17 JUNE 2018 - 11TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B) Ez 17:22-24; 2 Cor 5:6-10; Mark 4:26-34
Fr Fernando Armellini SCJ
Claretian Publications, Macau
Can the growth of God’s Kingdom be accelerated? Jesus responds to this question with a short parable. He draws our attention on the time of growth. The time for man to stop working comes after the planting season. Days and nights follow and the farmer sleeps and keeps watch without being able to intervene in the growth. It is useless to be restless or worried, the process in place is no longer dependent on him; if he agitates, enters in the field, he will trample and destroy the tender shoots. He should do nothing but wait. In fact, in silence and in an almost imperceptible way, the miracle starts: the seed sprouts from the earth.
The assimilation of the Gospel message is not immediate; man’s work of inner transformation takes days and years. However, once it has penetrated into the heart, the word of Christ sets up an unstoppable dynamism, although slow. Who has not heard it remains the same.
Discouragement is one of the most common temptations of the apostles of the Gospel. They are often battered if they do not immediately notice some concrete results of their preaching. The message of the parable is addressed especially to them. If they are certain of having announced the authentic message of Christ, they must cultivate the deep certainty that the fruits will be abundant. The season and the abundance of the harvest does not depend on them, but on the ground and God. (1 Cor 3:6).
The maturation process of the plant should be respected. Whoever wants to speed it runs the risk of getting caught by frenzy, substituting his own action to to the Spirit using unfair methods of coercion and psychological blackmail, without respecting freedom of the persons. Parents, educators, leaders of the Christian communities should be warned of this over enthusiastic aggression despite good intentions.
It is important, to “sleep”, that is, knowing how to wait, stay calm and to sit and amazingly contemplate how the seed sprouts and grows by itself.
Translated by Fr John Ledesma SDB
Abridged by Fr Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF
We only have to sow, God will do the rest
Shiu Lan
www.FLL.cc
In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus teaches us with two parables about seeds.
In the first parable, the sower sows the seed, “the seed would sprout and grow, without his knowing how” (Mk 4:27). Then the sower comes to gather the harvest when the grain is ripe. If God is the sower and harvester and we are the seed, we will face the harvester when we grow into a full head of grain. If we must appear before Christ’s judgement seat and be recompensed for what we have done as His follower, St. Paul advises us in the second reading that we must make it our aim to please Christ.
In the second parable, Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed, the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet it grows up to become the greatest of all shrubs with large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade (Ref Mk 4:31-32).
In the scorching heat of this summer, it is easy for us to visualize a sprawling mustard shrub offering a cool shade to God’s creation that seek shelter from the heat of the sun. As we reflect on this parable in the context of our own faith journey, perhaps we will each have a story or two to tell of the experience of solace and love we find in God, in His Providence, in the mustard shrub – our Church, the kingdom of God on earth – and in the faith community. We who are blessed with the gift of faith must share it with others especially those who do not know our God. Let us sow the seed of faith by our words and action. To people who do not know us, action is as important as our words because it is from our action that they see and make judgements about Christians. Jesus teaches us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world so that “they may see [our] good works and give glory to [our] Father in heaven” (Mt 5:16). God is love. Let us sow the seed of Christian love through our action.
We only have to sow, God will do the rest.
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