Today, we use spreaders, but back then, they would sling a bag of grain over their shoulder, and then grab handfuls of the seed at a time and toss it around on the ground. (redeeminggod.com)
When we recognize the original point as that of the contrast between the handful of seed and the bushels of harvest, and when we set the parable finally in the context of the proclamation of God acting as king in the experience of men confronted by the message and ministry of Jesus, what is the significance of a story about a Palestinian peasant who sows handfuls of seed and, despite all the agricultural vicissitudes of that time and place, gathers in bushels of harvest? (religion-online.org)
There are no ways to express this theme, except to use words such as «Thy Kingdom come», or to speak of «sitting at table in the Kingdom», or to contrast a handful of seed sown with the bushels of grain harvested, the small lump of leaven with the mass of leavened dough. (religion-online.org)