Charles Ellicott Commentary Mark 4:26

"And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth;" — Mark 4:26 (ASV)

As if a man should cast seed into the ground.—What follows is of special interest. It is the only parable peculiar to St. Mark and, therefore, one that escaped the manifest eagerness of St. Matthew and St. Luke to gather all they could find of this form of our Lord’s teaching.

To some extent, it runs parallel with the parable of the Sower, as though it had been given as another and easier lesson in the art of understanding parables. If we assume a connection between St. Mark and St. Peter, it may be regarded as having made a special impression on the Apostle's mind in this way.

Like many other parables, it finds an interpretation in the analogous phenomena of the growth of the Kingdom:

1. In the world at large.
2. In the heart of each individual.

Speaking roughly, the Sower is, as before, either the Son of Man or the preacher of His word. The ground, similarly, falls under one or another of the types just defined in the previous parable, with, perhaps, a special reference to the good ground.