11th Sunday of year B
✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 4:26-34
Jesus said to the crowds: ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’
He also said, ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for it? It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’
Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it. He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were alone.
1. Today’s first reading (Ez17:22-24) speaks of hope. Prophet Ezekiel was a great hope giver. He was a prophet at time of exile when people were living in a hopeless situation. He used every means to assure the people that God has not abandoned them. Using the parable of a tig that became a big tree that shelters every animal, he invited his people to patience and hope for a powerful kingdom that God will establish with Israel. With this the people were able to keep hoping for liberation until it eventually happened. Like Ezekiel, Jesus exercised his ministry in a time of political upheavals and religious expectations of the promised Messiah who would establish an unconquerable kingdom as was prophesied by Ezekiel. At that time Jewish land was under foreign occupation of the great Roman Empire. When John the Baptist started his mission people already thought that he was the one but he told them that the one coming was mightier than him so much so that he judged himself unworthy to untie the thongs of his sandals. He finally designated Jesus as the long awaited one. With this everyone expected a change in the political life of the nation.
2. The first doubt about the super kingdom came when John the Baptist was imprisoned. He expected a miraculous deliverance which never came. He then sent messengers to Jesus asking if he was really the long awaited one. His doubt was also the doubt of his compatriots. All these prompted Jesus to explain the true nature of the kingdom that the Messiah would establish. He did this using parables as we see in today’s gospel.
3. The first parable concerns a seed that, once sown, grows to maturity on its own without further human intervention. What makes the seed to grow does not concern the sower. He only comes back at harvest time. Jesus explains that it is the same with the kingdom of God. God works invisibly in advancing the cause of life in the world. He changes things from within. Even when he seems to be absent he is still fully at work. Man should therefore exercise patience because something is happening. That is why today’s second reading ( 2 Cor 5:6-10) exhorts us to walk by faith and not by sight.
4. The second parable is about the grain of mustard which grew up to become a big tree that shelters animals and birds. Through this parable which is similar to the one in today’s first reading, Jesus explains the great perspective of the kingdom which begins slowly but progresses to greatness. This is a call not to lose heart with the way things are with us. God is surely at work. It takes time for a grain to become a big tree. It will also take time for the grace of God to be fully manifest in our lives. From a hindsight we now know that the small group of twelve that began with Jesus in Palestine succeeded in spreading the gospel to the ends of the world.
5. You can apply these parables to whatever you are going through today. Just sow the seed, God will make it to grow to maturity. Do not be so discouraged by the situations around you that you no longer do something to better your lot. Plant the mustard seed. God will at his time make it a big tree. Never grow tired of doing what is good because, as today’s second reading shows, God will not fail to reward any sincere effort. Keep doing something no matter how little and God will keep giving the growth in an invisible but real manner.
@Vitalis Anaehobi,16/06/24.
