In Mark's parables section, 4:1-34, Jesus speaks both openly to great crowds and privately to his chosen disciples. His words to the crowds are all parables, presented without translation or explanation. In his private asides to his disciples, however, Jesus takes his followers by their hands and carefully leads them through the maze of meaning lying behind these stories.

In the "Parable of the Growing Seed," read today, Jesus is speaking to the combined audience of the uncomprehending crowds and his privately tutored disciples. Yet, as he begins this parable, Jesus seems to speak towards the disciples, who have already received parabolic lessons on the kingdom of God. His public prompting for the disciples thus reveals to the whole listening multitude that "the kingdom of God is as if ...…