Third Week In Ordinary Time

 

The Kingdom Grows Quietly

 

Introduction

We hear for the first time that the “Hebrews” for whom this letter was destined had to undergo persecution and various difficulties for following Christ. The author encourages them vividly to persevere in their faith, for God is faithful to his promises.

The kingdom of God does not irrupt in our human world with extraordinary signs and power. It is a patient, modest growth, beginning with a tiny seed in the personal salvation history of every person, in the salvation history of humankind. It is constantly threatened by sin, which is the refusal to grow.

 

Opening Prayer

Patient God,
curb our impatience when we try to impose
your truth and justice and peace
on a world and even a Church
not yet disposed to welcome them.
In our helplessness and discouragement
may we come to accept
that all true growth comes from you.
We can only plant the seed:
make it bloom into a mighty tree that shelters many.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Reading 1: Heb 10:32-39

Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened,
you endured a great contest of suffering.
At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction;
at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated.
You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison
and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property,
knowing that you had a better and lasting possession.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence;
it will have great recompense.
You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.

For, after just a brief moment,
he who is to come shall come;
he shall not delay.
But my just one shall live by faith,
and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him.

We are not among those who draw back and perish,
but among those who have faith and will possess life.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 37:3-4, 5-6, 23-24, 39-40

(39a)The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Trust in the LORD and do good,
that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the LORD,
and he will grant you your heart’s requests.
The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Commit to the LORD your way;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make justice dawn for you like the light;
bright as the noonday shall be your vindication.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
By the LORD are the steps of a man made firm,
and he approves his way.
Though he fall, he does not lie prostrate,
for the hand of the LORD sustains him.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
The salvation of the just is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in time of distress.
And the LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Alleluia: Mt 11:25

R .Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

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 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.”

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.”
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.

 

Intercessions

–   That the tiny spark of faith still alive in the hearts of many who abandon the Church may not be extinguished but grow again onto a bright light renewing their life, we pray:

–   That our schools may implant into the hearts of our youth the seeds of faith, of generous and serving love, and that the Lord may bless the educators in their tremendous task, we pray:

–   That missionaries may keep sowing the seed of the joyful Good News of the Lord in our often indifferent and hostile world, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Almighty and patient God,
we bring before you the fruits
grown from tiny seeds of wheat
and the small shoots of the vine.
By the power of your Spirit
they will become Jesus among us.
Let the seed of his life and message
bear fruit among us, your people,
and make us the body of Christ to the world,
that trust and hope may grow among all.

We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,
with your generous hand you have sown
among us here in this eucharist
the seed of all that is good and true,
your Son Jesus Christ.
However insignificant and disappointing
our faith and love may seem now,
give us the hope and the courage
that he can unite us into a community
where truth and justice and freedom will prevail,
until the crop is ready for the reaping
in your own good time.
Grant this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Blessing

Patience and a sense of humble modesty are needed when we do God’s work. He sows, he plants, and he gives growth. He will do the harvesting. But he expects us to cooperate with him. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

No flatten out

As a gifted teacher, Jesus transforms complex concepts into a lesson we can easily understand. There is not time in the Gospels where Jesus teaches some hard-to-grasp theories or dogmas. Parables were his unique style of preaching. In the gospel today from Mark, Jesus uses the parable of the mustard seed to help his listeners visualise the kingdom of heaven.

He seldom gave explanations for his teachings, instead used parables that were self-explanatory. The word ‘explanation’ comes from ‘planus’, a Latin word that means ‘flat’. To explain is to flatten out. Jesus did not do a lot of explaining; he did not flatten out the meaning of our existence; instead he gave it a new dimension.

In today’s reading he says the Kingdom of God comes in ways too subtle to detect or control. Thank God there are things that are not subjected to human will and control!
When you pick up your bible today, use the word “presence” in place of “Kingdom”. Then read it again. “The presence of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.”

The seeds of awareness of God are innate in us, in everyone. But those seeds will not suddenly leap into the air, bypassing all stages of growth. Instead they will lie in the dampened earth, lost and forgotten, seemingly dead. But the miracle of life is happening there where no one can see and no one can understand or explain. Then the most vulnerable part appears just above the ground. It has no defences; it doesn’t find itself in a glasshouse; it is exposed to everything that could happen to it.

That’s life. Only love could take such risks. In this parable Jesus says that the presence of God is like that. God appears slowly, microscopically, humbly, tenderly…. Our part is to wait, to listen, to have the humility of the earth, and to have faith and hope and love.