Theme: The Mustard Seed
the Lord be with you and with your spirit a reading from the holy Gospel According to Mark Glory To You O [Music] Lord at that time Jesus said to the crowds 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 know knows not how the Earth produces of itself first the blade then the ear then the full grain in the air but when the grain is ripe at once he puts in the sickle because the Harvest has come and he said with what can I compare the kingdom of God or what shall what Parable shall we use for it it is like a grain of mustard seed which when sewn upon the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on Earth yet when it is sewn 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 a 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 the gospel of the Lord praise to youus Christ so today on this 11 Sunday in ordinary time we’ve been listening to the last few days the Prophet Elijah and today we start with the prophet Ezekiel and Ezekiel the prophet is known to speak in allegories in Parables that is the way in which he would communicate the message of God to God’s people always using figures or types or Expressions to help the people to understand what God is saying to them and very often allegories and parables are designed in such a way that they use what is common and known around us to explain what is not common and not known what is mysterious or what is of God that’s the way the parages and allegories work and so today we hear of a sprig or a tiny twig or a cutting used taken to the top of a mountain and planted there and out of it comes this great big tree and in chapter 17 of the Prophet Ezekiel chapter 31 The Book of Daniel chapter 4 we see this image of an Empire or a kingdom being described like a huge tree in particular the Cedar of Lebanon it’s a very powerful image the Cedar of Lebanon can grow to many many me high huge Majestic trees great in strength and power they would also use this tree to build the Temple of Jerusalem so a very Noble and powerful and strong tree and that’s the image that God uses by explaining through the prophet Ezekiel what he wishes to do with the people of Israel to make of this people a great Kingdom and he even says and all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord bring low the high tree and make high the low tree for what will happen this tree will spread out its branches and bear fruit and become a noble powerful tree and under this tree will dwell all kinds of beasts quite a quite a powerful image under this tree literally all of creation that’s the image that God uses in the Old Testament for the people of Israel all things will be drawn to himself via this tree and then we come to the Gospel reading today The Gospel According to St Mark 4 vers 26- 34 Jesus is preaching to a large crowd and he begins the kingdom of God is like a man who SWS seed and of course the people are familiar with planting sewing harvesting and he says notice that the kingdom as much as the sewer goes out to seow there is some other Force some other power that makes sure that that seed begins to sprout Roots shoots leaves and eventually bear fruit and only then does the sewer come back and it begins to harvest place the sickle and cultivate but then he goes on and he says what can I compare the kingdom of God to what Parable shall I use and if we he here as well the Jewish Community who are listening to him and they would immediately think oh if you’re speaking about the kingdom and you’re speaking about a parable then surely you should say the kingdom of God can be compared to a large Majestic Noble Cedar but Jesus throws a spanner in the works he says the kingdom of God can be compared to a grain of mustard seed I can imagine just in the minds and the hearts of his hearers people saying huh what a mustard seed the smallest seed and if you know how mustard seeds grow they grow into really into bushes and once you plant a mustard seed in your garden if you you have a vegetable garden be prepared to have mustard seeds growing everywhere cuz it’s spreads it is resilient it is not even good to look at it doesn’t make your garden look pretty but it is resilient and strong and spreads quickly before you know it it will cover your garden and Jesus says it grows up to be the greatest of shrubs of bushes and puts out large branches that the birds of the air and when he uses this phrase of the birds of the air or the beasts coming to coming to experience the shade and the protection of this tree he’s speaking about the other nations speaking about other peoples coming to this tree but what a strange image for Jesus to use what is the Lord actually saying to us today the kingdom of God does not appear the way you think the kingdom of God doesn’t appear like other kingdoms like other powerful human kingdoms and we’ve seen many many different kingdoms manifest themselves on the earth over centuries you see countries even coming together to form powerful kingdoms we can use that word today the United Nations NATO the bricks s various different powers coming together to establish the authority and protection over peoples but those are human kingdoms the kingdom that Jesus speaks about is the kingdom of God which does not appear to the ordinary Vision it does not even appear to be a kingdom it just manifests itself through the smallest through the humblest through the simplest and like he said in the first part of this gospel text once the seed is sown one doesn’t even know when it’s going to sprout there is a power and a force at work the power of the Holy Spirit the power of God himself beginning to work and form and create and before one knows that kingdom is beginning to spread and once it spreads it’s like that Mustard Seed once it begins to spread it will be almost impossible to remove that shrub from the garden no matter how much you try that seed will just keep spreading a very powerful image that Jesus uses today the small the weak the simple The Humble can be used by the power of God to spread the message and intention of God a very powerful image for us to consider today but let’s take that image of the kingdom and shift it to the church Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God but when he ascended into heaven he left the church so the church is the visible tangible symbol of the kingdom and we can see the church started out with one very powerful presence of God in Jesus this Messiah this powerful Rabbi like no other and 12 men 2,000 years ago and today over a billion people living currently not even to count the billions who have lived before during these 2,000 years so this Kingdom which is now visibly present in the church is a massive tree but it’s not a tree like a cedar Noble powerful Majestic it is like this mustard shrub or bush that is just everywhere you can see and you can find the principles and values of the Kingdom in every part of the world governments are run using principles phrases images that are found rooted in the scriptures rooted in the church and so you can see that the kingdom is everywhere it has affected every country and every nation but let’s make another shift from the kingdom to the church to you for Jesus in the scripture says the kingdom of God is within you the kingdom of God is within you therefore the values the principles the very core of the Kingdom the very root of the kingdom is embedded inside of you and so when one speaks when one thinks when one acts Kingdom values should come out Kingdom principles should emerge from our language our speech our Concepts when we do and and act and involve ourselves and engage ourselves in the world the world should shift and notice that there are Kingdom Apostles acting actions that manifest and bring forth the principles and values of God that’s what should happen and just like that mustard sea that is planted in that vegetable garden or that patch the kingdom of God should be growing within you the yearning for God the yearning for that intimacy with the owner of that Kingdom should should be constantly growing it should manifest within the Consciousness within the full actions the thought processes of each person who believes they are of the Kingdom there are some people who do not even know that they are part of the Kingdom but they are subsumed by the kingdom values simply because they are alive God leaves no one out the birds of the air can make their nests in its shade everyone can find some benefit from the presence and power of God’s Kingdom operating within the world and Jesus is saying to us be careful to think that you need to be powerful like a Cedar of Lebanon be careful for that is not the message that Jesus presents of the Kingdom the kingdom he says is not the way we see the world it is small it is resilient once it sets itself with in the heart of a person it is almost impossible to take that Kingdom out even if we rebel against that Kingdom we defy it and oppose it it just can’t be removed from us and we will find that those who even speak against that Kingdom eventually will begin to find themselves once again embracing that Kingdom and the Lord says that is how his kingdom is spreading it is spreading within the hearts of each person it is spreading in such a way that it is impossible once you are touched by that Kingdom you are captured by it it is such a hopeful me message today that we hear from the word of God such a beautiful message and in today’s letter from St Paul to the Corinthians his second letter he says we are always of good courage we don’t walk by sight we walk by faith we trust that even though we can’t see the power of that Kingdom manifesting perhaps in our family in our community in our own person lives that kingdom is growing for it is its power its life is not from us it is actually from God and he says for that we are courageous we live by that Faith that’s what gives us the hope that the kingdom even though we may not see it so powerfully in the world he’s very much alive in the hearts of God’s people so as we celebrate this 11th Sunday of the of the year in ordinary time cycle B God is saying to us I have sown my seed of my kingdom in your heart and no matter what happens in your life it will bear fruit what a hopeful man message we thank the Lord that he’s such a merciful god that he’s such a wise God that his vision of the world and creation goes well beyond what we can see even well beyond what we can experience we thank him that his kingdom the values and principles of his kingdom are growing and are alive within us and we pray that truly this Kingdom can bear fruit in our lives and through our witness more seeds will be planted by the so we thank and praise our God amen amen