11th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)
Sunday 16 June 2024
Mk 4:26-34
“Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how”.
(Mk 4:26-27)
This simple phrase from the Master gives us the idea of the intrinsic force of the Kingdom of God which grows, independently from our observations or interventions. If we look around us, we find that this principle is the same in life, with its generosity and spontaneity. After all, the Kingdom of God is the kingdom of Life. As Jesus says, it is enough to throw a seed on the ground for something to grow… Yes, because an initial seed is needed to give life to reality. Without this, nothing is born. Of course, in another Gospel passage, Jesus compares the seed to the Word of God. It has the intrinsic virtue of being simple, direct and understandable: Jesus uses parables, examples to render the Gospel message closer to our reality. Regularly reading the Word of God, alone or in a family context, makes us increasingly aware of the promises of the Lord for us, and passes the seed of the mentality of God’s Kingdom to us. And so, little by little, and with spontaneity, we acquire criteria for evangelical judgement, which break down the structures of the mentality of the world.
Therefore, it isn’t enough to just hear the Gospel once a week. It is better for us to read a passage of Scripture every day, in order to allow the spontaneity of the Kingdom to work in us. Let’s remind ourselves of what Jesus Himself tells us: “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4).
Fr. Giuseppe
