TRUSTING IN GOD WHO IS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM

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

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