Gospel for Friday, January 26th

Gospel
Mk 4:26-34

Jesus said to the crowds:
“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.
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.”

He said,
“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

Comments:
Jesus is speaking in parables about His Kingdom which he is inaugurating. In both of these parables He speaks of His Kingdom beginning as a seed. Surely I can see how the Church can be compared to a seed which grows into a field of wheat or a great tree.

I thought about this some last night. I thought about the Church being compared to a field of wheat. I thought about the Church in its divided state. I thought about the individual as being compared to a single grain of wheat in an entire field of wheat. How can the individual consider himself from the field. Surely we are connected in this analogy. We must not separate ourselves in from the rest of the field. How dangerous it would be for one grain of wheat to try to grow all by itself apart from the rest of the field.

Also how can one part of the field separate itself from the rest of the field? How can the Church divide and say that another part of the field is not really the field? This follows the thinking of the apostle Paul in saying that one part of the body cannot say to another part "I have no need of you".

It is also interesting that Jesus speaks to the crowds in parables but he explained everything to His disciples in private. Why does He do this? Why does God show this favoritism? Surely God's ways are mysterious. Was it because God wants us to be dependent upon His chosen vessels? Maybe God doesn't give everyone all the information so we must humbly go to the ones He has chosen. Maybe this is a gift to everyone to keep us from becoming proud.

St. Timothy and Titus,
Pray for me.