Jesus said, "What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I
compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the
garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the
sky dwelt in its branches." Again he said, "To what shall I compare
the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three
measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened."
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe in you with a faith that never seeks to test
you. I trust in you, hoping to learn to accept and follow your will, even when
it does not make sense to the way that I see things. May my love for you and
those around me be similar to the love you have shown to me.
Petition: Lord, help me to
value and seek the invisible strength of the Kingdom of Heaven.
1. The Kingdom Grows from Small Beginnings: Jesus tells us two parables to help us understand the Kingdom of
Heaven. What does he want us to know about it? When he speaks about the mustard
seed, he is emphasizing that something that seems inconsequential can grow to
become something of great importance. Although the mustard seed is so small as
to be nearly invisible, it grows into a small tree, big enough for birds to
make a nest in. Its usefulness goes beyond its own needs. It can give shelter
and support to others.
2. You Don’t Have to Understand Biology to Be a Baker: In the parable of the leaven, something similar happens.
Leaven has a mysterious property. Although it seems to be nothing special
itself, even a small amount of it, mixed with dough, causes the dough to rise.
The Jews listening to Jesus didn’t know why. They didn’t know that the leaven
contained yeast spores that under the right conditions of heat, moisture and
nutrients, would begin to grow and produce carbon dioxide gas (which is what
makes the dough rise). It was mysterious to them, what power the leaven
contained, but they knew that just a little of it would transform a much larger
quantity of dough, so that the resulting bread would not just be matzo, but a
much larger quantity of light, airy bread that is much nicer to eat. In a
similar way, grace transforms the ordinary acts of our day, making them much
nicer in God’s eyes.
3. The Church Transforms Societies: Both these parables apply to the Kingdom of Heaven. As he
spoke, Jesus had before him just a few apostles who still didn’t grasp his
message very well. The Kingdom of Heaven was so small as to be invisible, like
the mustard seed. But it was destined to have incredible growth, such that it
would begin to help all humanity and not just those who belonged to it. When he
speaks of the leaven, he refers not just to the growth that the Kingdom of
Heaven would undergo throughout the centuries, but to the transformation it
would accomplish in the societies it entered. We see this in the world today.
The Church has not only grown, but it has also come to affect many who are not
in the Church and to transform society. The apostles, who did not see the
Kingdom very clearly, had a hard time accepting this. We have seen much more,
and yet we still doubt and hesitate.
Conversation with Christ:
Dear Jesus I have seen so much of your Kingdom that I should believe without
hesitation, yet I still worry about the final triumph of your Kingdom. Help me
to have a greater faith, not only to believe what you said, but to help the
spread of the Kingdom continue to come true in my society and culture.
Resolution: I will try to be more
optimistic about the Church in society, seeing how it has influenced so much of
what is best in our society – love for the poor, love for enemies etc. Knowing
that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit, I will accept that as it has happened
so many times in the past, just when things look bleakest for the Church, God
turns the tables, and it enters into another Golden Age. Didn’t John Paul II
predict that we were just launching out into the New Age of Evangelization?
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