Ez 17:22-24; Ps 92; 2Cor 5:6-10; Mk 4:26-34
COMMENTARY
The mystery of God’s Kingdom and mission in parables
With this Sunday’s Gospel, the Lord Jesus invites us to explore, through the specific language of the parables, some fundamental aspects of the Kingdom of God that He proclaimed and inaugurated with His mission. We should dwell on the three most important points.
1. A necessary reminder of the mission of Jesus and the reality of the Kingdom of God
To understand the meaning of the two parables we have heard today, we must first recall the historical and existential context in which Jesus told them. According to the narrative of the Evangelist Mark, we find ourselves in the very first extended block of Christ’s teaching, shortly after the inauguration of his public ministry with the programmatic announcement of Mark 1:15: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” This concise statement is so important to recall in its entirety because it reveals the four interrelated dimensions of Jesus’ mission: the time (final or of fulfillment), the Kingdom (now at hand), conversion and, consequently, faith in this Gospel, God’s good news. Thus, as the Encyclical Redemptoris missio also emphasizes, “Christ makes the Kingdom present” and in this sense, “brings God’s plan to fulfillment” (n. 13). We recall with Pope John Paul II that:
The proclamation and establishment of God’s kingdom are the purpose of his [of Christ] mission: “I was sent for this purpose” (Lk 4:43). But that is not all. Jesus himself is the “Good News” […]. His power, the secret of the effectiveness of his actions, lies in his total identification with the message he announces; he proclaims the “Good News” not just by what he says or does, but by what he is. (Redemptoris missio, n. 13)
In this perspective,
Jesus gradually reveals the characteristics and demands of the kingdom through his words, his actions, and his own person. The kingdom of God is meant for all humankind, and all people are called to become members of it. (Redemptoris missio, n. 14).
Furthermore, “In the Risen Christ God’s Kingdom Is Fulfilled and Proclaimed”
By raising Jesus from the dead, God has conquered death, and in Jesus he has inaugurated his kingdom. During his earthly life, Jesus was the Prophet of the kingdom; after his passion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven he shares in God’s power and in his dominion over the world (cf. Mt 28:18; Acts 2:36; Eph 1:18-21). The resurrection gives a universal scope to Christ’s message, his actions and whole mission. The disciples recognize that the kingdom is already present in the person of Jesus and is slowly being established within man and the world through a mysterious connection with him. (Redemptoris missio, n.16)
The above, though lengthy, is necessary because it helps us better enter into the message of the parables of the kingdom that Jesus told to the crowds and then “privately” explained to His disciples, for as one biblical scholar rightly noted, “it is important to understand that Jesus’ whole message and work were centered around the conviction that the future time of divine salvation was already making its appearance in his activities, for those with eyes to see it. These parables must be read with the excitement and urgency of this idea in view, or else, for modern readers, they can become only quaint little stories with unremarkable moral lessons” (L.W. Hurtado, Mark [New International Biblical Commentary 2], 77-78).
2. The Power of the Kingdom in the Image of the Seed Sprouting and Growing “Spontaneously.”
From the Christ-centered and eschatological perspective emphasized above, we can understand the fundamental point that the parable of the seed cast on the ground is meant to convey. We have here an account found only in the Gospel of Mark. In it, Jesus uses the natural miracle of the growth of the seed to teach the very truth of the reality of the kingdom of God. Like the seed in the ground, this kingdom is already inaugurated with the coming of Christ and will continue its process of germination and growth “spontaneously” until the time of ripening and then harvesting. All this happens in a mysterious way, “he [the seeder] knows not how.” Regardless of all his care, concern, or anxiety, as the text says, he “would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow.” Here, of course, the important work of man is not questioned, even though it is not mentioned, because the emphasis of the parable falls entirely on the “spontaneous” and “natural” action of the soil that “makes” everything! And the gaze of the believer glimpses here the invisible but powerful hand of God standing behind the “soil” – yes, in the “soil,” to help him transform the seed into a “blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear!” This is the mystical gaze of amazement and of gratitude to God of the farmer who, after the challenging work of tilling the soil, remains always aware of the mysterious, decisive “cooperation” of the Creator.
If this is so for the Kingdom of God, the dynamics of mission will be no different. All the disciples-missionaries of Christ – will be called to always perceive and recognize the sure and decisive action of God in the realization of His Kingdom, and this, most of the time, to a degree that is disproportionate to the few efforts of man. As the Apostle Paul says about his work and that of Apollos, the other missionary in the building of the community, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth” (1Cor 3:6). Such an attitude helps us to be more humble, serene, and confident in mission, especially in the face of insurmountable adversity, just as Jesus himself entrusted everything to God in the supreme trial of Gethsemane, the cross and death.
3. The Great Fruit of the Kingdom from the Beginning as Small as a “Mustard Seed”
The same optimism shines through in the next parable, that of the mustard seed, the last of Jesus’ parables in Mark 4. The emphasis is now on the size of the result in relation to the initial investment: from the smallest of all seeds grows the largest of all plants in the garden. Obviously, Jesus’ statements about the size of the seed and the plant were made in accordance with the common view of the time (and not with the data of modern biology), so that He was giving a revelation of the reality of the kingdom rather than a lesson in biology (orthology). That is why, at the end, He even wanted to describe the size of the mustard plant as almost that of an oak tree, with a significant addition from a biblical-theological point of view: [the plant]“puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
This description echoes the language of prophets such as Ezekiel, whom we heard in the first reading, about the great future of the chosen people under God’s care and protection (cf. Ez 17:43; 31:6; Dan 4:12). Moreover, it is precisely because of this Old Testament background that we can see in the image of the birds nesting in the shade of the tree a reference to the definitive inclusion of all peoples in the Kingdom of God. In this way, the parable of the mustard seed emphasizes not only the triumph of the Kingdom in the world at the end of time, despite its initial smallness, but also the universal dimension of this divine reality that welcomes all peoples “into its shade.” Thus, the mission of the Kingdom, inaugurated by Jesus and carried out by His disciples at His call, will always be marked by this universality and inclusiveness for all humanity and for each man/woman in particular, as He recommended before returning to the Father: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, […].And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:19-20).
Let us pray, then, that the Lord will help us to let the seed of the Kingdom of God grow increasingly in us, so that we can then let His Kingdom come around us until the end of the world. Amen.
Useful points to consider:
Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World, Evangelii Gaudium
22. God’s word is unpredictable in its power. The Gospel speaks of a seed which, once sown, grows by itself, even as the farmer sleeps (Mk 4:26-29). The Church must accept this unruly freedom of the word, which accomplishes what it wills in ways that surpass our calculations and ways of thinking.
Pope Francis, Angelus, Saint Peter’s Square, Sunday, 17 June 2018
Nell’odierna pagina evangelica (cfr Mc 4,26-34), Gesù parla alle folle del Regno di Dio e dei dinamismi della sua crescita, e lo fa raccontando di due brevi parabole.
Nella prima parabola (cfr vv. 26-29), il Regno di Dio è paragonato alla crescita misteriosa del seme […] Il messaggio che questa parabola ci consegna è questo: mediante la predicazione e l’azione di Gesù, il Regno di Dio è annunciato, ha fatto irruzione nel campo del mondo e, come il seme, cresce e si sviluppa da sé stesso, per forza propria e secondo criteri umanamente non decifrabili. Esso, nel suo crescere e germogliare dentro la storia, non dipende tanto dall’opera dell’uomo, ma è soprattutto espressione della potenza e della bontà di Dio, della forza dello Spirito Santo che porta avanti la vita cristiana nel Popolo di Dio.
A volte la storia, con le sue vicende e i suoi protagonisti, sembra andare in senso contrario al disegno del Padre celeste, che vuole per tutti i suoi figli la giustizia, la fraternità, la pace. Ma noi siamo chiamati a vivere questi periodi come stagioni di prova, di speranza e di attesa vigile del raccolto. Infatti, ieri come oggi, il Regno di Dio cresce nel mondo in modo misterioso, in modo sorprendente, svelando la potenza nascosta del piccolo seme, la sua vitalità vittoriosa. […]
Pope Francis, Angelus, Saint Peter’s Square, Sunday, 13 June 2021
[…] Today Jesus compares the Kingdom of God, that is, his presence that dwells in the heart of things and of the world, to the mustard seed, that is, to the smallest seed there is: it is tiny. Yet, cast upon the ground, it grows until becoming the tallest tree (cf. Mk 4:31-32). This is what God does. At times, the din of the world, along with the many activities that fill our days, prevent us from stopping and seeing how the Lord is conducting history. Yet — the Gospel assures us — God is at work, like a good little seed that silently and slowly germinates. And, little by little, it becomes a lush tree, which gives life and rest to everyone. The seed of our good works too can seem like a small thing, yet all that is good pertains to God, and thus it humbly, slowly bears fruit. Good, let us remember, always grows in a humble way, in a hidden, often invisible way. […]
The force of the seed is divine. Jesus explains it in today’s other parable: the farmer sows the seed and then does not realize how it bears fruit, because it is the seed itself that grows spontaneously, day and night, when he least expects it (cf. vv. 26-29). With God, even in the most infertile soil there is always the hope of new sprouts.