Homily 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B I 16 June 2024 I Homily 16 June 2024 Year B

 

My dear friends today we celebrate the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B. The first reading taken from the prophet Ezekiel is an allegory set at the time of the exile. The allegory in the preceding verses deals with the nation of Judah represented by the cedar tree and its rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, by siding with Egypt, both of whom are represented by eagles. Amidst political and social turmoil, Ezekiel proclaimed God’s promise of salvation - God will take a clipping from a cedar tree and plant it in a safe place high on a mountain. There it will grow mightily, and birds will live in its branches. All the other trees in the surrounding field will know about this cedar and the God who planted it. This is a Messianic prophecy, which promises that the Messiah’s kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom. Though it will start small and insignificant, like a tender sprig, it will grow and bear branches, and birds of every sort will make their nest in it.

God’s direct intervention and initiative are emphasized in this allegory. The kingdom of God is not based on pride and human work. Unlike the great kingdoms of this world - the Assyrians, the Babylonians - God’s kingdom will never end. No longer are the eagles or the world leaders the active agents; the Lord God will now act. Even though the people of Israel, by their sins, have given Yahweh every right to cancel the covenant, He forgives their idolatry and unfaithfulness and chooses them to be a blessing to others.

The reference to “winged creatures of every kind” refers to people outside the Jewish community - the Gentiles. and “all the trees of the field” is a metaphor for all the people of the world. King Zedekiah, the king of Judah, did not trust Yahweh and turned to Egypt instead, in an attempt to form an alliance to protect the nation against Babylon. Quite often in our lives, we too behave like the kingdom of Judah. God says that if we listen to Him and be content with His ways we will have nothing to worry about. but we often place our trust in the things of the world. We spend our energy on earning money, investments, luxuries and relationships oblivious to the fact that these are not our true allies. As we have seen from the result of the Indian Elections, political powers were never permanent and will never be permanent. The only constant in this world is the kingdom of God.

The second reading taken from the second letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians continues from last weekend’s reading. Paul has been looking forward to eternal gains rather than earthly gains.  He has seen the risen Lord, but is now “absent from the Lord.” and longs to see Christ again. Paul asserts that we can be confident in all circumstances, whether we are “at home” or “away” from either “the body” or “the Lord.” Our belief is our faith. Paul suggests that we are to make our place on earth as much like Heaven as we can. Our real citizenship lies in the Kingdom of God, and we are here on earth merely as travellers. Our calling is to make the area around us a little more like Heaven. Death is a source of anxiety and concern for all people. Yet for Christians, we are reminded by Paul that death is not the end and that we can have confidence in the hope of resurrection. This hope gives us courage in the present. For Paul, this meant that amid his suffering and weakness, he could hold onto hope for the future. However, belief in the resurrection isn’t just a concept, it shapes our reality. Wherever Paul is, he aspires to be well pleasing to the Lord. Likewise, he instructs us to live lives that please the Lord by living in light of the resurrection day by day. What we do and how we relate to each other here on earth matters as Jesus will easily separate the goats from the sheep.

In the gospel taken from Mark, we see Jesus’ parables about the seed and the kingdom of God resonate with the themes found in Ezekiel. The first parable is a story of sowing and harvesting, a story about natural progression and fruitfulness. Just like the parable of the sower, this parable teaches us not to dwell too much about the outcome of our sowing as we cannot control what happens after the seed is sown. The result is not as important as the effort. I remember the story of a child who was given a science project in school. He had to plant a few seeds and monitor how quickly they grew. However, even after several days, the teacher realized that the child’s seeds had not sprouted. She asked the child, “Could you tell me how you are doing the project?” The child answered, “I water the seeds and after some time I dig up the soil to check if they have sprouted.” The parable of the growing seeds encourages us to have faith and patience in the plans of God. The image of the sickle and harvest is a traditional image for judgment. The implication is that God will manage the harvest - judgement belongs to God alone.

The second parable illustrates the growth of the kingdom from something hidden and minute to something fully visible. This kingdom will grow from the smallest of all seeds to the largest of all shrubs. It grows mysteriously on its own not according to our timeline but according to God‘s timeline. Interestingly, in contrast to Ezekiel, Jesus doesn’t use a noble cedar to refer to the kingdom of God, but rather, a lowly mustard plant, which starts from a tiny seed. This would have been quite amusing to the crowds who were familiar with Ezekiel’s famous passage. ‘Why compare the kingdom of God to a mustard plant?’ One way of interpreting this is that this little mustard seed is Jesus himself. Jesus was not the Messiah that people expected. He was not a king or a soldier or a religious leader, he was a simple carpenter. He was not a noble cedar, but a lowly mustard plant. However, it was this small mustard plant that changed the world.

The readings today give us a lot of food for thought. Though we may feel as though all our efforts are going in vain, the seed is silently sprouting underground. And it doesn’t matter when the tree bears fruit or how much fruit it bears, what matters is that we have done our work of sowing, faithfully. Having said that, will the Kingdom of God always be welcomed by all? Surely not. The kingdom of God results in socio-economic changes and therefore will always be opposed by some. However, it keeps growing in God's own time.

Saint Teresa of Ávila, in her spiritual classic “Interior Castle,” reminds us that the growth of the spiritual seed within us requires nurturing through prayer and meditation. She encourages believers to cultivate an interior life where this seed can flourish. I pray that each one of us diligently and faithfully undertakes the task of sowing the seeds that the Lord has invited us to. May God bless us all.