June 17, 2018
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
The mustard seed
The mustard seed has gained great importance since Jesus used it in this parable. Such a tiny seed but with great lessons for those who take time off to reflect on even the minutest of blessings to see how grace makes what the world despises the corner stone. The secrets of growth are beyond human comprehension.
First reading (Ezekiel 17:22-24)
This very short passage from the Prophet Ezekiel describes an action of God that is beyond human comprehension. Beyond what anyone could expect, it is an oracle of salvation. God pronounces, “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it out; I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain; on the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bring fort boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar…” The Lord is the one who speaks and promises to make this happen. It reveals the fact that those who have been charged with certain responsibilities and who were believed to have the capacity to deliver have failed to bring forth the desired results. This is a serious indictment on the rulers of the time. But God promises to choose that which is not reckoned with, something insignificant in a tender twig to be planted on the height, the top of the mountain is often considered as the dwelling place the divine. That is the height on which the twig will be planted and there it shall flourish and have enough shade for the beasts of the earth and enough branches for the birds of every sort to nest. It speaks of divine favour. This metaphor is also used in other passages (see Ps 104:12; Ez 31:6; Dn 4:9-21)The Prophet Isaiah has a version of this metaphor, in his prophecy of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 11) where he says that, “From the stump of Jesse, a shoot will come forth…the root of Jesse will be raised as a signal.” He it is who will establish the kingdom of peace to which all the remnants of the people will return.
This metaphor, whether as an allusion to the house of David or to the messianic kingdom, clearly points to the divine force that reverses fortunes particularly in favour of the despised and lowly—God chooses the weak to confront the strong. The passage ends strongly—“I the Lord have spoken and I will do it.”
Second Reading (2 Corinthians 5:6-10)
Pau; in this passage invites us to a deeper reflection on what we can call our comfort zones. The best comfort zone for him is in the Lord. The Lord who had said, come to me all you who labour and are burdened and I will give you rest. Alive in the body, Paul says is being away from the Lord, he however says, “We walk by faith and not by sight.” This means that even while in the body, we must constantly keep in touch with the Lord by our faith in him. The best place to be is with the Lord. “We are of good courage and would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” Since we are still alive and we know that we will have to give an account of our lives in the body to the Lord at the end of our lives, it follows then that whether alive or dead we belong to the Lord and so cannot be comfortable anywhere else apart from living in and with the Lord right here. This life must be our foretaste of the eternal life that we look forward to.
Gospel Mark 4:26-34
Right from Chapter 2 of Mark, the opposition began to grow and gather strength against the ministry of Jesus. Some even said that he was using the power of the prince of demons to cast out demons. Jesus began to use parables to teach, beginning with the parable of the sower; the parable of the lamp; the parable of the measure; and today, we have two short parables with which Jesus explained the kingdom of God to his disciples. The first teaches that the kingdom of God grows like seed scattered on the ground by the farmer who goes to sleep or even awake, not knowing how the seed germinates and bears fruit, apart from the labour he had put in, which on its own, cannot account for the successful harvest. Once he sees that the farm is ready for harvesting, he wastes no time in gathering in the produce. In the second parable, Jesus compared the growth of the kingdom to the small mustard seed which grows to become a shrub where every kind of bird can nest. The seed itself is inconsequential in both parables but within it, is the potential for great success which is known only to God. The farmer sees this potential unfold but the real secret of its growth is beyond human comprehension. The farmer plants the seeds and does what is humanly possible, there are situations where with all the efforts made, no good results are evident. This is a clear indication that success is not dependent solely on the efforts made by the farmer, its grace at work.
The second parable has within it some exaggerations which are meant to provoke the hearers to listen and reflect. The mustard seed is obviously not the smallest of seeds nor does it grow into the biggest shrub; these are figures of speech to help the hearer understand how the kingdom of God can actually spread from a group that is very small to become the kind of movement it is now. It highlights the humble beginnings of the Kingdom that Jesus has come to establish which will continue to grow through the mission of the apostles and in the power of the Holy Spirit at work in all who believe. The kingdom of God grows where one least expects. We see the poor embrace it with joy and so we see the rich do same—the poor and the despised of the world, the persecuted and the oppressed, slaves and free all find a home in the kingdom. The growth of the kingdom and its universality can only be explained in terms of grace—the divine potential beyond what humans can fully comprehend.
Should we worry today that Christians are in the minority? Maybe! If we however take into account that true Christians have always been in the minority, that Christians were very few and were greatly persecuted in the Roman Empire but by their endurance, prayer and the grace of God rose to become the most dominant religious group in the same empire, we must again put our trust in the Lord who promised to be with his church till the end of time. This calls us to be patient about the kingdom and to know that we only scatter the seed, how it grows and matures and bears fruit is totally dependent on divine grace. It is perhaps more important that you realise what the Lord has called you to and be a good Christian who will light up the world and add taste to the earth. You are the one who is to plant the seed and nurture it, leave its growth and fruitfulness to God.
Let us pray: O God, give us the courage to be your true disciples in the world of our time, true light of the world. Amen. May the Almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
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