XI SUNDAY: MK 4: 26-34

I have a riddle for you:  “What is stronger than God, more evil than the devil, poor people have it, rich people don’t need it, and if you eat it, you’ll die?” (Repeat)

If you do not know, don’t worry, only 17 percent of Stanford students could answer it, though 80 percent of the kindergartners were able to give the answer.

The answer is: “Nothing.”  ( Nothing stronger than God, more evil than devil, poor people have nothing, the rich need nothing, if you eat nothing, you will die)

Literally, the word parable means “a riddle.” They are stories that leave the listener with the responsibility of figuring out just what they mean. Jesus told more than 40 parables during his ministry, and he only explained one of them to his disciples, so, that left the disciples with a lot of figuring out to do. And then Jesus took the answers with him when he ascended into heaven. So here we are, some 2000 years later, still pondering what Jesus must have meant when he told the parable of the Mustard seed.

Jesus so often uses Illustrations from the growth of nature to describe the coming of the Kingdom of God. Nature's growth is imperceptible. Even if we watch we cannot see the daily growth of the plants. But we notice them slowly over a period of time. The spread of God's kingdom takes place in the same way in human lives from very humble beginnings.

In the gospel, Jesus compares the growth of the kingdom of God to the germination of a wheat seed and that of a tiny mustard seed. Both have very small beginnings. The wheat seeds, by gradual but steady growth help the farmer to get a bumper crop. In the same way, the life principle in a tiny mustard seed enables it to grow into a large bush. The reign of God in human hearts and the growth of the Church in the world also have small beginnings. But the Source of all life, God the Holy Spirit, gives to both a steady, persistent and gigantic growth. So we must be paying attention to the little things in our spiritual growth. They will eventually help us grow as spiritual giants. It is not in doing great things, but doing trifles with great attention and care.

Michelangelo (1475-1564) was one of the greatest artists, poets, and sculptors of all time. One day a visitor came to his studio in Florence. The visitor looked at a statue that was in the making and commented, "I can't see that you have made any progress since I was here last time."

Michelangelo answered, "Oh, yes, I have made much progress. Look carefully and you will see that I have retouched this part, and that I have polished that part. See, I have worked on this part of the statue, and have softened the lines here."

"Yes," said the visitor, "but those are all trifles."

"That may be," replied Michelangelo, "but trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle."  So, the kingdom of God grows in little measure, in trifles, assisted by the Holy Spirit.

Let’s not focus on the size of what we have or the status we have in the Church to measure our growth in spiritual life. That is a folly.

A small fellow, not much over 5 feet tall, applied for a job as a lumberjack in Alaska. The foreman, thinking to discourage him, gave him a large ax, set him before a tree hundreds of feet tall, and yards in diameter, and told him to chop it down. Within minutes the tree had been felled. The amazed foreman asked him where he'd learned to chop trees so powerfully. The little fellow replied, "When I worked in the Sahara forest." "You mean, the Sahara desert." "That was after I got there," said the small lumberjack. 

The point of the story is that size is less important than spirit, or intelligence, or courage -- a point made when King David was selected at a young age: "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature ... for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." 

So, we need is not to look at the size but to cooperate in the growth of God’s kingdom: The Kingdom of God is the growth of God’s rule in human hearts that occurs when man does the will of God and surrenders his life to God. The seed of faith lies dormant within each of us. When we permit the Holy Spirit to nurture it with TLC (tender loving care), it grows miraculously into gigantic proportions. The growth is slow and microscopic in the beginning. But the seed grows by using

the power of the Holy Spirit, given to us through the word of God, the Mass, the sacraments and prayers. As we learn God’s will from His words and try to put these words into practice, we participate in the growth of God’s kingdom on earth which will be completed in our heavenly life.

The kingdom is God’s kingdom, not ours. We will only get energized to do useful and creative work if we first learn to welcome the miracle of the kingdom over which we have no control.

The conviction that growth of the kingdom of God is the work of the Holy Spirit with our humble co-operation, should make us optimistic in continuing our work of witnessing. We should continue sowing tiny seeds in the form of words of love, acts of encouragement, deeds of charity, mercy and forgiveness.

Let’s be faithful in little things, and we will be put in charge of great things." Matthew 25

Today is Fathers’ day, a day to remember that human fathers share in the love and concern of the heavenly Father. In the New Testament, Jesus introduced a new name for God – Father. It is the name that Jesus referred to more than any other and the name that He invites us to use to address the Creator of the Universe. - Daddy!

“For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new and better than the Old, is summed up in the knowledge of the fatherhood of God.” 

No one on this earth may have had a perfect earthly father, but always remember that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us dearly and has our name written on the palm of His hand.

He said, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” (2 Corinthians 6:18 NIV).

Let’s thank our heavenly Father who loves us as His precious children and share his love with us through our human fathers, so that we may learn to trust him and be obedient to him.