Mark 4:8

“And others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. And it produced thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

The change to the plural ‘others' stresses the individuality of those who respond and that there are many who would so respond. In spite of all the problems that he faced the farmer could be sure that some seed would grow and flourish because the ground was good, and when it did it would produce in abundance. So in the end the message is positive. A harvest is guaranteed. The seed will bear fruit in receptive hearers, even though not in others. Those who had heard John the Baptiser's preaching would not fail to connect this with his words about the coming of the Holy Spirit, the wheat and the chaff, and the resulting harvest (Matthew 3:10; Luke 3:16).

‘It produced thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold.' This threefoldness parallels the threefoldness of the different types of barren ground. Not all seed sown in good ground produces at the same level, but all produces abundantly. The reference is possibly to the number of grains per plant, although the figures may simply be indications of fruitfulness indicating completeness, double completeness and full completeness.