11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

My dear parishioners,

God is Good!!!  All the time!!!  And all the time!!!  God is Good!!!

Ezekiel served as divinely appointed watchman over Israel. It was his responsibility to warn the people of approaching threats to their safety and to show them how best to defend themselves. Of course, the most reliable defense is a right relationship with God. But the royal house of Israel refused to listen to prophets like Ezekiel. The last king of Israel, Zedekiah, looked for security in an alliance with Egypt.  This plan brings the kingdom to ruin.  The first half of this chapter retells this history through an elaborate allegory about a tender shoot plucked by an eagle and transplanted elsewhere. The eagle is the great empire of Babylon; the tender shoot was Zedekiah’s predecessor who was taken to Babylon in exile.

Many of the parables located in Mk 4 are about seeds. Years ago, the highly respected British New Testament scholar, C. H. Dodd, categorized these as “Parables of the Kingdom.” They contrast the smallness of a seed with the large size of the finished product. This is the kind of imagery Jesus used when preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God.

Mysterious growth. The first parable in today’s Gospel contrasts the scattering of the seed with its final growth. The emphasis is on how mysterious this growth process is. Humans have no active role to play in this mystery. It is all God’s work and it is hidden. Humans enter the picture only at the end of the process when the grain is ripe and ready for the harvest. This harvest can only be produced by God and it is both a gift and a miracle. According to Jesus’ teaching, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God.”

The mustard seed. The second parable seeks an image to compare with the kingdom of God. Here Jesus chooses a mustard seed which is very tiny. These seeds were used for daily seasoning in cooking and were a common ordinary spice in every household.

When a mustard seed is sown the final result is a shrub around seven feet tall. It is small and unattractive. Only tiny birds would consider nesting in its frail branches. These shrubs were found everywhere in ordinary daily living. The rabbis talked about contrasting small branches with great trees especially when talking about the grand Lebanon cedar tree. A good example is Ez 17:22-24. Many would find this image much better for describing the kingdom of God. Jesus’ point, however, is that if one cannot find the reality of God’s kingdom in the most ordinary common things of daily life, one will not find it at all.

Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Aloysius