Gospel, Mark 4:26-34

²⁶ He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the land.

²⁷ Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know.

²⁸ Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

²⁹ And when the crop is ready, at once he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’

³⁰ He also said, ‘What can we say that the kingdom is like? What parable can we find for it?

³¹ It is like a mustard seed which, at the time of its sowing, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.

³² 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.’

³³ Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it.

³⁴ He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were by themselves.

This parable is found only in the Gospel of Mark. Through Jesus Christ’s ministry it is revealed to man that God’s sovereign rule will be over each of them and that it will spread far over all the lands. It will start from the smallest of seeds and manifest itself throughout the world, lasting as long as God desires it to exist.

God’s kingdom is like a mustard seed. Starting from the smallest flicker of love placed within the hearts of man by God’s Holy word. We must be receptive to this flicker of Light, and allow the Holy Spirit to change us. For we cannot change on our own. We must allow God to transform us with the power of the Holy Spirit. We must submit our will to His will for us. Just as the Holy Spirit lit a fire in each of the apostles and Mary during the Pentecost, we must allow our love for God to be fanned into a flame that will spread to those around us. When we yield to Jesus Christ, we are transformed by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. And it is ultimately  because of the power of the Holy Spirit that grows God’s kingdom. Just as in the parable, man can aide in the scattering of the seeds, but only God can grow them. That is the Triune God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.