Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 13, 2021

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What nature teaches us about the kingdom of God, and God’s care for us

Mark 4:26–34

The Parable of the Growing Seed

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Music Meditations

Opening Prayer

Lord, let me never imagine that I am the architect, the builder of your kingdom. Let it be enough for me to say: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What of mine can I contribute to your vision, Jesus?

Companions for the Journey

We have left the Easter cycle, with its narratives about Jesus’ last days and his resurrection; we are going back and picking up the story of Jesus preaching, teaching and healing throughout the land of Israel, beginning in Chapter 4. This is called Ordinary Time. During these narratives, Jesus often uses parables, like the ones we listen to this week, to explain how the Kingdom of God works. Hence, what follows is a little explanation of parabolic literature in the gospels:

Jesus’ Parables and Parabolic Images in the Gospels
What is a “Parable”?

From C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1961, p. 5:

Definition: “At its simplest a parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought.”

From James C. Christensen:

  • The meaning of most parables is not so obvious, or at least it shouldn’t be. If we assume we know what Jesus is talking about, we are probably missing the main point; if we are too familiar with the story (having heard it so often before), we might not think carefully enough about its real meaning.
  • Most parables contain some element that is strange or unusual. They should cause you to say, “Wait a minute! That’s not how farmers do their work! That’s not what kings usually do! That’s not what normally happens in nature!” And this strange element should cause you to think!
  • Parables do not define things precisely, but rather use comparisons to describe some aspect of how God acts or interacts with human beings. Yet to say “A is like B” does not mean that “A is identical to B in all respects”; so one should be careful not to misinterpret or misapply the parables.

We might think that Jesus spoke in parables to make it easier for people to understand his message. According to the Gospels, however, he surprisingly does NOT expect everyone to understand them!

In Matthew, at least the disciples of Jesus understand the parables; but in Mark, even they have a hard time understanding, despite receiving extra instructions in private!

Parables were meant to catch Jesus’ listeners off guard, to make them re-evaluate their normal ways of behaving, and to align their hearts with God’s heart. Many parables, like the one about the Pharisee and the Publican, or the one about the Good Samaritan, employed elements which were very counter-cultural, and shocking to the people of Jesus’ time. However, because we have grown up with them, they seem familiar or even ordinary to us. Often, we need to translate those stories using examples from our own social and cultural situations in order to see how truly counter-cultural they are.

Many parables, which appear to be simple and straightforward stories, are actually multi-dimensional and complex. Frequently, we are left with things unresolved and have to make some conclusions of our own. Does the elder brother ever go in to join the party welcoming the prodigal son home? How do those in the vineyard who worked much longer hours respond to the words of the vineyard owner? Does the Good Samaritan return, and what happens to the victim? Does the Pharisee ever understand his spiritual arrogance? Once they get inside, do the five “wise” virgins enjoy the banquet, knowing that their sisters are still outside? How we resolve those issues in our own minds tells us a lot about our own attitudes. Are they in line with God’s or not?

If there is some overall wisdom to be gleaned from parables, it is this: God’s ways are not our ways. Parables tell us that the fight for the kingdom is not played out in palaces and war rooms, but in the everyday events of our everyday lives. The struggle for the kingdom is carried out in our divided hearts, where we sometimes mutter “‘Thy kingdom come’ without fully realizing that we might have to pray ‘My kingdom go’”. (Alan Redpath, British Baptist Preacher). The parable demands that each of us answer the question “What do YOU say?” How we answer defines our moral landscape.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

This is how it is with the Kingdom of God

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • Do I have enough trust that God will be there to make my life flourish?
  • In what ways can I see God present and acting in my life and the lives of those I care about?
  • Where, exactly, do I look for God’s Kingdom?
    In what aspects of my life or in the lives of those around me do I see God’s reign coming to fruition?
    In what areas is God’s reign absent?
  • What personal qualities must I cultivate in order to plant for the future? (hope, optimism, patience, preparedness, for example)
  • Has there been anything in my life that has suddenly blossomed from very small beginnings?
  • Can I think of a feeling/conviction/desire that I ignored (buried underground) and forgot about, but that resurfaced later?
  • Has there ever been someone in my life who is no longer near, but whose influence I still feel?
  • What personal growth have I seen that surprises me and seems to be the result of a free gift from God?
  • “…the reign of God is what happens. It is not any one thing that happens. It is the fact of God’s entering our lives at any moment and shifting things around, and our consenting to the break-in.” (Thomas Keating, “The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy As Spiritual Experience”)
    What are some of the surprising ways God has acted in my life?
  • By virtue of our baptism, we are also the planters of the seeds of the kingdom. In what ways have I, by my living out my mission as a child of God, mirrored the truth of The Kingdom for others?
    What is more important, knowledge or courage?
    Has my message always been perfect? Have I let my failures discourage me?
    Has it been rejected? Have I let rejection discourage me?
    What role does prayer play in the dissemination of my message”
  • Do I realize that God is behind every attempt I make to preach The Kingdom?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

I imagine that I am there with the crowds by the lake shore, and I see Jesus preaching from a boat at the lakeside. What does he look like, this mesmerizing preacher? What do his words evoke in me as he draws my attention to the trees and to the cornfields nearby? As he reminds me that all these marvelous trees and bounteous harvests were grown from little seeds, he points out that this is the way the kingdom of God grows as well. In my life, what events have been the seeds of my growth and development? Are those little seeds coming to fruition in me? Do I recognize the hand of God in my life? Where have been the moments of joy, of peace, of pardon and mercy that grew from very small and tentative beginnings to create the me that I am now? Working with this certainty, how am I creating God’s kingdom in the world I inhabit right now?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Read these verses from Psalm 92, reflecting on all the ways God has nurtured you, even when you did not realize it. Then compose your own prayer of thanksgiving for all that God has planted in your life. Use your memories, and be specific.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!

The righteous flourish like the palm tree,
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
In old age they still produce fruit;
they are always green and full of sap,
showing that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, in whom there is no wrong.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Here are some concrete ways to live out the message of this gospel:

  1. Think of someone who planted seeds of good things in your life: knowledge, love of music or sports, people skills; or think of someone who quietly nurtured your talents and allowed them to grow. Have you thanked him or her? Do so.
  2. There is a message in the second parable about welcoming all who need refuge in the branches of the mustard seed—this in a culture known for its exclusivity. Where in our lives do people need comfort and shelter? What can I do to provide it?
Poetic Reflection:

This poem by Denise Levertov, late of the Stanford English Department, is a wonderful theological and spiritual reflection on today’s gospel:

Who ever saw the mustard-plant,
wayside weed or tended crop,
grow tall as a shrub, let alone a tree, a treeful
of shade and nests and songs?
Acres of yellow,
not a bird of the air in sight.

No. He who knew
the west wind brings
the rain, the south wind
thunder, who walked the field-paths
running His hand along wheatstems to glean
those intimate milky kernels, good
to break on the tongue,
was talking of miracle, the seed
within us, so small
we take it for worthless, a mustard-seed, dust,
nothing.
Glib generations mistake
the metaphor, not looking at fields and trees,
not noticing paradox. Mountains
remain unmoved.

Faith is rare, He must have been saying,
prodigious, unique –
one infinitesimal grain divided
like loaves and fishes,

as if from a mustard-seed
a great shade-tree grew. That rare,
that strange: the kingdom
a tree. The soul
a bird. A great concourse of birds
at home there, wings among yellow flowers.

The waiting
kingdom of faith, the seed
waiting to be sown.

Poetic Reflection:

In this lovely poem, Mary Oliver looks at the beauty of God’s creation and her response to it:

“Messenger”

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

Closing Prayer

Lord, perhaps my task is mainly to sow seeds and trust that they will grow at their own rhythms and come to harvest in your own good time. Let me sow with love, let me wait in patience and let me reap in joy what you have wrought in my life and in the lives of others.

[Take time to think of whom, or what, in particular, you wish to give thanks for today.]

Thank you, Jesus.