God is always at work

 

‘LORD, THAT I MAY SEE.’

A SHORT COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF THE DAY

Gospel

Mark 4:26-34

The kingdom of God is a mustard seed growing into the biggest shrub of all

1.      Jesus said to the crowds:

2.      ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like.

3.      A man throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing;

4.      how, he does not know.

5.      Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

6.      And when the crop is ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’

7.      He also said,

8.      ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for it?

9.      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;

10.  yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches

11.  so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’

12.  Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them,

13.  so far as they were capable of understanding it.

14.  He would not speak to them except in parables,

15.  but he explained everything to his disciples when they were alone.

 

God who is our Creator is Master of the universe. He knows what he is doing. We know something. This Jesus revealed to us.  He came into the world to teach us this secret, hidden from the minds of human beings from all ages. God is working out his plan despite and indeed through human weakness and sin. We must cooperate with him like a farmer works in his field, but the growth comes from God. The growth of the Kingdom, like the growth of any form of life is a mystery and not in our hands. We can however thwart it or encourage it. We are to wholeheartedly cooperate with Jesus in being his witnesses.

Likewise, characteristic of all God’s work is that the Kingdom starts in a small, even minute way and grows beyond all expectation.

We do not know fully how God works, nor how his work will be when it is completed. We are only puny human beings, part of the great scheme of God.

We learn the mysteries of creation and God’s plan, not from study but from drawing close to Jesus and listening to him. If we want, for instance, to understand the Scriptures, we must sit at the feet of Jesus and ask him to explain it to us. Then we must listen and ponder ‘these things in our hearts’ as did the Virgin Mary while on earth.

Jesus’ life is the perfect example of the mystery of God’s working. He was a lone figure, misunderstood even by his closest friends, hated by his enemies, and killed at the young age of thirty-three. From a human point of view his life was a tragic failure. Could it have been worse? Yet we know that his life is of infinite worth in the plan of God for the salvation of the whole of creation.

The lesson for us? Keep close to Jesus through prayer and listen to him speaking through his Word and in every way that he speaks to us. We must be open to him speaking in strange and unexpected ways. Then with his help we do what he tells us. The rest we leave to him. After all who are we?