Gospel reflection for the XI Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

It’s Time to Sow!

“This is what the kingdom of God is like.”
Mark 4:26-34

We are in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, the chapter of parables. The evangelist tells three parables in this chapter: the parable of the sower, the most developed one, and the two small parables found in today’s gospel passage. The three parables feature the seed and focus on both “the Word” (mentioned 9 times in this chapter) and the “Kingdom of God” (mentioned 3 times).

Learning from Nature

Plants play a special role in today’s readings: the cedar and the trees of the forest (first reading, Ezekiel 17:22-24); the palm and the cedar (Psalm 91); wheat, mustard, and garden plants (gospel). To speak of the Kingdom of God, the Lord doesn’t give us grand and complicated arguments but invites us to observe the simple realities of nature and learn from them. Learn even from the plant world because everything bears the imprint of the Creator!

We, however, are too occupied with “much more important” things and often have neither eyes nor ears to see and hear these realities that speak to us incessantly. We need moments of contemplation to cultivate the spirit of Saint Francis and to grasp the voice of creatures, to the point of having to say like him: “Be silent, be silent, I know well what you want to tell me!”

What Does This Seed Speak Of?

“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.”

What does this seed speak of? This seed speaks to us of HUMILITY. The humility of smallness and weakness; the humility of being thrown to the ground, of disappearing and dying in the soil. A soil the seed did not choose, which perhaps is not ideal for germination. This humility frightens us. Instinctively, we wish to be the “cedar planted on a high and lofty mountain, becoming a magnificent cedar,” as Ezekiel spoke of. Alas, Jesus did not want to be the magnificent cedar, but a grain of wheat: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24).

What does this seed speak of? This seed speaks to us of PATIENCE. The patience to wait to germinate and grow, first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. This is not our logic. We are always short of time, so we want everything immediately. We are no longer capable of patience!

What does this seed speak of? This seed speaks to us of TRUST. Trust in the extraordinary power the seed carries within. Trust that no obstacle is insurmountable and that it is even possible to crack the rock. That seed, in its smallness and weakness, does not give up and does not lose heart. And so, from trust is born a new life that nothing predicted. Unfortunately, we calculate everything, and trust does not fit into our calculations!

What Does the Mustard Seed Tell Us?

“What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for it? It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.”

What does the mustard seed tell us?

It tells us not to be discouraged by our smallness: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32). It tells us to cultivate patience: “See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.” (James 5:7). It tells us to grow in trust: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” (Luke 17:6).

What Do the Seed and Mustard Seed Speak Of?

They speak to us of the Kingdom, of the humble presence of God in the world, in history, in our very lives.
They speak to us of the Word, which does not return to God without having accomplished its mission (Isaiah 55:11).
They speak to us of sowing, to tell us that our ecclesial time is no longer of harvest. Perhaps we deluded ourselves into living in a perpetual era of fruits, without tending to the sowing. The harvest season is over, and the “ecclesial winter” has arrived. We need to start sowing again. We have lived off the fruits for too long, and the granary is empty. We risk famine. We need to roll up our sleeves and sow.

They tell us to sow a new word, to sow the seeds from the granary of heaven, words “that come from the mouth of God.” They tell us that only the Word of God “is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword,” the only one capable of reaching the depths of the human heart (Hebrews 4:12-13). Will we be willing to listen to these voices?

Today, we all talk about crisis in our churches. Almost everyone sees the need to start anew, to return to the gospel, and to adopt the lifestyle of the early communities. But who is willing to lay down their life? We all expect a stroke of genius from a pastoral proposal that will renew the face of the church. Saint Daniel Comboni told his missionaries that they were called to “be a hidden stone underground, which perhaps will never come to light, and which becomes part of the foundation of a new building that only posterity will see rising from the ground.” If this was true for the missionaries in Africa in the 1800s, it is equally true for Christians in the 21st century: becoming living stones of the foundations of a new “Christianity.”

For Personal Reflection During the Week

The Christian of the future is called to walk the path of humility, patience, and trust!

1. Ornamental facade stones abound. Am I willing to walk the path of humility, to become a foundational stone for the church of tomorrow?
2. We all desire a new and more attractive face for the church, but perhaps we expect a cosmetic operation or a change of structures. Am I willing to walk the path of patience, to undertake a true and arduous personal conversion?
3. We are all somewhat tempted by catastrophic pessimism (“There is nothing more to be done, everything is going wrong!”) or naive optimism (“Oh well, everything will be fine!”). Both risk paralyzing us. Am I willing to break out of this logic, to undertake the evangelical path of trust, twin of hope?

Simon Peter tells us: “I’m going fishing!” Indeed, sowing! May the whole church respond: “We will go with you!” (John 21).

Fr. Manuel João Pereira Correia, mccj
Verona, June 2024

Seed grows of itself
A commentary
on Mark 4, 26-34

We have already left behind the Paschal Liturgical time (Lent, Passover, and Pentecost) and the solemnities of the Holy Trinity and the Body of Christ. We are now again in the Ordinary time reassuming the reading of Mark. This Eleventh Sunday we read a few verses from Mark’s chapter four. As a matter of fact, I invite you to read the whole chapter so that you can have a better idea of Jesus’ message for today. From that reading, I share with you two reflections:

1) A crowd near the lake of Galilee

As you know, Jesus stablished his operational centre at Capharnaum, a small town by the side of Lake Galilee. His presence in that town and surroundings caused a great impact and people rushed in hundreds to get near him and listen to him, because his words were so especially clear, simple, and relevant that their hearts were “burning”. Jesus, farmer among farmers, fisher among fishers, worker among workers, felt quite at easy with that simple people, exposed to the sufferings and hardships of life, hungry for truth and sense, who found no answers in rigid and sclerotic traditions little related to real life. On the contrary, from an affective nearness to their worries an everyday fights and from his contemplative experience in the desert, Jesus was able to express himself in touching parabolic narrations, explaining the mystery of God and his kingdom in a language related to every day’s life in the fields, de fishing ports and the ordinary life.

The gospel of Jesus is made to be understood and preached from the every one’s ordinary life. Or spiritual life must be measured, not so much by the fine words we can say, but by or concrete life and actions.

And all those of us who have a responsibility in passing on to others the Gospel of Jesus (parents, teachers, catechists, priests…) have to look at this Teacher who is able to explain the presence of God in a language related to the concrete life of people.

2) Seed does not need to be pulled up

Forgive me this obvious reflection, but I think that it can help us to grasp Jesus’ message in today’s gospel:

Discúlpenme esta obviedad, pero me parece que sirve para entender bien lo que nos dice Jesús en el evangelio de hoy: “seed would sprout and grow…. On its accord the land will yield fruit”. Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God is like a seed that God sows in our heart, our community, our family… and it grows of itself, as far as it’s welcomed in a well-kept land. For the wheat to produce fruit it does not help that somebody goes and pulls it up; it’s of not use to try hard and pull it up. No. Wheat must grow by itself, from its inner energy that God has planted in it.

Don’t you think that quite often some parents look like they try to force their children to grow from outside and impose on them fruits that God has not meant for them? Don’t you think that sometimes in our communities or families we try to force people to be what they are not? Do no happen to ourselves that we try to force ourselves to appear before others as powerful and immaculate, with the result that we become bitter, hypercritical, and negative?

I think that Jesus, with this parable of the seed that grows of itself is inviting us, not to be lazy or passive, but serene and trustful; He wants his disciple to trust the Truth and Love, the kingdom that the Father has sown on all o sous, in our communities and families. What we have to do is to cultivate our piece of land, freeing it from stones and rubbish. All the rest will be done in us by the Spirit.
Fr. Antonio Villarino, MCCJ

WITH HUMILITY AND TRUST
Mark 4:26-34
by José Antonio Pagola

Jesus was concerned that his followers would end up one day discouraged to see that their efforts toward a more human and happy world didn’t reach the success they hoped for. Would they go ahead and forget about God’s reign? Would they maintain their trust in the Father? What’s most important is that they never forget how they must work.

With examples taken from the experience of Galilean farmers, he encourages them to work always realistically, patiently, and fully trusting. It’s not possible to open up paths to God’s reign in just any manner. They need to focus on how Jesus works.

Right at the start they need to know that their task is to sow, not harvest. They shouldn’t go about looking for results. They mustn’t worry about the efficacy or the immediate success. Their attention will be centered on sowing the Gospel well. Jesus’ coworkers need to be sowers. Nothing more.

After centuries of religious expansion and great social power, we Christians must recover in the Church the humble action of the sower. Forget the logic of the harvester, who always goes forth gathering the fruits, and enter into the patient logic of one who sows a better future.

The beginnings of every sowing are always humble. All the more if we’re talking about sowing God’s project in human beings. The power of the Gospel is never something spectacular or noisy. According to Jesus, it’s like sowing something so small and insignificant like «a mustard seed», which germinates secretly in people’s hearts.

That’s why the Gospel can only be sown with faith. That’s what Jesus wants to help them see by means of his short parables. God’s project of making a more human world carries within it a saving and transforming power that doesn’t depend on the sower. When the Good News of that God penetrates in a person or in a group of people, that’s where something begins to grow that is way beyond ourselves.

In the Church we don’t know right then how to act in this new and unheard of situation, in the midst of a society every day more indifferent and nihilistic. No one has the recipe. No one knows exactly what to do.  What we need to do is to seek new paths with the humility and the trust of Jesus.

Sooner or later, we Christians will feel the need to return to what’s essential. We will discover that only the power of Jesus can regenerate faith in the de-Christianized society of our day. Then we will learn to sow the Gospel with humility as the start of a renewed faith, not transmitted by our own pastoral efforts, but begotten by him.

José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf