Gospel Mark 4:26–34
When you pray in faith but don’t immediately see results, remember what Jesus revealed to us in this Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Mustard Seed.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus employed two agrarian images represented in the Parable of the sower (which is, by the way, the second parable of the sower. The first was the Parable of the Sower who sowed, with the seeds falling on the different categories of soils – the path, among patches of rocks, among thorns, and the good soil c/f Mk 4:1-20), and the Parable of the Mustard Seed.
The Unified Message of Today’s Parables
Both Parables given in today’s account are intended to communicate one message namely: that building of the Kingdom of God and its growth is absolutely engineered by God’s grace. I would like us to pay attention to the descriptive details given by Jesus:
- The man scatters the seed on the land
- Goes to sleep, rises night and day
- The seed sprouts and grows
- He knows not how
- …And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.
Therefore, the Kingdom of God does not depend on our anxiety, or how we micromanage or try to control it. No! Rather, God’s Kingdom requires patience because it operates quietly; and often appears hidden – like the seed in the soil; or insignificant – like the mustard seed.
What Is Hidden Beneath the Surface
Therefore, the Kingdom of God does not depend on our anxiety, or how we micromanage or try to control it. No! Rather, God’s Kingdom requires patience because it operates quietly; and often appears hidden – like the seed in the soil; or insignificant – like the mustard seed.
So, we should not expect instant/automatic results. For instance, we evaluate ourselves using the following scale:
- What is the point to keep praying if my prayers are not answered?
- I had made a resolution, promising God/myself to outgrow this bad habit or habitual sin; but I do not feel that anything is really happening. My effort does not seem to make any difference.
- I do not seem to notice any changes in my person from the previous year. It seems that I am stagnated in my spiritual growth/journey.
- Trying to live by the Gospel values of forgiving the same person again and again seems like a futile effort.
- Or maybe feeling unnoticed when we do/give our best at work or in the family seems like a waste of time.
Let us not get discouraged, especially when we do not see the results that we expect. Let us not try to worsen the situation by forcing change or growth. Let us just entrust everything to God and His grace will bring about the beautiful, peaceful growth that we desire.
Let Us Trust That Something Is Still Happening
Just as the farmer did not force the growth of the seeds by digging it up every morning to see why it has not sprouted yet, or stand over the soil to fuss at it, let us trust that something is still happening beneath the surface of our lives that we cannot physically see. Just as the tiny mustard seed – insignificant in size and laughably small, yet it became the largest plant to accommodate all sorts of birds – big and small, strong and weak. This parable goes to show that there is room for everyone in God’s Kingdom. Everyone is important to God.
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