Prayer:
O Jesus, plant your Kingdom in my heart.
Imagination:
Picture Jesus teaching the crowds.
Context:
Jesus uses two parables concerning seeds to show the power of the Kingdom. In the first parable, the farmer does nothing but “go to bed.” In the second parable, the tiniest seed produces the “largest of trees.”
Gospel Text: (Read slowly, possibly aloud.)
Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is like a man casting seed on the earth. He goes to bed and gets up, day after day. The seed grows but he does not know how because the earth itself brings forth first the blade, then the ear and then the wheat in the ear. When the crop is ready, he immediately wields the sickle because the harvest has come.”
Jesus also said, “What comparison can we use for the Kingdom of God? Or what image can we use to portray it? It is like a grain of mustard seed planted in the earth, the smallest of all the seeds. When it grows, it becomes the largest of shrubs and gives off great branches so all the birds of the air live under its shadow.”
By means of these parables, he taught the crowds the message in the way that they could understand. When alone with the disciples, he explained things privately.
Thoughts: (Read all. Ponder those that attract you.)
- Jesus explains great mysteries by using images that people easily understand.
- The farmer does two things. He just plants the seed and he harvests the crop.
- He does not even understand the important part of the process (the seed growing). He just goes to bed.
- Meanwhile, the seeds grow perfectly according to the right stages of blade, ear and wheat.
- The mustard seed contains the same mystery. What a difference between the small beginning and the final result. No one does anything. They do not even harvest it.
Affections: (When one touches your heart, use your own words.)
- O Jesus, your teaching is easy to understand.
- Lord, open my heart to your Kingdom and allow it to grow within me.
- O Jesus, the abundance comes from the powerful Kingdom that you gave me in Baptism.
- Only your Kingdom gives my life its full purpose.
- How much I will accomplish if I allow your seeds to grow!
- If I yield to your Kingdom, You will bless many others.
Resolutions: (Possibly you might want to make your own)
+ I will totally trust the power of the Kingdom.
+ I will believe that God wants to accomplish great things through me.