jan 27 2006

Mk 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 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.
The Word is like seed on the ground. The kingdom of God is likened to a mustard seed, the smallest of seeds that grows to the largest of plants. The people were taught by Jesus in parables so that they could understand. To the disciples, Jesus gave privately full explanations. The life of following Jesus is in the living at times simple. The parables are for me tangible, touched by images and illuminated concepts that make the message alive and real. Without the parables, I would have a great struggle to understand the Word. With the parables, I am able to translate the message to my daily life. Images stay with me and become a part of me and continue to grow in me. Many times in my personal style of striving to understand a message, I need a specific image to make sense of what is being taught and incorporate it into my ways.