January 27, 2023 – Mark 4:26-34
In today’s Gospel we find two parables that are images of the Kingdom, truth and love of God spreading to people all over the world. Both are taken from the world of agriculture, a world very familiar to Jesus’ listeners. By talking about the growth of wheat seed and mustard seed in the soil, Jesus explains the growth of the Kingdom of God in human society.
In the case of both the wheat seed and the mustard seed, the initial growth is slow and imperceptible. In a few days, however, a sprout will sprout that will slowly become a plant with numerous branches and leaves, flowers and fruit. Using the seed’s energy at the beginning and transforming the absorbed water and minerals into energy in later stages
later stages, the growth is silent and slow but steady, Jesus explains that the Kingdom of God grows in the same way in souls.
This growth occurs when man does God’s will and gives his life to Him. This growth at first is slow and microscopic, but it develops by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is given to us through the Word of God, the Sacraments and our prayers. Finally, if God reigns in the heart of man, he not only transforms the person himself, but also the community in which he lives and even society. “Man scatters the seed when he conceives in his heart a good intention. The seed, that is, the good intention, germinates and grows until it is time for the harvest.
The growth of the seed is gradual: grass, ear, wheat. Comparing the growth of the seed to the development of good intention, to produce only grass is to have the weakness of the beginnings of good. Grass makes the ear, when virtuè advances in good. Wheat fills the ear, when virtuè reaches the robustness and perfection of good work. But, when the wheat is ripe, the sickle comes, foŕ it is time to reap.
So God Almighty, when man has brought his work to completion, truncates his temporal life, to bring his grain into the granaries of heaven.
So that́, when we conceive a good desire, we sow the seed; when we begin to do good, we are grass; when the good work advances, we are ears of corn; and when we are established in perfection, we are the good grain of wheat …Let no one, therefore, be despised who shows that he is still in the weak stage of grass, foŕ every wheat of God begins with grass, but then it becomes grain!” (Gregory the Great, In Exod., II, 3, 5 f.)
For good workers…
– The seed germinates, grows and becomes wheat. Once the grain is ripe, it is up to the farmer to reap it. And this is also our task: to bring the harvest that has been planted into people’s hearts.
– The Lord today gives us a lesson in faith and humility, showing us that spiritual growth does not depend on us, but on the word of God that has been sown in us and that can save our lives, as St. James says.
P JOBY KAVUNGAL RCJ