Jesus teaches through everyday experience, the sights and sounds that people experience each day. In today’s Gospel he uses the experience of seeing a tiny mustard seed or the experience of mixing yeast with wheat flour. Jesus teaches that both experiences tell us about the Kingdom of heaven or the Kingdom of God. The main message that Jesus preached during his earthly life is about the Kingdom of God:
“Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: ‘This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’” (Mark 1:14-15). What is the Kingdom of God? Each time we pray the Our Father we receive the answer: “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10). The Kingdom of God is present whenever God’s will be done. Jesus during his earthly life shows us what that looks like as he does his Father’s will by welcoming outcasts and sinners and healing the sick as we hear in the words of the Eucharistic Prayer:
“For you have given us Jesus Christ, your Son, as our Lord and Redeemer. He always showed compassion for children and for the poor, for the sick and for sinners, and he became a neighbor to the oppressed and the afflicted. By word and deed, he announced to the world that you are our Father and that you care for all your sons and daughters.” (Eucharistic Prayer For Various Needs IV)
In Jesus’ day and in our day at times it is hard to see the presence of God and the presence of the Kingdom of God. Jesus gives us his response of faith: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…It is the smallest of all the seeds yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.” Jesus has planted this “mustard seed” of God’s love and mercy in the world and in each of us through our baptism. We need to cherish and nourish this mustard seed that it may grow and flourish in our world and in our daily life. Sometimes it is hard to see God’s presence in our world with all the evil and suffering we witness each day, but Jesus assures us that God is presence in our midst and as we hear in the Eucharistic Prayer:
“You are indeed Holy and to be glorified, O God, who love the human race and who always walk with us on the journey of life. Blessed indeed is your Son, present in our midst when we are gathered by his love, and when, as once for the disciples, so now for us, he opens the Scriptures and breaks the bread.” (Eucharistic Prayer For Various Needs IV).
Image: “Faith the Size of a Mustard Seed” by Dane Vandeputte is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.