We owe Mark a great debt, for he alone records this parable of the seed (4:26-29). There is no clearer insight into the mysterious transformations of the Spirit of God, the germinal power of the gospel, than in these companion parables of the seed and the mustard seed. The seed parables instruct us not to expect complete comprehension of the transforming power of the Spirit's presence. It comes by God's initiative and appointment, not by our understanding and manipulation. There is something fundamentally enigmatic to human perception (see Mark's phrase "he knows not how") about the working of the word of God in the world of time. The seed parables also remind us of the large outcomes of the smallest beginnings. In the same way the mustard seed, proverbially the smallest of all seeds, spro…