Seeds that Surprise Us

Readings for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Mark 4:26-34

USCCB Link to the Readings

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As we enjoy the work and play of our warmer seasons these days, in the northern hemisphere of our planet, many of us turn our attention to gardening, farming and landscaping. The Word of God today also turns to images of seeds, plants and new life.

God plants a seed in our lives that does not become a large tree right away. We may long for the finished project, like the exiles of Ezekiel’s time, and like Paul and the apostles centuries later, but there are stages to go through, Jesus tells us. The Reign of God is a living thing, like a plant that puts down roots, puts forth branches, and provides a home for many peoples, many birds of different colors.

In Chile, when a plebiscite finally took place and ended the dictatorship, it was hard to believe! Many of us residing in the country had failed to believe that the army general could be outmaneuvered, after so many years in power. Chile suddenly could be free again to hold real elections--an answer to our prayers, but how dazed we were! We had learned to be patient, and to find ways to resist the oppression, but many of us felt unprepared to finally see this new light dawn in the history of the country.

For our community of followers of Jesus Christ, God is a gardener who instills hope during times of despair, and shows us how our patience and trust will reward us with joy and wonder at the growth and maturity of our faith community. New branches of synodality and solidarity, sustainability and compassion will grow in surprising ways, both personally and as a Church, as the roots of the Reign of God deepen and spread out into the far corners of our existence.

Notes on the Sunday Readings

First Reading
Ezekiel 17:22-24 — Written after the final military defeat of Judah, and during the exile to Babylon of about 8,000 of its people, the prophet helps people cope with this disaster and not lose faith, by revealing that God will yet bring back a future king from the line of David, like an eagle that carries a transplanted branch from a tall tree.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16 — The gardening references continue, as much for the individuals planted in the house of the Lord, as for the people as a whole. We respond: “Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.”

Second Reading
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 — The bodily resurrection is a coming home, a state of living with the Lord forever, Paul writes to his beloved community of Christians in Corinth. Our courage flows forth in our lives, even in the midst of hardships, because we know that our union with Christ cannot be broken by death. God’s Spirit, already present in us, will take care of the future, engulfing what is mortal in a new house of resurrection life.

Gospel
Mark 4:26-34 — These two seed parables about the Reign of God reveal that it will be a growing reality of small beginnings and great conclusions, a process mysterious to humans, but guided by God, teachings that give hope to Mark’s intended audience in the persecuted early Church, as well as to us, promising a future fullness of God’s kingdom.

Notes and commentary by Fr. Bob Mosher,
a member of the Missionary Society of Saint Columban.

Please pray for the missions.

May God bless you in all the ways you Go Forth…