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 here is talking to the crowds. The kingdom of God is the thing he longs to establish on this planet. And he’s using his disciples to do that work. But they didn't know how the work was unfolding. They could never have expected the things that they did to establish the Kingdom of God has taken root in the world, and the world has been changed by their work.

It is true for all of us. We never know fully the effects of what we choose to do. We only know that when we choose to do the will of God, it produces abundance, what seems small and little ends up being great and very, very important.

Closing Prayer

Father, help us never to fall prey to judging the value of our acts. We have no idea what we do and how it impacts the world. But the most important thing we need to know is that if we do what we're called to do, if we seek to establish your kingdom here, mysteriously, it will produce much fruit far beyond our expectations. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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