Sunday Lectionary: God’s Green Fingers

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time: June 17th, 2012

After the feasts and solemnities of recent weeks, we finally return to the regular Sundays in Ordinary Time.  For the next few weeks, our New Testament Reading we will come from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians and, for the remainder of this year, we will be working sequentially through the Gospel of Mark.

The Readings this week make heavy use of plant imagery. So, dig out your trowel, dust off your gardening gloves and let’s get stuck in!

 

Reading I: Ezekiel 17:22-24

Our First Reading this week is the interpretive key to our Gospel Reading. However, before we can use it, we must first understand it! A little bit of background will help…

At the time of this passage, things are not good in the Holy Land. After Solomon’s death, civil war broke out and the Kingdom of David was divided into two parts: the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. The Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom and took its people into exile. The southern kingdom had its own problems, especially with King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon:

605 BC
Israel is under siege by the Babylonians. Some of the people are deported to Babylon, one of whom is the Prophet Daniel.

597 BC
Ten thousand men, together with King Jehoiachin (GEE-HOYA-KIN), are deported to Babylon. A priest by the name of Ezekiel (“God strengthens”) is part of this deportation.

Four years after entering captivity, Ezekiel is called by God to be a prophet. The people in exile are convinced that they will soon be returning home. Ezekiel disabuses them of this notion, prophesying that Jerusalem will fall and the Temple will be destroyed.

586 BC
Seven years later, Ezekiel’s prophecy comes true. The vast majority of the Judean people are taken into captivity in Babylon.

The people now come under the misapprehension that their current suffering is due to the sins of their parents. Again, Ezekiel sets them straight, pointing them very clearly to their own sin. However, through His prophet, God gives a word of encouragement to His people saying that if they repent, they will be saved.

We now come to our First Reading. God promises His people that the Davidic Dynasty will be preserved and, one day, it will become great again.

Thus says the Lord GOD: I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain; on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it. It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs. And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the LORD, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, wither up the green tree, and make the withered tree bloom. As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do.

Questions:

• What does the Lord say He will do?
• What does the “cedar” represent?
• What does the “crest” of that cedar and the “tender shoot” represent?
• To what does the “high and lofty mountain” refer?
• What does it mean to “put forth branches and bear fruit”?
• What might the “birds of every kind” represent? what does it mean for them to “dwell beneath it…in the shade of its boughs”.
• What do “all the trees of the field” represent?
• What is the lesson that God says He wishes to teach?
• How does this Reading relate to our Gospel?

Commentary:

Thus says the Lord GOD: …

The prophet is about to say something on behalf of God… (It’s noteworthy that Jesus never says this – He speaks directly with authority)

…I, too, …

It is the Lord who is going to do what is described next. He will intervene.  It is a Messianic promise.

…will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, …

The “cedar” here is the Davidic Kingdom. The “crest” is the royal house of David and the “tender shoot” is the Son of David, the heir to the throne. God promises to take this heir of David and do something great.

It is interesting to note that the Hebrew for “shoot” is “nezer” and Nazareth is the shoot of Jesse (King David’s father):

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – Isaiah 11:1

This, of course, points to Jesus.

“…and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene“ – Matthew 2:23

The use of the “branch” imagery is reminiscent of Zechariah’s prophecy:

“Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! …I will remove the sin of this land in a single day…” – Zecharaiah 3:8-9

Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord ..”- Zechariah 6:12

…and plant it on a high and lofty mountain; on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it.

The Lord will make David’s heir (“tender shoot”) King (“plant it”) in Jerusalem (“a high and lofty mountain”).

It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar.

The Kingdom will grow and be fruitful.

We may read this spiritually, seeing this verse fulfilled in the Passion. The branches are the cross and the fruit is the gift of salvation for the world.

Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs.

The world will be blessed by the Kingdom. There is an echo here of Noah’s Ark, where the animals were collected into the Ark for safety:

“…Two of every kind of bird…will come to you to be kept alive “- Genesis 6:20

In the light of the New Testament, we may see Ezekiel’s prophecy pointing towards the eventual inclusion of the Gentiles into the covenant, to benefit from the its  blessings.

And all the trees of the field…

Since the “cedar” represents the Davidic King and His Kingdom, the “trees of the field” represent the surrounding kings and their kingdoms.

…shall know that I, the LORD, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, and make the withered tree bloom.

The lesson which will be learned is that God is God. He is the one is in charge and He is the one from whom power comes:

 Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. – Psalm 127:1

The world will know that it was God who brought forth this Kingdom when all hope was lost.

As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do.

The Lord fulfills what He promises.

 

 

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16

This psalm is a prayer of thanksgiving and uses the image of the “cedar” which we saw in the First Reading.

R. (cf. 2a) Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praise to your name, Most High, To proclaim your kindness at dawn and your faithfulness throughout the night.

The just one shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow. They that are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.

They shall bear fruit even in old age; vigorous and sturdy shall they be, Declaring how just is the LORD, my rock, in whom there is no wrong.

Questions:

• Why is the psalmist thankful to the Lord?
• To what does the psalmist compare the righteous?
• What metaphor does the psalmist use for God?

Commentary:

R. (cf. 2a) Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

It is good to thank the Lord.

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praise to your name, Most High, To proclaim your kindness at dawn and your faithfulness throughout the night.

It is good to praise the Lord at all times.

The just one shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow. They that are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.

The righteous will flourish. The psalmist uses the same metaphor of the “cedar” as we saw in the First Reading. This tree imagery is found elsewhere in the psalms:

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked…but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers. – Psalm 1:1-3

This tree imagery points back to that tree in the book of Genesis, the Tree of Life. When we are “just”, we become like the tree of life. The “just one” here is first and foremost Jesus Christ, the one whom we should imitate.

The wicked may “spring up like grass” (verse 7), but the righteous are “planted” somewhere stable (“the house of the Lord…the courts of our God”). It is there, by the hand of the Lord, that they will “flourish”.

They shall bear fruit even in old age; vigorous and sturdy shall they be, Declaring how just is the LORD, my rock, in whom there is no wrong.

The righteous will remain and be fruitful their entire life, continually pointing people towards God (“Declaring how just is the LORD”).

The Lord is described as the “rock”, something safe and sturdy.

 

 

Reading II: 2 Corinthians 5:6-10

Had we not had feasts and solemnities for the last few weeks, our Second Readings would have been drawn from St. Paul’s second Corinthian letter. We pick up the letter at the point where St. Paul is speaking about the life totally dedicated to God…

Brothers and sisters: We are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yet we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord. Therefore, we aspire to please him, whether we are at home or away. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.

Questions:

• Why does St. Paul say “We are always courageous”?
• What does it mean to be “at home in the body” and to be “away from the Lord”?
• What does it mean to “walk by faith, not by sight”?
• What inevitable event does Paul talk about? What does he say will happen then?
• How does your love of this world compare to your love of the Lord?

Commentary:

Brothers and sisters: We are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

To be “at home in the body” and “away from the Lord” means to be living here on earth. The Lord is always with us, of course, but Paul is contrasting this communion with our intimate communion with Him in Heaven:

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face – 1 Corinthians 13:12

“We who in this world are ‘away from the Lord’ walk about on earth, it is true, but we are hastening on our way to heaven. For here we do not  have a lasting place, but we are wayfarers and pilgrims, like all our fathers” – Saint Jerome (after A.D. 392),  Short Commentaries On The Psalms, 63

Our courage comes from our faith. To “walk by faith, not by sight” means to not base our decisions on superficial judgement. To “walk by faith, not by sight” means that we live for something we cannot yet see. We have not yet reached our destination:

The [heavenly] city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp – Revelation 21:23

When we arrive in Heaven the light of faith will be replaced by the light of the Lord Himself.

Yet we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.

Despite not yet being with the Lord, we will be “courageous”. To “leave the body and go home to the Lord” means to die and be with God (prior our bodily resurrection at the end of time). In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul beautifully expresses the tension he felt between his desire to serve Christ here on earth and to be with Christ in Heaven:

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body – Philippians 1:21-24

Therefore, we aspire to please him, whether we are at home or away. 

Because we live for the life to come, we live to please God, in life (“home”) and death (“away”). This is what the Second Vatican Council had to say on the matter:

“This council exhorts Christians, as citizens of two cities, to strive to discharge their earthly duties conscientiously and in response he Gospel spirit. They are mistaken who, knowing that we have here no abiding city but seek one which is to come (Hebrews 13:14), think that they may therefore shirk their earthly responsibilities. For they are forgetting that by the faith itself they are more obliged than ever to measure up to these duties, each according to his proper vocation (2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Ephesians 4:28). … The Christian who neglects his temporal duties, neglects his duties toward his neighbor and even God, and jeopardizes his eternal salvation. Christians should rather rejoice that, following the example of Christ Who worked as an artisan, they are free to give proper exercise to all their earthly activities and to their humane, domestic, professional, social and technical enterprises by gathering them into one vital synthesis with religious values, under whose supreme direction all things are harmonized unto God’s glory” – Vatican II (7 December 1965), Gaudium et spes, 43

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.

Nobody will escape judgement before Jesus. This is why we must walk “by faith and not by sight” and look to the eternal and not simply the temporal. After death, our souls will receive the “particular judgement”. Each of us will receive according to what we did during our earthly life, for good or for ill. This judgement is ratified at the “general judgment” at the end of time.

Gospel: Mark 4:26-34

Soon after appointing the Twelve, Jesus began to speak in parables. The first parable in Mark’s Gospel is The parable of the sower. In today’s final Reading we hear two more agricultural parables: (i) The parable of growing seed and (ii) The parable of the mustard seed. These parables complete the imagery of plants and growth which we heard in the First Reading and Psalm.

Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”

He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

 

  

Questions:

• To what does Jesus compare the “kingdom of God”?
• In what way is the kingdom of God like the scattering of seed and gathering of harvest?
• Why does Jesus use parables?
• To what else does Jesus compare the kingdom?
• In what way is a mustard seed?
• What does it mean for “the birds of the sky…[to] dwell” in the mustard tree?
• What is the similarity between the two similes Jesus uses?
• Why does Jesus explain to His disciples “everything in private”
• What role to humans play in the kingdom?

Commentary:

Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the kingdom of God;

The main theme of Jesus’ preaching in the Gospels is the “kingdom of God”.

The first parable of the growing seed is found only in Mark’s Gospel. The earlier parable of the sower focused on the soil in which the seed lands, but this parable focuses on the power of the seed itself, the power of the kingdom and the Gospel message (a thematic parallel is found in the The parable of the leaven).

…it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land…

The Gospel will be preached (“scatter seed”) and, to begin with, has a hidden, subtle beginning, but contains great power.

…and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.

By some mysterious force the kingdom grows, in a way incomprehensible to man.  Although man scatters the seed, he cannot make it grow.

Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”

The kingdom begins to be manifested, fruit is produced and finally the harvest is gathered in (a “sickle” is a cutting implement):

Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe – Joel 3:13

The sickle is death or the judgment, which cuts down all things; the harvest is the end of the world. – Pseudo-Jerome

St. Paul considers this whole process of planting, growing and harvesting in his first letter to the Corinthians:

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour. For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. – 1 Corinthians 3:5-9

We may interpret this passage as also describing the work of the Holy Spirit within a believer, leading the Christian to full maturity:

…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. – Ephesians 4:13

St. Gregory offers us the moral sense of this passage:

The maturing grain signifies our increase in virtue. First, the seeds of good intentions are sown; these gradually bring forth the blade of repentance and ultimate the mature ear of charitable works. When established in virtue, we are made ripe for God’s harvest. – St. Gregory the Greak, Hom. in Ezek. 2, 3

Theophyl has a similar interpretation:

For we put forth the blade, when we show a principle of good; then the ear, when we can resist temptations; then comes the fruit, when a man works something perfect. It goes on: and when it has brought forth the fruit, immediately he sends the sickle, because the harvest is come. – Theophyl

He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it?

Jesus has another go at explaining the kingdom…

“It is like a mustard seed that, …”

The parable has a similar theme to the previous one. Whereas the former parable concentrated on the power at work in the seed, this latter parable contrasts the seed’s unimpressive beginnings and its great end. The Church too had humble beginnings – a crucified rabbi and twelve fisherman – yet today it fills the world. Even now, she is not yet what she one day will be.

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not – Isaiah 53:1-2

Jesus, the Son of David is the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy.  The Kingdom was reestablished in Jerusalem. Jesus was literally planted in the ground at His burial and from this grew the Church, visibly manifested and spread throughout the earth.

 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds – John 12:24

“…when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants…”

The mustard seed would have been the smallest seed used by Palestinian farmers. However, it could be grow ten feet high.

…and puts forth large branches, …

The Gospel spreads:

Again, it put forth great boughs, for the Apostles were divided off as the boughs of a tree, some to Rome, some to India, some to other parts of the world – Theophyl

…so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”

The whole world is blessed by the Kingdom, including the Gentiles.

Most brief indeed is the word of faith; Believe in God, and you shall he saved. But the preaching of it has been spread far and wide over the earth, and increased so, that time birds of heaven, that is, contemplative men, sublime in understanding and knowledge, dwell under it. For how many wise men among the Gentiles, quitting their wisdom, have found rest in the preaching of the Gospel! Its preaching then is greater than all. – Theophyl

With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

Jesus spoke to people in parables so that they could understand something of His teaching. However, He concentrates His efforts on His disciples because they will be the ones who will teach the Church after His Ascension.

For since the multitude was unlearned, he instructs them from objects of food and familiar names, and for this reason he adds, “But without a parable spoke he not to them”, that is, in order that they might be induced to approach and to ask Him. It goes on “And when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples”, that is, all things about which they were ignorant and asked Him, not simply all, whether obscure or not. – Theophyl