What might be the meaning of these parables about seeds? (Mark 4:26-34) In all of these agricultural parables that open this teaching sequence in Mark’s Gospel, we are struck with the hope and power of seeds. Certainly a farmer is necessary to sow the seeds, work the fields and gather the harvest, but it is the power of seeds and soil that perform the magic, transforming scarcity into abundance and turning ridiculously small beginnings into transforming and powerful ends. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is much like this. Its beginning is not impressive… just an itinerant preacher talking with peasants in a small country on the backside of the Roman Empire. This is the mustard seed phase of the Kingdom. But somehow, hidden from the sight and input of humankind, God transforms such humble beginnings into the greatest power ever unleashed upon human history. God’s small, germinating kingdom seeds have begun to sprout!
- Deacon Robert
“Virtue demands courage, constant effort, and
above all, help from on high.”
~ Thoughts of the Cure D’Ars
