Jesus introduces today’s parables by saying, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God….” Then he tells his parables. Notice that Jesus is speaking about actions when he wants to describe the kingdom of God. It’s not about a territory or a place. It’s not about the afterlife in heaven. It’s about God acting in the here and now and the parables are clues to how and where to look.
In describing “how it is with the kingdom of God,” why doesn’t Jesus give a formula or definition. If he had, he would have restricted or confined “how it is with the kingdom of God.” Instead, by using parables, he taps into our imaginations to help us discover the surprising places and ways our God is acting.
If we had a definition we would be tempted to say, “God only works in this way. God can only be found in this place or institution.” Just as there are no limits to our imaginings, so there are no limits to “how it is with the kingdom of God.” So, we can ask, “How is it with the kingdom of God?” In response to our question, Jesus tells us today’s parables. They are just two of the thirteen in Mark. Even with that many parables (not counting those in Matthew and Luke) there are no limits to the possible ways God acts in our lives. Make that, “the surprising ways God acts in our lives!”
Both parables begin in seeming insignificant and inconsequential ways: seed is scattered; a tiny mustard seed is planted. In the first parable the farmer is absent while the seed grows to maturity. “On its own accord the land yields fruit.” Then, at the right time the farmer re-enters do the work of harvest. How much work did the farmer have to do? In this parable, at least, not very much.
One thing is sure: Jesus wasn’t an agrarian teaching peasant farmers how to plant their crops. Even if we have only planted a small backyard vegetable or flower garden we know we don’t just scatters seed, forget about it and come back much later to pick flowers for a bouquet, or vegetables for a summer salad. After planting, there is weeding, watering, fertilizing, thinning, etc. — then, if we’re lucky, a harvest. But Jesus is using a common example from the lives of his listeners and, from that launching point, adjusts and plays with the details for his own purposes. It’s not about planting in a field is it? It’s drawing upon the everyday experience of his hearers and telling them, “Imagine this….”
The parable speaks to our own experience and invites us to open our eyes to see God acting and present in our lives. Haven’t we modern disciples had this experience: what seems like a little effort on our part nevertheless, produces a rich harvest? Preachers often tell that a person will come and mention what the preacher said a long time ago that deeply touched and changed the person’s life. Adults will often say — “My mother (my father) used to say…,” and then quote what they heard as a child from their parent that still influences their ways of thinking and acting. Or, who among us doesn’t have a story about a teacher who touched our lives when we were young and set us on a path for life. In the teacher’s mind what she or he did may seem insignificant, just another day in the classroom. But the seed bore fruit and there was a harvest. (The presumption of these examples is that these influences were for the good!)
Disciples in Mark’s gospel don’t understand and are frequently criticized by Jesus for their density. Still, isn’t it reassuring to know how wonderfully God acts, using us limited disciples to plant seeds which eventually will yield a harvest? The farmer seems to skip out in the middle part, the growing section, of the parable. We disciples have lots of work to do in God’s reign. We are called to be diligent and persevering. But this parable is a reminder that God is not limited or uninvolved in the necessary work that must be done to bring about God’s reign.
Perhaps this parable can relieve some of the anxiety we disciples have about all the work we have to do. We are reminded today that it is not all up to us. The parable isn’t emphasizing the sower or his/her worthiness and diligence. The seed itself grows on its own. Or, to put it in another way, God alone causes the growth and brings about a harvest!
No one example, illustration, or parable can sum up totally how our God is present and active in our midst. So, after presenting one parable, Mark places another before us. Often when the Bible speaks of God, it’s in terms of God’s awesome power and holiness. For the defeated people of Israel it was reassuring to believe and put their trust in the power of God, ready to act on their behalf. They would have expected that Jesus would present some powerful image for God’s influence in the world. Instead, how startled his hearers must have been to hear his parable of the mustard seed.
As Barbara E. Reid, O.P. points out in her series on the gospel parables (“Parables for Preachers: The Gospel of Mark, Year B.” Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1999), Jesus’ parable stands in stark contrast to Ezekiel’s figure of the cedar (Ezekiel 31), and the presumption of human power. The mustard seed was a common weed. Jesus’ was saying that the reign of God is not far off like the mighty Lebanon cedar, but is as close as every backyard and it is spreading like a weed.
Ordinary people like us spread God’s reign and that reign has the power to effect good in the world in surprising ways and places. If you have ever tried to get rid of weeds you know what a persistent nuisance they are. Just when you think you’ve conquered them and they are all gone — up they pop again! That’s how persistent God’s reign is, like a weed that can just ruin a formal, orderly garden — or plan!
If the reign of God is like a spreading, indefatigable weed, where do I look for it? Am I looking in the wrong places, among the powerful and influential, among the ordered and those in control, inside or outside the church? We need our vision cleared, our expectations re-ordered if we want to uncover God’s reign in our world (“how it is with the kingdom of God”). From the two parables we have heard today we realize we can miss God’s actions in our midst, for we may be looking in the wrong places or clinging to our own expectations of who our God is and how God acts. The parables suggest that in our quest for God we had better be ready for a surprise and, if we are attuned through the parables, we will come to know, “how it is with the kingdom of God.”
MUSTARD SEED Mk 4:26-34
We are drowned in bad news, Radio and television stations, newspapers and news reports overwhelm us with an avalanche of news of hatred, wars, famines, violence , and big sna small scandals. Vendors of sensationalism don’t seem to find anything more noteworthy on our planet.
The incredible speed with which news spreads, leaves us stunned and bewildered. What can one do when faced with so much suffering? We are increasingly better informed about the evil that plagues the entire human race, and every time we feel more powerless to deal with it.
Science wants to convince us that we could our problems with better technology, and has launched us into a gigantic organization and retionalization of life. But this organized power is not in the hands of people but in structures. It has become an invincible power beyond the control of individuals.
The temptation, then, to stufle us is great. What can we do to improve this society? Aren’t the political and religious leaders the ones who should bring about the changes needed to move towards a more dignified, human, and happy coexistence?
That is not the case. There is a call addressed to all in the gospel. It consists in sowing small seeds of a new humanity. Jesus does not speak of big things. The kingdom of God is something very humble and modest in its origins, something that can go as unnoticed as the smallest seed, but has the potential to grow and bear fruit in an unexpected manner.
Perhaps we need to learn to appreciate little things and small gestures. We do not feel called to be heroes or martyrs every day, but we are called to put a little dignity into each corner of our little world. A friendly gesture toward someone in trouble, a welcoming smile to someone who is alone, a sign of closeness for someone in despair, a little ray of joy in a heart full of distress – these are not big things. They are little things in the kingdom of God which all of us can sow in a complex and sad world that has all but forgotten the joy of things small and beautiful.
HUMILITY AND CONFIDENCE
Jesus often worried about the fact that his followers might one day feel discouraged when seeing that their efforts to make this world more humane and happy did not seem to have much success. Would they forget about the Kingdom of God? Would they still trust his Father? What really mattered was that they kept trying.
Using references and images from the life of farmers in Galilee, Jesus encouraged his disciples always to be realistic and work patiently and with great confidence. Finding the right ways to the Kingdom of God would never be easy. They were to keep learning from how the regular farmers worked.
First of all, they should compare their work to the way farmers sow their seeds, and not just wait for the harvest. They should not live just depending on the results. They should never be too worried about the immediate results of the present crop. Their attention should be focussed on preaching well the Gospel. Jesus’ followers must be like farmers that sow the seeds of the Gospel and nothing else.
After so many centuries of religious expansion and great social power, Christians must regain for the Church the humble traits of a farmer. They should forget the logic of the farmer who keeps waiting for a rich crop and have the patience of one who keeps working patiently for a brighter future.
The beginning of any farming project must be humble. All the more, when the seed we are trying to plant is God’s project for the human race. The real strength of the Gospel does not consist in something spectacular or very attractive. In the words of Jesus, the Gospel message is like sowing a mustard seed that is planted quietly in people’s hearts.
Hence the Gospel can only be planted and sowed with faith. That is what Jesus wants his disciples to learn from his parables. God’s project of making a better and more humane world implies a saving and transforming power that the sower-farmer does not possess. When the Good News of God is understood by an individual or group of persons, then something starts to grow that is well beyond our own merits.
At present, within the Church, we really do not know how to proceed
in the midst of such new and unfamiliar situations: we live in a society that has grown ever more indifferent or hostile to religious beliefs and moral codes. No one seems to know how to deal with it or what to do. The only option might be to try finding new ways with the humility and confidence that Jesus showed us.
Sooner or later, Christians will feel the need to return to the essentials. We shall, then, discover that only Jesus’ strength and original message can regenerate that faith that our society today has lost. And only then we shall be able to start, in all humility, sowing the seed of our Gospel and wait for our Faith to be renewed. It will have to grow from our own humble beginnings and not from our pastoral efforts.