is contemplated in the modern explanation is not at all brought into prominence, but the exposition is rather devised to place the two conditions so immediately side by side that one is compelled to raise the question, How can the final stage proceed from the initial stage? 1. A man sowed seed. A great part of the seed was lost on account of circumstances the most diverse—and yet the produce of the corn which fell upon good ground was so great that it restored the seed sown thirty, sixty, even an hundred fold. The detailed interpretation of the description of this loss, and the application to particular classes of men, as it lies before us in [pg 108] Mk 4:13-20, is the product of a later view which perceived no longer any secret in the parable. Originally, however, the single points of the description were not independent, but the seed which was lost upon the path, or upon the stony ground, or among the thorns, together with that which the fowls of heaven devoured, constituted altogether a unified contrast to that which fell upon good ground. The manner in which it was destroyed has no importance for the parable. In spite of the description so wonderfully wrought out, this saying of Jesus expresses one single thought: So small, considering all that was lost, was the sowing; and yet the harvest so great!—Therein lies the secret.