This weekend, once again we hear Jesus speak to us in parables… multifaceted gems that once tumbled around in our hearts and we ruminated upon, yield unbelievable insights into the Reign of God.
While the disciples certainly preferred straightforward answers, Jesus obviously preferred parables. Of the comparisons of the reign of God to a field, a mustard seed or the leaven in bread, I have always liked the comparison of the
mustard seed to the Reign of God. This tiny little seed grows into a great bush…so large that the birds of the air make their
nests in it. If you take the parable at its face value, it all seems quite lovely.
However, there is a dark side that farmers know well: the mustard bush is an invasive plant. It grows wildly and rapidly,
quickly overtaking a garden, ruining the plants that had been planted with care and reducing their yield, if not completely
choking them out. Mustard bushes are uncontrollable and rapidly spread across a farm if not quickly uprooted before going to seed.
Surely this reality was not lost on Jesus…nor on those who heard him tell the parable. It seems that perhaps Jesus is
presenting an image of the expansion of the Reign of God as something uncontrollable, invasive and fast growing!
Looking through the lens of this image, the Reign of God is not something that can be domesticated or controlled. By its very nature it grows uncontrollably and burst forth and, very importantly, offering refuge.
I believe that most of us though would prefer something that we could contain and control and domesticate! But the truth is that the Reign of God is just that – “God’s Reign” – not ours!
We are part of it by our baptism and we are called to help water it so that it continues to grow and “invade” every
crevice and furrow of this earth, but we don’t get to tame it. Two thousand years ago Jesus’ vision of the bursting forth of
the Reign of God was nothing less than radical…and it still is today.
We are called to be part of that radical vision: to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, to
welcome the stranger -- to love one another as Christ loves us and to reach out and to care for “the other,” to proclaim the
deep and passionate love that God has for all peoples!
And wasn’t it just this radical vision of the reign of God that Jesus preached that got him labeled crazy, and branded a
danger and ultimately crucified? As his disciple, just how radical of a life am I willing live? In a world that proclaims a
“gospel of personal prosperity” with tax cuts for the rich at the cost of healthcare cuts for the poor, in a nation where overt
acts of racism and discrimination are on the rise across the country, in a nation that arrests and turns away those who are
seeking asylum or immigrating looking for a better life…to what lengths am I willing to go in building up this radical vision
of the Reign of God that Jesus preached?
What concrete action can I take today to “water” the Reign of God that Jesus preached where the poor are to be housed and fed, the stranger is to be welcomed and the sick and imprisoned are to be cared for and visited?
As a disciple of Jesus, to what lengths am I willing to go to live out his radical vision of total love of God and neighbor, and
forgiveness of neighbor as boundlessly as God forgives me, and to be as accepting of “the other” as God is of me?
Blessings,
Fr. Tim
While the disciples certainly preferred straightforward answers, Jesus obviously preferred parables. Of the comparisons of the reign of God to a field, a mustard seed or the leaven in bread, I have always liked the comparison of the
mustard seed to the Reign of God. This tiny little seed grows into a great bush…so large that the birds of the air make their
nests in it. If you take the parable at its face value, it all seems quite lovely.
However, there is a dark side that farmers know well: the mustard bush is an invasive plant. It grows wildly and rapidly,
quickly overtaking a garden, ruining the plants that had been planted with care and reducing their yield, if not completely
choking them out. Mustard bushes are uncontrollable and rapidly spread across a farm if not quickly uprooted before going to seed.
Surely this reality was not lost on Jesus…nor on those who heard him tell the parable. It seems that perhaps Jesus is
presenting an image of the expansion of the Reign of God as something uncontrollable, invasive and fast growing!
Looking through the lens of this image, the Reign of God is not something that can be domesticated or controlled. By its very nature it grows uncontrollably and burst forth and, very importantly, offering refuge.
I believe that most of us though would prefer something that we could contain and control and domesticate! But the truth is that the Reign of God is just that – “God’s Reign” – not ours!
We are part of it by our baptism and we are called to help water it so that it continues to grow and “invade” every
crevice and furrow of this earth, but we don’t get to tame it. Two thousand years ago Jesus’ vision of the bursting forth of
the Reign of God was nothing less than radical…and it still is today.
We are called to be part of that radical vision: to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, to
welcome the stranger -- to love one another as Christ loves us and to reach out and to care for “the other,” to proclaim the
deep and passionate love that God has for all peoples!
And wasn’t it just this radical vision of the reign of God that Jesus preached that got him labeled crazy, and branded a
danger and ultimately crucified? As his disciple, just how radical of a life am I willing live? In a world that proclaims a
“gospel of personal prosperity” with tax cuts for the rich at the cost of healthcare cuts for the poor, in a nation where overt
acts of racism and discrimination are on the rise across the country, in a nation that arrests and turns away those who are
seeking asylum or immigrating looking for a better life…to what lengths am I willing to go in building up this radical vision
of the Reign of God that Jesus preached?
What concrete action can I take today to “water” the Reign of God that Jesus preached where the poor are to be housed and fed, the stranger is to be welcomed and the sick and imprisoned are to be cared for and visited?
As a disciple of Jesus, to what lengths am I willing to go to live out his radical vision of total love of God and neighbor, and
forgiveness of neighbor as boundlessly as God forgives me, and to be as accepting of “the other” as God is of me?
Blessings,
Fr. Tim
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