OT XI (B) (June 16) Ez 17: 22-24; II Cor 5:6-10; Mk 4:26-34

In the Gospel of today, we have two parables concerning the growth of the Kingdom of God.  He uses the image of the seed and the plant indicating how the Kingdom that he is proclaiming would grow quietly as every farmer would experience. It is a call to belong to the kingdom of God, who calls us to put ourselves fully, consciously, and deliberately under the power of God, to experience that power, and be empowered by it.

When Mark put today’s two parables into writing, he had seen the death of two great apostles of Rome, Peter and Paul. The Parusia or the second coming of Jesus that they were expecting had not come as yet. Nero blamed the Christians for the great fire of Rome and the faith of the Christians was at a risk.  The parables of Jesus given today provide an insight into the Kingdom of Jesus to the early church, as it gives to us today and explains its growth.  

Having done the sowing, all that the farmer can do is to go about his other business, while the seed takes over and does its own work, producing first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear, until the crop is ready for the harvest. In the parable, it is said of the farmer that ‘he does not know’ how all this happens. Between his actions of sowing the seed and harvesting the crop, a great deal of activity goes on, which is invisible to him and which he does not fully understand.

Jesus seems to be saying that if the farmer does not know the ways of the humble seed, how can any of us fully know the ways of God? If natural growth is mysterious, how much more mysterious must be the growth of God’s kingdom? The author of the book of Ecclesiastes expressed it well, “Just as you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things” (11:5).

There is a reassuring, hopeful message here for all of us who may be tempted to discouragement by the slow progress that the ways of God appear to be making in the world. The spreading of God’s reign is ultimately God’s work and that work is always underway, even when we do not see it or understand it.

The second parable in today’s gospel reading reminds us that God can be at work in situations and in places that seem very unpromising to us. There is a stark contrast between the tiny mustard seed, ‘the smallest of all the seeds on earth’, and the large shrub whose branches become homes for the birds of the air. Insignificant beginnings can lead to a wonderful result. Jesus says that the kingdom of God is like that; it often finds expression initially in what is small and seemingly insignificant. We can feel at times that our own faith is insignificant, as small as a mustard seed. The parable assures us that the Lord is working in and through such faith. Our hope can appear to diminish to the size of a mustard seed. The parable assures us that the Lord will see to it that the final harvest from those endeavours will be abundant. The parable comforted the people of the early Church in the face of discouragement when their efforts did not seem to be getting them anywhere. How surprised those early Christians would be to see the Church today. We can visualize how the mustard seed has grown in the world of today. 

 

The good news is that you don’t need to have all the answers. You don’t need to rescue yourself or others from a fix. You don’t need to be in control. You don’t need to be superman or superwoman. God has your back. God is the answer. God is always working even when nothing seems to be happening. God will always accomplish His purpose even when our efforts seem to fail, and every situation seems hopeless. This is the reason why in scripture, we often see God deliberately choosing men and women that culture overlooks to expose the hollow pretensions of the people who think they are something. God chooses what the world considers nonsense, weak, and ordinary to not only shame but also destroy all pretentious thinking and inflated pride. He does this so that the only thing that one can boast about is – Christ.

 

Many people who are reading this parable may be very upset because they did everything they could to raise their children in the faith. However, their children stopped practicing their faith when they left for college. Then they got married, outside of the Church, and now have grandchildren who haven't even been baptized. So they may ask, "Where did I go wrong?" Well, they did not go wrong. The world got to them. Such people need to continue to pray that their children will be open to the faith. That seed that they planted may spring into a marvelous tree, but only after a long period of time. God’s reign comes in power through the seemingly insignificant actions of each of one us. But it will bear fruit. This week I got a call for the last sacrament from someone living in our parish limit. The husband is dying of cancer. The doctor said there was only one week left. I haven’t seen either of them in this church all these years. The seed of faith is not dead, that is why they thought about the sacrament of the dying. The faith will start growing in its time, in God’s time.

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 this seed grows by using the power of the Holy Spirit, given to us through the Word of God, the Mass, the Sacraments, and prayer. 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, a growth which will be completed in our Heavenly life. But since we need the special anointing of the Holy Spirit to be doers of the word of God, let us offer our lives before God every day, asking for this special anointing.