XI Sunday in OT:2015: Ez 17: 22-24; II Cor 5: 6-10; Mk 4: 26-34

XI Sunday in OT:2015: Ez 17: 22-24; II Cor 5: 6-10; Mk 4: 26-34

Introduction: Today’s readings are about the birth and growth of the reign or rule of the Kingdom of God, in human lives and about the gigantic growth of the Church from very humble beginnings.  The Gospel account has two brief parables, both about tiny things – little seeds. The first is apparently about wheat and the second about mustard seeds, the smallest of all seeds. Both growths are slow and mysterious, guided by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Exegesis: In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches the meaning of the reign or kingdom of God by way of two parables. In the first comparison, the reign of God is like seeds that a man plants in the soil. It is not the man, however, but the soil that makes the seeds sprout and grow in a way the man does not understand. In the second comparison, the reign of God is like the smallest of all seeds. Yet, once it has completed its growth, it is so large that birds can build nests in its shade. Mark mentions that Jesus further explained the meaning of parables to his disciples.

A man walked into a store. He found Christ behind the counter. He asked, "What do you sell here?" Christ replied, "You name it." "I want food for all, good health for kids, adequate housing for everyone, and abortion to cease." Gently Jesus answered, "Friend, I do not sell finished products here, only seeds. You must plant them and water them. I will do the rest." When Jesus told this parable of the smallest seed in the world, His disciples were in a disappointment. They had worked so hard and so little had happened. Jesus teaches them that we have to be like farmers. Farmers have to depend upon nature. They have to be patient. Farmers also have to recognize that they really can't do things themselves.

In the comparison of the Kingdom of God to smallest seed we are hearing a warning, a warning that tells us that we ought not to confuse size with importance. Bigger is sometimes not better. Events attracting large crowds are not necessarily good events. Crowds have often been quite wrong. Public opinion polls are not necessarily gauges of what is right or what is wrong as the media seems to suggest. For example, at one time slavery was practiced by a majority of people in our American democracy. They were dreadfully wrong.  In spite of appearances, in spite of what a secularized world wants us to believe, God has not abandoned His world. God is at work in ways we cannot directly see. The way things look is not necessarily the way things are. There is a phrase used throughout the Middle East that we should pay some attention to: “Things are never as they appear.”

Joke:  The 98 year old Grandfather from Ireland was dying. His children and grand-children gathered around his bed trying to make him last journey comfortable. They gave him some warm milk to drink but he refused. Then one of his children took the glass back to the kitchen. Remembering a bottle of Irish whiskey received as a gift the previous Christmas, he opened and poured a generous amount into the warm milk. Back at Grandpa’s bed, he held the glass to his lips. Grandpa drank a little, then a little more and before they knew it, he had drunk the whole glass down to the last drop. "Grandpa," the children asked with earnest, "please give us some wisdom before you die."

He raised himself up in bed and with a pious look on his face said, "Don't sell that cow.

Practical Applications:  1) 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. We need to cooperate in the growth of God’s kingdom.  The seed of faith lies dormant within each of us. When we permit the Holy Spirit to nurture it with tender loving care, it grows miraculously into gigantic proportions. The growth is slow in the beginning. But the seed grows by using the power of the Holy Spirit.

2) Since the acceptance God’s rule by human beings is a very slow process, there is the danger of discouragement and hopelessness among preachers, evangelizers and believers. We need not get discouraged.  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, and deeds of charity.

Introduction: Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Message: The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which springs up and becomes the largest of plants, like a tender shoot from the cedar which will bear fruit and become a majestic cedar.  So shall the just one flourish, like a cedar. As we walk by faith and not by sight, may our lives bear fruit in abundance.

Saints and Events in this Week: 19 – Nineteenth – Friday – Saint Romuald, Abbot;