Gospel (Mk 4:26-34)
And Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
Commentary
With these two parables about the growth of the kingdom of God, our Lord encourages us to trust in Him and not in ourselves, in our own strength and achievements. It is He who gives the increase, who helps us to mature until our lives become a leafy tree that gives peaceful shade to those alongside us.
To welcome the Kingdom of God is thus to welcome a reality that transcends our own schemes and ways of thinking about the world. It has its own intrinsic force that goes beyond our human plans and measurements.
Because it starts very small. Like Jesus himself, who became a tiny child in the arms of his mother. He is the seed fallen to the ground that dies and bears abundant fruit. He is the only one who can save those who welcome him, the only one who can help us to grow and mature.
A Christian’s success is not a matter of doing great things, of winning the applause of others and human acclaim. Rather it begins with a small seed, whose fruitfulness depends on our union with Christ. He awaits us in the small things of our daily lives.
As Saint Josemaría insisted, “there is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it . . . I assure you, my sons and daughters, that when a Christian carries out with love the most insignificant everyday action, that action overflows with the transcendence of God” (Conversations with Mons. Escrivá de Balaguer, nos. 114 and 116).
It is about trusting in God, in the power of God. The world is not saved by those who do everything correctly, in an organized and well programmed way, but by people, like the saints, who are willing to go at God’s pace, letting Him enter into the little things of our daily lives, trusting that there he can work great things.