The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the perspective of the long human journey to live in the mystery of God.
Growth in Good Time
The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews declares that we need endurance.
* [10:37–38] In support of his argument, the author uses Hb 2:3–4 in a wording almost identical with the text of the Codex Alexandrinus of the Septuagint but with the first and second lines of Heb 10:4 inverted. He introduces it with a few words from Is 26:20: after just a brief moment. Note the Pauline usage of Hb 2:4 in Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11.1
Psalm 37 is an exhortation to patience and trust.
* [Psalm 37] The Psalm responds to the problem of evil, which the Old Testament often expresses as a question: why do the wicked prosper and the good suffer? The Psalm answers that the situation is only temporary. God will reverse things, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked here on earth. The perspective is concrete and earthbound: people’s very actions place them among the ranks of the good or wicked. Each group or “way” has its own inherent dynamism—eventual frustration for the wicked, eventual reward for the just. The Psalm is an acrostic, i.e., each section begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section has its own imagery and logic.2
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus teaches in parables, including the Growing Seed.
* [4:26–29] Only Mark records the parable of the seed’s growth. Sower and harvester are the same. The emphasis is on the power of the seed to grow of itself without human intervention (Mk 4:27). Mysteriously it produces blade and ear and full grain (Mk 4:28). Thus the kingdom of God initiated by Jesus in proclaiming the word develops quietly yet powerfully until it is fully established by him at the final judgment (Mk 4:29); cf. Rev 14:15.3
Mary Lee Brock notes that the first reading from Hebrews offers a reminder to stay strong in our faith: “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.”
I feel a sense of peace that I am like one of the birds of the sky feeling the comfort of the shade of the mustard tree. Today I pray for the grace to see and receive what God has promised. I ask for help in deepening my trust in the teachings of Jesus. As I strive to serve the kingdom of God, I look for ways to be shelter for others as an ally, advocate, neighbor and friend.4
Don Schwager quotes “God gave us what was most precious,” by Isaac of Nineveh (a Syrian monk, teacher, and bishop), 613-700 A.D.
"The sum of all is God, the Lord of all, who from love of his creatures has delivered his Son to death on the cross. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for it. Not that he was unable to save us in another way, but in this way it was possible to show us his abundant love abundantly, namely, by bringing us near to him by the death of his Son. If he had anything more dear to him, he would have given it to us, in order that by it our race might be his. And out of his great love he did not even choose to urge our freedom by compulsion, though he was able to do so. But his aim was that we should come near to him by the love of our mind. And our Lord obeyed his Father out of love for us." (excerpt from ASCETICAL HOMILY 74.28)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 4:26-34 asks why did Jesus use a mustard seed as an analogy for the kingdom of God? Perhaps because he knew that God often works by planting a tiny seed of an idea in our hearts, which then grows into something big through the action of the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps Jesus has planted a tiny mustard seed in your heart or in the heart of someone you know and trust. If so, as you bring the idea to prayer, consider what the next step might be. Is there some small action you can do to start things off? As you follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, you might be surprised to see this little seed grow. You might even witness something amazing happen from that tiny seed of faith! “Jesus, help me be open to the ideas you plant in my heart.”6
Friar Jude Winkler comments that the audience for the letter to the Hebrews was encouraged to consider what they had already suffered for the faith. In the Mystery of God, our faith and the Kingdom grow in God’s time. Friar Jude reminds us that frustration with the progress of the community needs to be tempered as we are on a journey in the mystery of God.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that once we know that the entire physical world around us, all of creation, is both the hiding place and the revelation place for God, this world becomes home, safe, enchanted, offering grace to any who look deeply. He calls that kind of deep and calm seeing “contemplation.”
In the Franciscan tradition, John Duns Scotus (1266–1308) developed the doctrine of the univocity of being. He believed we could speak “with one voice” (univocity) of the being of waters, plants, animals, humans, angels, and God. God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4), and thus reality is one too (Ephesians 4:3–5). We are all part of The Story of Being. Author, lawyer, and activist Sherri Mitchell shares a similar and even more ancient perspective held by Native peoples. They do not use the word Christ, but within The Story, the universal patterns hold. She writes: We all originate from the same divine source. . . . Sadly, there will also be times when we will lose sight of this basic fact. During those times, we will become lost in the unfolding stories of our own individualized realities. [1]7
Sheri Mitchell invites us to be aware of the expanded kinship networks that surround us, which include other human beings along with the beings of the land, water, and air, and the plants, trees, and all remaining unseen beings that exist within our universe. In God’s time, our faith and witness will support, like the mustard plant, the journey of humanity to fullness of life.
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