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Gospel: Matthew 13: 31-35
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.”
He spoke to them another parable.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened.”
All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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One of the most difficult things about having faith in God is talking about it. When someone without faith asks us, “Why do you believe?” Often we are left tongue-tied, as if no answer is sufficient.
Faith is deeply personal, residing in the most secretive part of ourselves, where we ponder, hope, question, and dream. It can feel like a place beyond reason – to the point that, often our most honest answer boils down to something like:
“You just have to experience it.”
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I wonder if Jesus felt the same thing when trying to talk about God. How could he distill the great mysteries of the universe into language that people could understand?
Ultimately, he turned to parables.
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed; a pinch of yeast; a treasure buried in a field; a lost coin.
Each parable points to an eternal truth, bridging the gap between the mind of God and the mind of man.
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In the case the mustard seed or a pinch of yeast, neither is worth much on its own.
But when the seed works in tandem with the soil, it becomes the largest of bushes. When the yeast is mixed with flour, it turns to bread – enough to feed a family, even a village.
So, what might Jesus be trying to say to us?
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God desires to transform our world from a dark and gloomy waste into an extension of his kingdom. But, like a seed in soil, or yeast mixed with wheat, we must work in tandem with grace.
Together, we can turn this world into what it was created to be – a place where God is found – just beneath the surface, hidden in you and me.
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Image credits: (1) Knit Pray Share (2) The Sermon on the Mount, Carl Bloch (3) Catholic Preaching