GOSPEL POWER - JANUARY 29, 2021 - FRIDAY

Gospel: Mk 4:26-34

 Jesus also said, “The kingdom 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 earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.” He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet 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.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;  he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

REFLECTION

The growth of the Kingdom is unstoppable. Like the seed, it has its own inner dynamism that is set in motion once it touches the ground. Mark originally wrote his Gospel for the Roman Christians threatened by annihilation under the relentless persecution by Emperor Nero, in which the pillar-apostles Peter and Paul perished. As the Christians hid from the tyrant in fear and desperation, unable to glimpse signs of the promised Kingdom, Mark recalled to them this parable of Jesus and assured them that, in the darkness and silence of their battered faith, the unstoppable dynamism of the Kingdom is at work.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, may this parable infuse renewed courage and hope in the hearts of our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters today. Amen.