Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus uses two powerful images to help teach us what the Kingdom of God is. In the first image, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed. From a tiny seed, a great tree grows. Jesus ends the description of the tree by stating that “the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches” (v. 19). The quoted phrase here is a reference to Ezekiel chapter 17, where Ezekiel also uses the image of a tree—in this case a cedar tree—to talk about how God will demonstrate his power. The cedar tree planted on a hill that Ezekiel mentions is intended to represent God’s promise to restore David’s line after the Babylonian exile of Judah is over. Those who heard Ezekiel’s prophecy would have found renewed strength in the prophecy that God would renew his promise to Israel. In a similar way, the image that Jesus paints of the mustard tree gives us hope that God is present with us and that God is in the process of restoring our broken world through Jesus Christ. It also conveys the thought that a small change can have a significant effect not only in our lives but also in the lives of other people.
In the second image, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to yeast that is mixed with flour to make bread. This simile suggests that the gospel is something that has a significant effect on people. It has the power to fundamentally change people to make them better than they are to begin with. It also presents the opportunity to allow ourselves to be deeply changed through the action of God in our lives. For the woman who is baking, the working of the yeast is mysterious. Yet she knows that she can rely on the yeast to do its work to make the dough rise. Applying this image to understand Gods’ Kingdom, it is as if we are the dough and the yeast represents God’s grace in our lives which comes along to give us a boost when we badly need it.
The upshot of both images in the gospel for today is that the good news of Jesus Christ is supposed to make a difference in our lives so that we in turn can begin to make the world a better place as a result. The two images together tell us of God’s power to change us, to make us different from the way we were before. The suggestion is that we can be used by God to do things that we would never have thought possible and that the effect of our actions can spread widely beyond our own situation. In relying on God’s power then, we realize that we cannot be successful solely through our own efforts. Instead, we must rely on God’s help and on the support and encouragement of other people. Each Christian is called to allow the leaven of Jesus’ gospel message to work in us. Doing so will enable us to continue to strive to do God’s will on a daily basis in the various situations—sometimes very difficult—in which we find ourselves.
-Joel Schickel