Homily: Monday in the 17th Week in Ordinary Time - Parables of Growth

In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses two parables to describe the growth of the kingdom.  The parable of the mustard seed shows that at first the kingdom of God appears very small, but from this tiny seed a great bush emerges.  Jesus describes this bush becoming so big that birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.  

Ezekiel  foretold how Israel would gather the nations like a mighty cedar gathers birds; and now Jesus uses this image to show that the Church, despite its small beginnings, will fulfill Israel’s mission—all nations, all peoples will gather in the tree of the New Israel.

The second parable continues this theme of unimpressive beginnings yielding tremendous growth.  The kingdom of heaven is likened to yeast mixed with a batch of dough.  The small amount of yeast causing the dough to expand and rise points to the way the kingdom will grow despite its inconspicuous beginnings and with a hidden dynamism like yeast in dough. 

Over the centuries the Church has experienced tremendous growth, starting out with a small number of Apostles in Jerusalem, and growing to exist in nearly every corner of the globe.  Yet, in our own day, the western world has seen a great falling away, and hearts seem unresponsive to the Gospel call. 

Pope Benedict warned Catholics to resist what he called “the temptation of impatience”, that is the temptation to insist on “immediately finding great success” in “large numbers” of converts.  “For the Kingdom of God and for evangelization, the parable of the grain of mustard seed is always valid.”  He goes on to say that this new modern phase of the Church’s evangelization mission to the secular world will not be “immediately attracting the large masses that have distanced themselves from the Church”, rather, we need “to dare, once again and with the humility of the mustard seed, to leave up to God the when and how it will grow”. 

The conversion of hearts is primarily God’s work; but that does not excuse us from going out and being his instrument.  Christians need to act as the yeast in society.  Just as the faith needs to permeate every dimension of our lives, faithful Christians need to permeate every dimension of society, bringing the Gospel into every corner of civic and family life, so that it can be transformed from within. 

So we mustn’t lose heart, because God is at work in us and in the world.  May we cooperate always with his grace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.