Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Catechism Links [1]

 
CCC 543-546: announcing the Kingdom of God
CCC 2653-2654, 2660, 2716: the Kingdom grows by hearing the Word

“Parable of the Mustard Seed” (detail)
by by Jan Luyken from the Bowyer Bible, 1840

Readings for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time [2]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [3]
 
Readings and Commentary:[4]
 
Reading 1: Ezekiel 17:22-24
 
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.
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Commentary on Ez 17:22-24
 
The prophet uses the allegory of the cedar to represent the fruitfulness of those who come to God. He will plant “a tender shoot” (a vital and growing part of the tree), and plant it on a "high and lofty mountain" (high places: in the Hebrew tradition representing places were God visits and dwells). This favored shoot (e.g. a shoot from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1) representing the Messiah) will grow and all creation, peoples of every nation, will seek the life it gives. Ezekiel envisions the wood of the cross which lifts up the lowly and brings the mighty to justice.
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16
 
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.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
 
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.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
 
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.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
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Commentary on Ps 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16
 
Psalm 92 is a song of thanksgiving. The psalmist sees God’s gifts pouring onto the faithful and in consequence, those who dwell with the Lord will flourish and bear fruit. In their faith there is great strength and endurance in God’s great wholesomeness.
 
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Reading 2: 2 Corinthians 5:6-10
 
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.
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Commentary on 2 Cor 5:6-10
 
This selection of the Second Letter to the Corinthians is a message of hope. St. Paul reflects upon the courage needed to live the Christian faith in the face of persecution and secular resistance. With the certain knowledge of the resurrection in union with Christ, the apostle wistfully reflects on the bliss awaiting the faithful with the resurrected Lord. In doing so, he also refutes prominent Greek philosophers of the day who proposed the body was a prison for the soul, a premise that could lead to unhealthy attitudes about life in general. He sees the temptation of desiring heavenly bliss while suffering the ills imposed upon the temporal body, the flesh worn in our life on earth, enjoining the faithful to be courageous in the face of such suffering.
 
With these verses Paul provides a recapitulation of Romans 6:8: “If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” He concludes with the reminder that there will be a final judgment at which time Christ will assign a place for all depending upon their earthly conduct.
 
CCC: 2 Cor 5:6 769; 2 Cor 5:7 164; 2 Cor 5:8 1005, 1021, 1681
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Gospel: Mark 4:26-34
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.
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Commentary on Mk 4:26-34
 
We are given two parables from the Gospel of St. Mark. The first is unique to Mark’s Gospel and follows the parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-9. The mystery of the seed is analogous to Jesus’ own ministry which starts as a seed but grows to encompass the world.  Another frequent analogy follows: the seed, apparently dying, falling to the earth and buried, then rising to new life - the great Paschal Mystery.
 
The second parable, the parable of the Mustard Seed, echoes the vision of the kingdom of God described in Ezekiel 17:23; Ezekiel 31:6, with the image of the kingdom of God providing a resting place for all, just as the giant cedars of Lebanon do for the birds.
 
CCC: Mk 4:33-34 546
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Reflection:
The prophet Ezekiel and Jesus, in St. Mark’s Gospel, use the analogy of the growing tree. Ezekiel uses the giant cedars of Lebanon, and St. Mark references the mustard tree. In both instances there is reference to the growth of these trees into places where all creation can find life. The analogy is apt for those of us who find the strength and endurance promised by David in the psalm (“The just one shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow”). But today there is a growing blight in the world, and it threatens the tree.
While the threat or blight attacking the tree that has become the Universal Church takes many forms, the recurring attack that is most insidious is secular humanism. The reason secular humanism is the overarching threat is because it is not overt. Rather it is covert, an often-hidden attack that first negatively impacts what, in our analogy, would be the seeds (our children). It comes in the form of softening moral values and it affects even the most powerful. Our former President, Barak Obama, said when referring to his stance on same-sex marriage: “I’ve been evolving on this issue.” His moral core had been eroded and with it his leadership. St. Paul tells us “Yet we are courageous,” courageous as the bark of the tree standing up to infection and parasitic attacks that seek to kill the tree.
 
Powerful people have adopted the secular humanist cause, even some who would call the great tree of life their home. They confuse morality with inclusion, and believe that, in order to love as Christ taught us, we must accept a moral position naturally and morally at odds with our core beliefs. This is analogous to allowing the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer, an insect that bores through the bark of a tree and kills it from the inside. They leave holes in the protective bark and allow disease to help the destruction of the tree.
 
We are called to be part of Ezekiel’s great cedars and the Lord’s mustard tree. We are called to a moral standard that will make the secular world very uncomfortable for us, and will without doubt, as it did for our Lord and Savior, turn the tree into a cross which we must all embrace. May we find the courage St. Paul espouses in ourselves and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, stand against the coming challenge to our liberty and our way of life.
 
Pax

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[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2] The picture is “Parable of the Mustard Seed” (detail) by by Jan Luyken from the Bowyer Bible, 1840.
[3] S.S. Commemoratio
[4] The readings are taken from the New American Bible except for the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.