Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B 16th June 2024.
Lectionary Readings:
Ezekiel 17 v22-24; Psalm 92 v1-4, 12-15; 2 Corinthians 5 v6-17; Mark 4 v26-34.
Seeds of the Kingdom?
One way to begin thinking about Mark’s ‘seed’ stories is to ponder what Jesus meant by ‘The kingdom of God’ when he introduced these stories.
If we pick up the thread of a recent reflection about Jesus challenging Nicodemus, and us, to think of ourselves as ‘children of God’, a part of his family, does it not follow that we should also consider ourselves, ‘citizens of God’s kingdom’?
If that is so, then ‘God’s kingdom’ is not a destination, not somewhere we journey towards in this earthly life, but a reality within which we live, here and now.
As a child of God and a citizen of his kingdom we are challenged to live as God would like us to, or as the prophet Micah says “See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern and humbly obey your God.” (Micah 6 v8b).
Jesus also emphasized the themes of justice and mercy in his teachings, seeing them as hall-marks of citizens of God’s kingdom. (Matthew 5 v1-10)
The apostle Paul links God’s mercy to the ministry of Jesus, as he encourages us to “be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ” (Ephesians 4 v32)
Bearing these thoughts in mind, the ‘seed’ stories told by Jesus could be seen as stories about us, as seeds/citizens of God’s kingdom.
God plants the seed, his Spirit, within us. Our transformed minds and bodies* are the good soil** that enables the Spirit to thrive. As we grow in spiritual maturity we become a source of blessing to others. (Grain-flour-bread-food that sustains life). God is the farmer that lovingly tends the soil, hoping for a good harvest.
The mustard seed could be viewed as a seed of God’s kingdom sown in the hope that it will flourish and become a place of sanctuary for ‘others’. The bird’s nest is the home of something unlike the plant itself, the bird is the ‘other’. The story then is a challenge to us to become a people with open hearts and minds like Christ, able to welcome the ‘other’ into God’s ‘here and now’ kingdom, to provide a place of safety, a place they can call home.
* “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person.” (2 Corinthians 5 v17).
** “Seeds that fell on good ground” (Mark 4 v20)
Mark says: “Jesus used many other stories when he spoke to the people, and he taught them as much as they could understand.” (Mark 4 v33)
Jesus uses stories/parables to help us with our thinking. These stories show us how we can be both fully human and citizens of God’s kingdom at the same time.
His ‘seed’ has been sown………
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English Version.