As Christians we do better to see ourselves as the mustard seed – small, childlike, humble, and trusting.

 
Reading: Again, he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?  It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Luke 4:30.
 
Good morning, happy Friday, and many blessings my dear family.
 
In today’s Gospel (Mark 4:26-34) Jesus continues to talk about the Kingdom of God. The image
He uses in today’s Gospel is the image of seeds and how they grow. He tells his disciples the parable of the sower and the seed. We know the story well. The farmer scatters the seed and then patiently waits for it to sprout and grow. The farmer trusts that the seeds will do what is natural for them. He trusts that they will grow, mature, and produce fruit.

Both of these parables offer words of encouragement to a struggling Church, living in small, scattered communities and surrounded by hostile elements ready to destroy it. We today still need to have trust and confidence in the power of the Kingdom to survive and spread despite the hostility we encounter in today's society.
 
He then gives His disciples another example of what the kingdom of heaven is like. This time Jesus uses the image of the mustard seed. He tells them that the mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds. Yet when this tiny seed grows, it becomes one of the largest and most productive of all plants.

The news that the Kingdom of God was among us was the principal news that Jesus brought. This is the Good News of the Gospel. It is the news that our God is not remote and removed from us in some distant sphere. Instead, God is in our midst, active in our daily lives, offering us gifts of freedom and fullness of life.
 
Equally consoling is the second parable which also deals with growth. The smallness of the mustard seed does not prevent its becoming “the greatest of all shrubs” (an exaggeration – but this is not a lesson in botany!). Christians are frequently tempted to want to be the most numerous, most powerful, most influential religion in the world. Even if such hopes were fulfilled, this would not guarantee that the kingdom of God had come. As Christians we do better to see ourselves as the mustard seed – small, childlike, humble, and trusting.
 
Am I ready to allow the reign of God in my own life? Can I welcome God and the gifts of God, and offer God the greatest gift that I can give - my trust? Am I ready and willing to allow God to transform me?
 
Blessings,
 
Luis+