Gospel

Mark 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.

Reflection

Jesus often uses in parables the idea of a seed that is entered into us and the seed itself, when it is there, begins to break apart and then bursts into life and something grows that becomes rich and bountiful. It's a beautiful image of the Yes that he asks us to say to him when we grow and understand what it is that he's offering us.

The new life, the new way of seeing ourselves in the world. It's not that we say yes to something we fully understand. We say yes to a promise, and when that promise is held within our hearts, trusted in and believed in patiently waiting for the fruitfulness to show. Then we've truly entered the Kingdom of God.

Closing Prayer

Father, give us patience. Understanding. That when we say yes to you we are believing in a process that takes time. That seems to go forward. Seems to go backwards. Seems that we get better then we get worse. All of that is part of what it takes to be in the Kingdom of God. It's we who say yes, it's God who does the work. And we ask this In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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