20150614
TRUSTING IN GOD WHO IS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE FOR
THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM
Readings at Mass
First reading
|
Ezekiel 17:22-24
©
|
The Lord says this:
‘From the top of the
cedar,
from the highest
branch I will take a shoot
and plant it myself
on a very high mountain.
I will plant it on
the high mountain of Israel.
It will sprout
branches and bear fruit,
and become a noble
cedar.
Every kind of bird
will live beneath it,
every winged creature
rest in the shade of its branches.
And every tree of the
field will learn that I, the Lord, am the one
who stunts tall trees
and makes the low ones grow,
who withers green
trees and makes the withered green.
I, the Lord, have
spoken, and I will do it.’
Psalm
|
Psalm
91:2-3,13-16 ©
|
It is good to give
you thanks, O Lord.
It is good to give
thanks to the Lord,
to make
music to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love
in the morning
and your
truth in the watches of the night.
It is good to give
you thanks, O Lord.
The just will
flourish like the palm tree
and grow
like a Lebanon cedar.
It is good to give
you thanks, O Lord.
Planted in the house
of the Lord
they will
flourish in the courts of our God,
still bearing fruit
when they are old,
still
full of sap, still green,
to proclaim that the
Lord is just.
In him,
my rock, there is no wrong.
It is good to give
you thanks, O Lord.
Second reading
|
2 Corinthians
5:6-10 ©
|
We are always full of
confidence when we remember that to live in the body means to be exiled from
the Lord, going as we do by faith and not by sight – we are full of
confidence, I say, and actually want to be exiled from the body and make our
home with the Lord. Whether we are living in the body or exiled from it, we are
intent on pleasing him. For all the truth about us will be brought out in the
law court of Christ, and each of us will get what he deserves for the things he
did in the body, good or bad.
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Jn15:15
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends,
says the Lord,
because I have made
known to you
everything I have
learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
Or
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
The seed is the word
of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this
seed will remain for ever.
Alleluia!
Gospel
|
Mark 4:26-34 ©
|
Jesus said to the
crowds, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man throws seed on the
land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting
and growing; how, he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces first
the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is
ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’
He also
said, ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for
it? 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; yet once it is sown it grows into the
biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the
air can shelter in its shade.’
Using
many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were
capable of understanding it. He would not speak to them except in parables, but
he explained everything to his disciples when they were alone.
TRUSTING
IN GOD WHO IS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM
|
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: EZ 17:22-24;
2 COR 5:6-10;
MK 4:26-34
The
fundamental message and work of Jesus is the proclamation and establishment of
the Kingdom of God in our lives. As Christians we too are called to
be responsible in bringing about the Kingdom values in our own lives and in the
lives of others. Like the farmer in the first parable, we are to
prepare the ground and plant the seed of justice, love, peace and
freedom. Our task is to water and tenderly care for the Word of God
that has been imparted to us. For as Paul tells us, we will be judged
according to the way we live our lives.
Many of
us in our own ways are trying to be responsible workers of the Kingdom.
But when we examine our own lives and that of the world, we all know too well
that we are far from living the kind of life that the Kingdom demands of
us. As parents, many of you are exasperated trying to manage your relationship
with your teenagers. They are adopting certain values that are not only
unhealthy and run the risk of hurting themselves, destroying their future and
their own lives. What is most poignant is that you feel helpless for they
will not listen to you anymore.
Building
the Kingdom is equally frustrating even within the Church. Those of us
who are involved in Church organizations know how frustrating it can get.
Members are often uncooperative and irresponsible in their duties. There
is the inevitable wrangling due to jealousy, pride, gossiping and selfishness
among members in Church and neighbourhood groups. Politics and power
struggles cannot be avoided. When we encounter such frustrations many of
us feel like throwing in the towel and giving up any attempts at building the
Kingdom of God on earth.
If we
are feeling discouraged at the slow and apparent stalemate in the progress of
the Kingdom then, perhaps, the all important question we must ask ourselves is
whether we really believe that the building of the Kingdom is solely our effort
alone. The truth is that human beings are not robots. Every one of
us has our own mind and philosophy of life. We cannot control every
single movement of our loved ones. At most we can only influence them by
our example and words. We can only provide them the opportunities and the
environment but ultimately, each one has to answer to the
invitation. We must realize the limits of our responsibility.
To blame ourselves for things that are beyond our control does not make us more
loving people but only increases our self-hatred and make us incapable of
loving others as well.
Yes, we
have to be realistic. Indeed, this is what Jesus in the parable of the
seed growing by itself wants to teach us: that ultimately, God is responsible
for His creation. The growth of the Kingdom is basically God’s
responsibility. He will bring it about no matter what the opposition or
how little our efforts seem to accomplish. Just as the farmer leaves it
to the earth, sun, rain (if you prefer, God) to bring about the harvest, so
must we have faith in God to bring about His universal reign in our world.
In
terms of the harvest, the farmer has only two actions: scattering seed and
gathering the crop. The seed i.e. the reign of God has life in itself.
The earth produces of itself; the growth to completion is irresistible.
Neither the growth nor the harvest is under the control of humankind but follow
God’s plan. Ultimately, the responsibility of change, although basically
a personal decision, is dependent on the grace of God as well.
To us
the parable says: Take heart, the reign of God is here. In Jesus, the
reign of God has been inaugurated and realized. In Jesus, the prophecy of
Ezekiel in the first reading, which speaks about the new Kingdom that will
arise from the remnant of Israel, is fulfilled. God in Jesus has overcome
the ultimate evil of sin and death. The God of the future will overcome
all evil and bring His Kingdom to fulfillment. How God will bring it
about, we do not know. That He will bring it to fulfillment, we do
know. Like Paul in the second reading, we can courageously say: We
are full of confidence. Like the farmer we might not know how the seed
grows, but we can be sure that it will produce a harvest. Its growth is inevitable
although a mystery.
In fact
to think otherwise, would be to usurp the place of God in our lives.
Somehow, deep inside us, we feel that God does not know how to manage the world
He has created. We are not contented to be His general manager but we
also want to be His director as well. But that is sheer arrogance to
think that we human beings by our work alone are ultimately responsible for the
salvation of humankind. We should, as Paul tells us in the second
reading, live by faith, not by sight.
Only
faith will enable us to see that the seed of God’s life within us grows slowly
and invisibly. We cannot rush the growth of the seed in the earth;
neither can we rush God’s growth in our hearts. Yes, there is something
mysterious about the growth process of the reign of truth and life, of holiness
and grace, of justice, love and peace. It is slow and difficult.
Faith grows slowly. Faith takes a lifetime to mature. But the
seed has been sown. And its growth is not only inevitable but beyond our
human imagination.
Most of
all, we must resist the temptation to dig up the germinating seeds to see if
they are really growing. To do so would destroy the growth process and we
may even stunt it. Yes, we must not allow anxiety, criticism or failure
to uproot what is beginning to grow. Impatience with our own growth or
the growth in others will kill the growth process. We can hope that faith
grows in others even when we cannot see it, even when it does not appear in a
form we anticipate. As we wait, we can nurture the seed of faith with
unconditional love and prayer.
Yes,
when we learn to trust God enough, then we will be ready for the surprises of
God. This is what Jesus in the parable of the mustard seed wants to
assure us: that from humble beginnings come big endings. Just as no
one expects a small seed to grow into such a large plant; just as no one
expected how the small community of Jesus could grow into a world religion
today, so too it is for us. Indeed, Jesus, knowing full well the limitations
of humankind, was still able to speak with utter confidence of the final stage
of the Kingdom because He knew that growth is the work of God. All God
requires of us is that we trust in Him, and that we try. He will work out
the rest quietly but relentlessly, so that selfishness will surrender to
sharing, evil will give way to goodness and hate will yield to love. Like
the giant bush that grew from the mustard seed, God works in the lives of His
people to produce great fruit.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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