Eleventh Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Gospel Mk
4:26-34
Jesus said to the crowds:
“This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter
seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the
seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields
fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the
grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”
·
Jesus teaches using the
experiences of the people of his day. They planted and farmed. So, they could
relate to his teachings.
·
Underlying this is the role
of God in the process. The seed was not created by the farmer. The land was not
created by the farmer. The sun and the rain were not created by the farmer. He plants
and tends but it the providential work of God that is manifested.
·
Jesus says that the Kingdom
of God will grow the same way. God has planted the desire in the hearts of
people for something more. Those who proclaim and share the Good News of God’s
love are those who touch the core of the hearer’s heart. The fruit is the
response of the hearer.
He said, “To what shall we compare
the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard
seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on
the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
·
Like the mustard seed which
is small and seemingly insignificant, the Kingdom of God will such at the
beginning. But through the grace of God in the working of those who proclaim
the truth of salvation and in the hearers, the Church will spread far and wide
and many will be part of it.
·
The question we need to ask
ourselves is what is our part in this mysterious growth? First, we are the
hearers who benefit from the outreach and ministry of others. But we are also
called to give to others what we have received. This is also the process of the
growth. We can’t just be satisfied to receive; we must be fruitful by passing
on the Good News.
With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to
understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own
disciples he explained everything in private.
·
To the extent people
responded to his message, Jesus was able to explain further.
·
But because of the role of
the disciples, he was forming them further by explaining everything in private.
·
The process: the hearer
becomes a disciple then an apostle. The disciple is formed; the apostle is sent
out to share with others.
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