Mark 4:26 --34
When I was growing up I had several
uncles who were farmers. Most of the time they planted wheat. In
the fall they would plant “winter wheat”, a hardy variety that
actually came to maturity in the spring; and then they would plant
“summer wheat” a fast-growing variety that could be harvested in
the fall. Although they had chickens and pigs and an occasional cow,
they really relied on the wheat crops to make most of their income.
This was “dry land” farming. Some areas, close to rivers and
streams, could be irrigated with diverted water, but my uncles pretty
much depended on rain. And that meant that there were years where
the summer crop did not come through – from drought, sometimes, and
hail other times. The winter wheat was more reliable, but wasn't
enough by itself. So I witnessed the kind of anxiety Jesus was
talking about, especially as the season progressed. My uncles would
walk the fields, looking at the growth, trying to see promising
signs; and when the wheat was almost ready to harvest, they would
look to the skies, knowing that rain could delay and hail could ruin
the harvest. Being a dryland farmer was very exciting. But a day
would come most years when they would get the crop in and clean up
the equipment and rest for a while.
Jesus tells us about the kingdom of
heaven with two parables. One is the parable of the anxious farmer,
and the other, the parable of the mustard seed. And we are invited,
I guess, to see ourselves in these little stories.
In the story of the anxious farmer, Is
that you and I? Is Jesus telling us to sew good seed and count on
God to bring it to fruition? The farmer, after all, knows not how
the seed would sprout and grow. Perhaps that is a good lesson. But
maybe we are the farmer who recognizes when the crop is ready to
harvest, and we devote our energies to harvesting. I like that image
a bit better. Because all around us, as Jesus told us in another
parable, “the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few”. In
our modern times we are too diffident; we have been given the Church,
the scriptures, teachers like Pope Francis – and all of us because
of what we have been given can recognize when the Holy Spirit is
moving among those around us. Jesus told his disciples that they
would be fishers of men, that they should go into all the world
teaching and baptizing. And all of us have been given the
opportunity to be men and women of mission, people who should be
anxiously looking for signs that the harvest is ready, and then
gently and with love, helping our friends to become closer to the
Lord, to deepen their relationship with the Lord. We are not
expected to make the kingdom come; that's God's work, that's the
soil, that's the part where we don't understand what is happening.
But we are supposed to be there at the harvest, we are supposed to be
the harvesters.
And the story of the mustard seed.
Mark puts these two stories together, and there are similarities.
Just as the farmer doesn't know how seeds grow, we don't know how a
mustard seed gets to be a big plant with birds nests in it. But
Jesus says we can learn something about the kingdom from
contemplating a mustard seed. I think the key words here are “Once
it is sewn”. The mustard seed is full of potential, it just needs
the opportunity, the right circumstances. And maybe that's our
lesson as well. The kingdom, after all, is where everyone is given
the opportunity to become the best version of themselves that they
can, as Matthew Kelly is always preaching. But we all know that
becoming the best version of oneself requires three things: first,
you have to have an idea of what that looks like. If in my case I
thought the best version of myself should be a racing jockey, I'm
probably not being realistic. We have to look at what we have been
given by God and how we can grow those talents and virtues. Second,
we need to have the desire to make ourselves over, with God's help,
to be this best version. And third, we need the means. If I am in
the business of sewing mustard seeds, and we all are, because we are
a community, how are we encouraging each other to be the best
versions of themselves? I think especially of our young people, the
future of the church. I think of young parents, who have it in their
power to become domestic churches, bringing up their children to be
faithful Catholic Christians, but who more often than not have very
little involvement in the Church – and we all know that children
who grow up in these kinds of homes are probably not going to have
anything to do with the Church when they become adults. I don't know
why, but God, who promises that if the mustard seed is sewn, he will
do the rest, has decided to let his people do the sewing, and we
aren't doing it very well. So this is a good Sunday to ask those
questions. Is the way I live my life showing my neighbors, my
family, my friends, what it is like to be faithful? Am I praying for
those I love that they will catch fire and find in themselves the
desire to become the best version of themselves they can be? And
what am I doing materially to help people realize their true
potential? Am I working with some ministry that directs its energies
along these lines? Am I supporting such efforts with part of my
charitable giving? How am I sewing mustard seeds?
That's what Christianity is about,
after all.
