Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap.

Today we open with Mark's account of the parable of the four soils.

Then he immediately follows it with a question about the purpose of a lamp.

You don't hide lamps, you display them.

The fact that these two illustrations are given back to back seems to indicate that

Jesus wants the light to go everywhere, the seed to go everywhere.

Some people might hide their eyes from the light, some people might not use the light to

see the truth at all, but the light shines in the darkness nonetheless.

And the seed must fall even on the three bad soils, not just on the good soil.

Jesus may be measured about the timing of his revealing, but he's clear on the fact

that everyone who has eyes to see, everyone who has soil to receive will see and will

receive and they will respond accordingly.

Then Jesus spends several parables explaining the kingdom of God, not describing what the

experience is like, but describing its unstoppable power despite its small beginnings.

By the way, the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven seem to be used interchangeably

in Scripture.

Jesus says the kingdom is like a seed that grows to full harvest, but no one knows how it

actually happens.

That it's like a mustard seed slowly taking over everything.

The mustard seeds are tiny, but they grow to be huge and are practically impossible to

kill.

Jesus seems to be illustrating that his kingdom will have a slow and steady growth, but

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