A Reflection on the Gospel for June 17th, 2018: Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mark 4:26-34
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26And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground,  27and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. 28The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.  29But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."  30And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?  31It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."  33With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;  34he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Like many of the parables, this parable sounded very different in the ears of Christ’s original audience. It comes down to the seed. And as with most parables, when Christ makes a point to give us a detail, it’s never a throw away. In this case, a mustard seed isn’t just a mustard seed. Growing up, mustard was a good thing. It brought a little vinegary spice to food. When I first heard the parable of the mustard seed, my reaction was to gloss over the mustard seed part. It was just a normal plant that was the source of a pantry staple. What I didn’t know as a child is that the mustard plant is a weed. It’s considered an aggressive and pernicious weed when left unchecked. They are difficult to manage and can quickly choke out other plants.

With that in mind, when Christ says that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, He’s saying we’re more than your average flourishing plant. His intention is that the seed He was planting through His death and resurrection should spread, utterly choking out all other kingdoms. God’s Kingdom has overcome years of feast and fallow and yet still it’s there, choking out the kingdom of the Devil, despite frequent attempts to clear out the crop of this tiny mustard seed. That the Tree of Life should also be an unstoppable weed is an oddly beautiful thought. Life is winning, despite appearances some days that the Kingdom has been pushed underground. We may feel like the remnant right now, but what the world doesn’t see is the deep roots being nourished by the Holy Spirit. The world doesn’t see the small, but sturdy, sprouts already peeking out through the soil. That’s the thing with weeds, just when you think you’ve gotten rid of them, you find them spreading in a new spot altogether. Good, deep roots are possible, even from such a small seed, because the seed that is planted is salvation itself. Our work is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and tend to this vital plant, even if the world considers it an unwanted weed. We do so trusting that the Kingdom of God will, in the end, choke out every wordly and under-wordly kingdom. We do so knowing that, while the world may initially reject and try to weed us out, we are still called to till the field and grow the Kingdom.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, thank you for allowing us to join you in the work of spreading the Kingdom of God. We know that while our work may seem worthless to the world, through it we are brought closer to Christ, who was reviled and rejected. Send us your Holy Spirit, so that we may be strengthened in our labours for the Kingdom. Help us to be servants after your own heart. We ask all this in the name of our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Stephanie Potter

"Good, deep roots are possible, even from such a small seed, because the seed that is planted is salvation itself." - Stephanie Potter (Ora Reflections)