Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Freddie Figgers is an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a telecoms millionaire. His present net worth is close to a billion dollars. This story is not about him but the people who are responsible for his success – Nathan Figgers, a maintenance worker and his wife, Betty Mae Figgers, a farm worker. They picked up Freddie near a dumpster when he was two days old. He had been abandoned as a newborn baby in Quincy, North Florida.
When Freddie was eight years old, he asked his father about the circumstances of his birth. Nathan was straightforward and blunt. He said, “Listen I'm going to shoot it to you straight, Fred. When you were two days old, your biological mother threw you away, and me and Betty Mae, we didn't want to send you through foster care, and we adopted you. You are my son." Freddy became distraught and overwhelmed. When his father told him the truth, Freddie said, “OK I'm trash.” Nathan grabbed his shoulder and said, “Listen, don't you ever let that bother you."
Nathan and Betty Mae gave Freddie all the love he could ever want - but other children were cruel and he was bullied at school. He was often called, “Dumpster baby,” “Trash can boy.” They said to him, “Nobody wants you,” and “You're dirty".
As Freddie grew up, he began to show an extraordinary interest in computers. Finally, one day when Freddie was nine, father and son went into a Goodwill store, where they came across a broken Macintosh computer. After some bargaining the store sold it to Freddie for $24. The rest is history.
Later, Nathan and Betty Mae became Freddie’s heroes. He says, “I saw my father always helping people. He would stop on the side of the road to help strangers and feed the homeless. He was an incredible man, and for them to take me in and raise me, that's the man I want to be like."
I would like to use Nathan and Betty Mae’s story in light of today’s scripture readings. The gospel reading narrates two of Jesus’ parables of the kingdom of God. In my first two points I will reflect on the nature and reality of the kingdom of God, and in the third point draw some practical implications. I will return to Nathan and Betty Mae’s story to draw these practical implications.
Israel – God’s Own Kingdom
Today’s first reading from Ezekiel is all together three verses. In them we hear God say, “I bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, whither up the green tree, and make the dry tree bloom” (Ez 17:24). It is a reference to the rebuilding of Israel after the Babylonian exile. This was the lowest point in Israel’s history. God would rebuild the Davidic Kingdom from ruins so that all the nations would realize that it is God who determines human destiny. God’s actions on behalf of Israel after the exile reminded Israel that it existed not by its own merits but by God’s magnanimity. God did not choose Israel because of its power, wealth, or greatness. Israel was the smallest of peoples, powerless, and a slave people. It became a kingdom by virtue of God’s goodness and power. Israel was God’s kingdom - in the sense that it was the kingdom by which God’s wisdom, power, and glory would be manifested.
Surprisingly, when Jesus began his ministry, he began it with the words, “The kingdom of God is at hand!” (Mk 1:15). Today, we understand these words to mean that Jesus not only ushered in a time of grace for Israel, but that in Jesus, the kingdom of God was present to them in a way that it never was before. Jesus was the personification of the kingdom of God. Jesus would reveal God’s glory and invite Israel to unite themselves with the kingdom of God he came to inaugurate.
Parables of the Kingdom
Jesus revealed the fullness of God’s kingdom. In today’s gospel reading we hear two parables about the kingdom of God (Mk 4:34). Jesus used parables because the kingdom of God is unlike earthly kingdoms. Earthly kingdoms are limited in space, time, and history. Kings come and go, and kingdoms come and go. The kingdom of God is eternal and defies space and time. Nobody observes it, but it grows just like a seed that sprouts overnight and finally bears fruit that can be harvested (Mk 4:26-29). It is like a tiny mustard seed (Mk 4:31-32). That one small seed can take over a large piece of land rapidly. It is not necessarily the largest bush, but in Jesus’ time, people did not let mustard spread in their yards because before one realized it, the entire yard could be mustard bushes. Even birds could begin nesting in them.
If Jesus was trying to teach a lesson from these parables, what could it be? Jesus was teaching that even though no one could perceive it, God’s intervention in human history in the person of Jesus Christ was definite and real. In this sense, the “kingdom of God was at hand!” (Mt 4:17). In other words, just as real and definitive is a seed sprouting, growing, bearing fruit, and finally being harvested; just as real and definitive is a small mustard seed taking over an entire space, so real and definitive is the presence of God that Jesus unleashed in the world. In Jesus, quite unobserved, the kingdom of God spread like a tiny mustard seed that takes over a piece of land. Like the birds that find shelter in the mustard bushes, people can find refuge in God’s kingdom.
The Kingdom Revolution
Let me draw some practical implications. First, the kingdom of God has a life of its own. It will either pass us by or we can become actors on behalf on the kingdom of God. Here I want to return to the Figgers story. A maintenance worker and a farm worker take home a baby they found near a dumpster. “You are my son,” Nathan said to Freddie. This story is a great analogy for the kingdom of God. There are people in the world whose life imitates the God of Israel. God picked up the helpless and powerless Israel and Nathan and Betty Mae picked up the helpless and powerless Freddie. This is what the kingdom of God is like – ordinary people living the life of God. They go unnoticed, they go unrecognized, they get overlooked. But as sure as the kingdom of God, as a seed sprouting, they are there giving refuge to all. As we stand before God today, I hope we can be counted among people of the kingdom like Nathan and Betty Mae. I hope we are living the life of God. I hope we are the people in whom others find refuge, hope, goodness, kindness, compassion and love. I hope are living the life of God. I hope we are people of God’s kingdom.
Second, Jesus is the mustard seed that began the kingdom revolution. One solitary life transformed human history. Nathan and Betty Mae were mustard seeds. Talking about his father Freddie said, “That’s the man I want to be like!” The mustard bush was growing and spreading. Like Nathan and Bettie Mae, like Jesus, we too are mustard seeds. Within each one of us lies tremendous power – the spirit of the risen Jesus. Like that one mustard seed that can take over a yard, we carry within us the potential to influence our surroundings, the people in our circle, our homes, our workplaces our parish and neighborhood communities. Jesus invites us today to join hands with him to transform the world into the kingdom of God. With Jesus, let us live the life of God. One solitary life; one mustard seed; just you and just me; that is all it takes.
Every Eucharist is a celebration of the kingdom of God. Here we gather to be empowered by the presence of Christ. Having received his Body and Blood, let us go out into the world to build the kingdom of God.
- Fr. Satish Joseph