Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle B

\MARK 4:26-34
SO WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU HEAR THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED?  WHAT DID JESUS MEAN?  I THINK MOST OF US WOULD  CONCLUDE THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD STARTS OUT SMALL AND EVENTUALLY GETS VERY LARGE, RIGHT?  BUT WHY DIDN'T JESUS JUST SAY THAT?
WHEN WE HEAR JESUS TELL A PARABLE, HE IS SAYING SOMETHING THAT IS MUCH MORE THAN IT SEEMS ON THE SURFACE.  HE MAY HAVE TOLD HIS APOSTLES WHAT HIS PARABLES MEANT, BUT THEY DIDN'T ALWAYS TELL US.  THE MUSTARD SEED PARABLE APPEARS IN MATTHEW, MARK AND LUKE, SO THE EARLY CHRISTIANS MUST HAVE CONSIDERED IT IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO PASS ON.  
WHEN I THINK OF MUSTARD SEEDS, BEING A 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN, THE FIRST THOUGHT THAT COMES TO MIND IS A JAR OF MUSTARD – THE YELLOW KIND, MADE OF A MIXTURE OF GROUND UP MUSTARD SEEDS, VINEGAR, AND  SOME SPICES, THE KIND YOU PUT ON HOT DOGS AT THE BALL PARK OR ON THE FOURTH OF JULY.  YOU MAY HAVE A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT IDEA IN YOUR HEAD – MAYBE GREY POUPON?  AND IF I GO DEEPER INTO MY THOUGHT PROCESSES, I THINK OF MUSTARD  GREENS, WHICH ARE KIND OF LIKE SPINACH, ONLY HAVE MORE FLAVOR AND ARE A LOT TOUGHER.  BUT MUSTARD PLANTS DON'T GROW AROUND HERE MUCH.  
WHEN JOAN AND I LIVED IN BUFFALO, WE HAD A PEAR TREE IN OUR BACK YARD.  IT WAS VERY PROLIFIC.  SOMETIME IN LATE AUGUST IT WOULD BEGIN TO DROP RIPE PEARS AND THESE WOULD ATTRACT WASPS AND BEES, AND ALL IN ALL IT WAS A  MESS.  ONE YEAR WE STARTED PICKING THE PEARS AS SOON AS THEY WERE RIPE.  WE MADE PEAR SAUCE, PEAR LEATHER, AND ANYTHING ELSE WE COULD DO WITH PEARS, BUT ONCE WE DID ALL THIS, WE HAD  ENOUGH PEAR STUFF TO LAST A FEW SEASONS.  THE NEXT YEAR WE PICKED THE PEARS AND TRIED TO GIVE THEM AWAY, BUT NO ONE REALLY LIKES PEARS ALL THAT MUCH . WE HAD A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PEAR TREE – WE APPRECIATED ITS GENEROSITY, BUT THERE COULD BE TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING.  I KNOW GARDENERS WHO'VE HAD THE SAME EXPERIENCE WITH ZUCCHINI OR TOMATOES.  TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING.
THE PEOPLE IN JESUS TIME HAD THE SAME ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE MUSTARD PLANT.  NOBODY GREW THE STUFF ON PURPOSE.  IT GREW  ALL OVER THE PLACE, LIKE A WEED, AND IT GREW RAPIDLY, FASTER THAN MOST OTHER PLANTS.  AND PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY THE VERY POOR, COULD EAT THE TENDER GREENS.  THE SEEDS WERE NOT USED AT ALL.   BIRDS, FOR SOME REASON,  ARE ATTRACTED TO MUSTARD PLANTS BECAUSE THEY LOVE THE SEEDS.
SO THE MUSTARD PLANT WHICH GREW VERY RAPIDLY, WAS A  MIXED BLESSING.  SURE, YOU COULD EAT THE GREENS, BUT IF YOU WERE A  FARMER AND THE PLANTS  SPRANG UP IN YOUR WHEAT OR BARLEY FIELD IT WASN'T GOOD.  NOT ONLY DID THE MUSTARD CROWD OUT THE WHEAT, BUT THE BIRDS IT ATTRACTED WOULD GO AFTER THE WHEAT THAT WAS JUST BEGINNING TO GERMINATE.  FARMERS GENERALLY PULLED UP ALL THE MUSTARD PLANTS THAT GREW WILD IN THEIR FIELDS.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN US, JESUS SAID.  WHEN WE ARE BAPTIZED, THE SEEDS OF THE KINGDOM ARE PLANTED IN US.  MOST OF US WHO ARE CHRISTIAN, WHO COME TO CHURCH, WHO TRY TO LEAD GOOD LIVES, ARE OK WITH A FEW MUSTARD PLANTS, BUT WE LIKE OUR KINGDOM IN SMALL DOSES.  BECAUSE IF WE AREN'T CAREFUL, THE KINGDOM WITHIN US WILL BEGIN TO CROWD OUT OUR OWN DESIRES, OUR OWN PLANS, AND IF WE AREN'T CAREFUL, WE WORRY THAT WE'LL END UP LIKE MOTHER THERESA OR SAINT FRANCIS, OR ONE OF THOSE OTHER SAINTS WE KEEP HEARING ABOUT, SOMEONE WHO GENUINELY LIVES NOT FOR HIMSELF OR HERSELF BUT FOR GOD AND FOR HIS NEIGHBOR.  SO WHEN WE SEE LITTLE SPROUTS OF THE KINGDOM POPPING UP IN OUR GARDEN, WE PULL THEM UP AND CAST THEM ASIDE.  THAT WAY WE REMAIN IN CONTROL; WHAT WE HAVE PLANTED WILL COME TO HARVEST.  BUT GOD KEEPS TRYING; HE KEEPS PUTTING THOSE IMPULSES IN US, THOSE DESIRES TO BE MORE GENEROUS WITH OUR TIME AND OUR TREASURE.  HE PROMPTS US TO SPEAK UP AND TO ACT WHEN THERE ARE THREATS TO THE LIFE AND DIGNITY OF HUMAN BEINGS, LIKE ABORTION AND DOCTOR-ASSISTED SUICIDE.  HE CALLS US TO WORK FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, ESPECIALLY IN HOW WE VOTE.  HE GIVES US OUR CHURCH SO THAT WE HAVE ACCESS TO TRUTH.  BECAUSE IF THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS  EVER TO BE REALIZED ON THIS EARTH, AND IT WILL, IT HAS TO FIRST BE REALIZED IN YOUR HEART AND MINE.  GOD USES US TO CARRY OUT HIS WILL.  MOST OF US LET A LITTLE MUSTARD GROW, BUT NOT TOO MUCH; A VERY FEW STAND BACK AND LET IT GROW WILD, AND SAY, “HERE I AM, LORD, I COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” THEY SAY WITH MARY OUR MOTHER, “BE IT DONE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WILL.”
BEFORE JESUS TELLS US THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED, HE TELLS US ABOUT THE SEED THAT THE FARMER PLANTS, AND  THEN COMES  BACK LATER TO THE HARVEST, AND IN BETWEEN IT'S  ALL MYSTERY.  THE FARMER DOESN'T KNOW WHAT GOES ON, EXCEPT THAT SOMEHOW THE HARVEST WILL HAPPEN.  AND  THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL HAPPEN SOONER OR LATER, JESUS PROMISED THAT, WE REALLY CAN'T STOP IT.
BUT WE CAN SLOW IT DOWN, WE CAN PUT ROAD  BLOCKS UP, WE CAN PULL UP THE MUSTARD PLANTS BEFORE THEY GET BIG ENOUGH TO ATTRACT BIRDS AND CROWD OUT WHAT WE WANT TO GROW.
I THINK IT'S INTERESTING THAT IN OUR FIRST READING, EZECHIEL IMAGINES THE KINGDOM TO BE LIKE A MAJESTIC CEDAR TREE ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN.  IT'S WAY UP THERE, BEING MAGNIFICENT AND SHELTERING BIRDS, BUT WE ARE DOWN HERE, NOT HAVING TO BE BOTHERED BY IT IF WE DON'T WANT TO.  BUT  JESUS IMAGINES THE KINGDOM AS A NUISANCE PLANT, A WEED, WHICH COMES INTO OUR SAFE AND PREDICTABLE LIVES AND BOTHERS US.  WE CAN FIGHT IT OR LET IT TAKE OVER, BUT WE CAN'T IGNORE IT.
ONCE JESUS SAID, “I HAVE COME TO BRING FIRE ON THE EARTH AND HOW I WISH IT WERE ALREADY KINDLED!”  IN YOU AND I THERE IS THE POTENTIAL TO  SET THE WORLD ON FIRE, TO LET OUR SAFE AND PREDICTABLE GARDEN BE TAKEN OVER BY WILD MUSTARD, WHICH GROWS TO BECOME THE  LARGEST OF BUSHES.  AND OUR MEDITATION SHOULD BE, HOW ARE WE HOLDING BACK THE KINGDOM OF GOD WITHIN US AND IN THE WORLD AROUND US?