Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 13, Sunday

 

 Patience: These Are Only Seeds

      We live in a time that expects efficiency and immediate results. But a plant or a tree needs time to grow, and human relations cannot be built nor our problems solved overnight. People too need time to grow and change. Fortunately, God is patient with us. But we must become patient with one another and, with God’s help, give people and the Church and God’s Kingdom of justice and peace and love the time needed to grow. We can just sow the seed and then wait in hope. If it is a good seed we sow, it will certainly grow. Jesus assures us that it will sprout and bear fruit.

 

First Reading: Ezekiel 17:22-24

“‘God, the Master, says, I personally will take a shoot from the top of the towering cedar, a cutting from the crown of the tree, and plant it on a high and towering mountain, on the high mountain of Israel. It will grow, putting out branches and fruit—a majestic cedar. Birds of every sort and kind will live under it. They’ll build nests in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the field will recognize that I, God, made the great tree small and the small tree great, made the green tree turn dry and the dry tree sprout green branches. I, God, said it—and I did it.’”

 

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:6-10

That’s why we live with such good cheer. You won’t see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don’t get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It’s what we trust in but don’t yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we’ll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.

But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that’s what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.

 

Gospel: Mark 4:26-34

Never Without a Story

Then Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain. When the grain is fully formed, he reaps—harvest time!

 “How can we picture God’s kingdom? What kind of story can we use? It’s like a pine nut. When it lands on the ground it is quite small as seeds go, yet once it is planted it grows into a huge pine tree with thick branches. Eagles nest in it.”

With many stories like these, he presented his message to them, fitting the stories to their experience and maturity. He was never without a story when he spoke. When he was alone with his disciples, he went over everything, sorting out the tangles, untying the knots.

 

Prayer
Curb our impatience, Lord,
when we try to impose
your truth and justice and peace
on a Church and a world
not yet disposed to welcome them.
In our helplessness and discouragement
may we learn to accept
that all true growth comes from you.
We can only plant the seed,
and you make it bloom into a mighty tree
that lets us give shelter to all.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

REFLECTION:

“SLEEP”

There are times when it is necessary to “sleep,” that is, to know how to wait, to keep calm, and to sit and contemplate in amazement the seed that sprouts and grows by itself. The fruits will undoubtedly go beyond all expectations. Whoever is not convinced of this does not have faith in the prodigious power of Christ’s word.

Today’s parable is t addressed to those who announce the word of God. Mark the evangelist must have been seeing the disappointments and frustrations on the faces of preachers of the Gospel in his community. In spite of all the good efforts they have put in announcing the message of Jesus, the rulers continued to persecute the Christians. Naturally the preachers are disappointed. Mark wants to encourage them and recalls the two parables of Jesus.

Through the parable of the seed sown by the farmer, Jesus wants to emphasise the role of God in the whole process of preaching the Gospel – i.e., sowing the seed and establishing the Kingdom. Role of the preacher is only minimum – Just preach the Word! The rest of the work which happens in the hearts, in the lives of people, is the work of God.

When and how would the listener respond the Word should not be the concern of the preacher. His job is only to preach the Word of God. Rest is God’s work.

The evangelist tells of a man who sows the seed – he joyfully and unsparingly scatters the precious grains everywhere. This is how the Gospel message must be spread, in abundance, not in a defined and restricted field, but everywhere, in the whole world. This is an invitation to overcome any exclusivism; no one should consider God’s blessings are reserved for them alone.
After the sowing season comes the moment when the farmer sleeps and watches. It is useless for him to get restless, or worry; the process underway now no longer depends on him; if he gets restless if he enters the field, he only causes trouble, he tramples and damages the tender shoots. All he must do is to wait. In fact, in silence the miracle begins, the seed sprouts from the earth.
The assimilation of the Gospel message is not immediate; the work of a person’s inner transformation requires days and years. However, once it has penetrated the heart, the word of Christ sets in motion an unstoppable dynamism, even if slow. Those who have heard it never remain the same.
Mark reminds the leaders of his community and also today’s faithful not to be discouraged even if no immediate result is noticed. A model preacher is St. Paul, who declared to the Corinthians, “I planted, Apollos watered, but it is God who made it grow” (1 Cor 3:6).

 

Video available on Youtube: “SLEEP”