by Fr. Jose “Joesum” Sumampong, Jr.
June 13, 2021
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
Ez 17: 22-24 / Psalm 92: 2-3. 13-14. 15-16 /
2 Corinthians 5: 6-10 / Mark 4: 26 – 34
LEARNING LIFE THRU A SEED
Word: Jesus uses a very simple comparison, drawn from nature and familiar to His listeners. To scatter seed is so ordinary a gesture that we may fail to perceive the mystery it contains; for, this gesture is not done without taking a risk; what will become of the seed?
He said, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how (Mk 4:26-27).
This parable has been entitled “the grain which grows by itself’. In fact, once the grain has been thrown onto the ground, no one seems to show concern about it; apparently, the farmer is no longer interested in the seed he has sown. This is one of the most optimistic parables found in the gospels. Mark alone relates it.
We should give free vent to our imagination and follow, as in a science-movie, the various stages of this growth; unnoticed to the human eye, this growth is as mysterious and beyond our understanding today as it was to the contemporaries of Jesus. Our scientists may have made much progress in their description and analysis of external phenomena, but not one of them knows as yet what life is.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.” (Mk 4:28-29)
Suddenly, the situation changes. The contrast is underlined by the use of two small words in Mark’s Greek text: “But … immediately”. After the long period of inaction, comes the bustle and feverish activity of harvest time.
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Order: We should not forget the way in which this parable begins: Jesus is speaking, in reality, of the Kingdom of God. This farmer’s behavior must help us realize how God acts and works.
Primarily, the Gospel reveals to us Who God is; only after we have discovered more deeply this truth of faith can we adopt (as if indirectly) a concrete attitude. What, therefore, does this parable reveal to us about God?
Jesus answers: God is exactly like this farmer. Wait for the harvest time. Whatever is divine in this world belongs to the same category: it is a hidden, imperceptible but active force, which only simple hearts are able to detect, because they are willing and ready to believe what Jesus reveals to us about God. God is a Hidden God. He acts and works in secret.
Allow the seed to ripen. Never fall into despair. Continue to work, and sow the grain …
The universe is not going to its doom but to “the joy of the harvest”. Farmer, get your sickle ready!
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Realities: 1. A sailor in the merchant marine started a one-man campaign some time ago to feed the hungry in five countries: Korea, India, Greece, Israel and Morocco. These were places where his ship usually put into port.
It all began one day during a brief stop-over in India. He ran into a hungry farmer pleading for food. The sailor helped him and then asked, “Why don’t you plant something to eat?”
The farmer simply said, “Because I have no seeds.” So when the sailor got back home in the States, he began buying 10 cent packs of seeds and handing them out to needy farmers in the countries he sailed to. Within six months he had handed out 15,000 packets of seeds. He surprised himself when he saw from his own experience, what one person can do. (PRACTICAL HELP, Christophers)
Realities: 2.At the end of World War II American soldiers quartered in a German village offered aid to the desolate people there. But instead of asking for food, money, farm equipment or seed, the townsmen asked for help in restoring a statue.
For years, their proudest possession had been a beautiful statue in the town square. Now it lay shattered in many pieces. Could the Americans help them put it together again? The task was difficult but, finally, the statue was repaired except for two missing parts that the soldiers were unable to find or replace.
Then the soldiers covered the statue with a silken material so it could be unveiled in a ceremony before all the townspeople, even though the statue was incomplete.
The mayor of the town pulled the cord, and the silken drape dropped from the statue: a handless Christ.
The townspeople stared at the sign which the soldiers had placed at the feet of the statue: “I have no hands. Won’t you please lend me yours?” (Tony Weitzel, HANDS NEEDED BY GOD NOW)
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Direction: LORD Jesus Christ, grant us a measure of your Spirit. Help us to obey your teaching, soothe anger, cultivate pity, overcome desire, increase love, cast off sorrow, shun vainglory, renounce revenge, and not be afraid of death.
Let us ever entrust our spirit to the everlasting God who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and rules forever and ever. (Prayer to Practice What Jesus Taught, St. Apollonius of Rome Senator, Apologist, and Martyr)