GROWTH IN SEASON AND PERSEVERANCE IN UNSEASONED

We are in the eleventh Sunday in ordinary time, the reading of today are agro in nature. In the first reading taken from Ezekiel 17:22-24 God is promising Israel that He will plant a shoot taken from tall cedar tree on the high mountain (Jerusalem) in Israel which will grow like a mighty cedar tree to give shade to all people and rest to birds of the air. This shoot refers to future king of Israel, messiah, (Jesus) whose shoot will be brought out from the tribe of Judah and will be planted in Jerusalem. “Every tree of the field will know that I am the Lord. I bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree…” (Ezek 17:24) refers to neighbouring nations and its kings who have grown tall and are subjugating Israel. They will witness the humble rising of new king in Jerusalem. The beginnings of this king will be unnoticed as He will not be born in high places. During the time of Jesus, Israel itself was considered to be people of lowliness, from whom the world cannot expect anything worth and good. In this context the slow, humble and unnoticed rising of King in Israel will shame their high places. The negligence of God to give His son to be born in their royal places will shame their high places and prestige. On that day the lowly Israel will rejoice for the fidelity that God has shown and the mighty honour that He imparts with the birth of His son. Today, we know that this prophecy is being fulfilled in Jesus, whose birth was in humble manger, unnoticed even by many Israelites. As the tree planted on the mountain gives rest to all people, even to surrounding nations, the message of Jesus started captivating the world from Jerusalem – the disciples proclaimed the good news beginning from Jerusalem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem from the tribe of Judah, planted His kingdom in Jerusalem on the cross and diffused His spirit to all over the world from Jerusalem.

In the gospel (Mk 4:26-34), Jesus compares kingdom of God to two parables. In both the parables, kingdom is like a small seed which will give birth to high tree and good and rich harvest. The first reading tells Jesus as the shoot who will be planted in Jerusalem to become a high and tall cedar tree. In the gospel, Jesus, the messiah, the predicted king has come, but still He speaks of shoot or seed that will give birth to high tree and rich harvest. This seems to confuse our understanding of Ezekiel prophecy, but it is not so. Jesus, will give rest to people of all nations not by Himself but through the establishment of His kingdom. From Jerusalem, the branches of Jesus will set out to capture and give shade to all over the world. These parables also make Jesus’ audience to reread the prophecy of Ezekiel. Their expectation of militant messiah whose advent will destroy the enemies and set up His kingdom is wrong. The rising of messiah will not be annihilation to others; it will be a humble beginning. The messiah’s subjugating of other nations is not through weapons and armour but through love. All kings on the earth capture the world with their mighty power, with their plans devised and crafted in their mind that is constantly being prickled by their desire in their heart to oppress others or rule others. On the contrary, the king of Israel will set out to capture the hearts of other rulers. Jesus is capturing the prime place in human person – the heart, which leads one to devise plans and execute them.  

In the parables the growth and development of seed is not bothered by the sower. The seed grows by itself with the natural help of land, water, season… this shows the reality of God’s kingdom that Jesus is commencing, rather sowing. Jesus shows His message of love into the hearts of people. After the sowing, the seed gets grow in man according to his/her capacity – good land, thorny bush, road way, stone. In this process of growth, the sower is silent. In the event, where Jesus was sleeping on the boat is a parable in action. That event occurred just after Jesus had sown His message of having trust in God and in Him at every moment. In that stormy occasion Jesus allowed His message to grow in the heart of disciple. He expected them to bear fruit. This parable of seed growing in silence is very relevant today as we are being battled with darkness that shatters our message of hope. The deadly virus and the cloudiness that has resulted from it baffle our faith. Let the readings of today make us see the silence of God in these difficult moments as sower who awaits the harvest after being sown the seed. The indifference of sower is not uncare towards the seed sown, it a space given for the seed to find it’s proper place in the land, a space given to use one’s freedom to bring the expected fruit that is hidden in the seed. God has sown the necessary into our hearts to bear abundant fruit in the end. The only misery is; how do we persevere between the sowing and the reaping? In this process of perseverance the seed should not get rotten and annihilated. Our duty is to proceed toward bearing fruit, let us not spoil the seed in unseasoned time. The season to prosperity will soon come. Growth in season and perseverance in unseasoned is the stability of the seed sown. What is our stability?