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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
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Gospel text (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 through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how (…)." 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 (…)."

The Kingdom of God explained through parables

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today, Jesus’ message of the "Kingdom" expresses its meager dimension as a temporal power, although it exerts a real and deep "sovereignty" in the souls. It is like a grain of mustard, the tiniest of all seeds. It is like a leaven, a small quantity in comparison to the whole mass of the dough, yet decisively important for what becomes of the dough.

It is like the seed that is planted in the field where it meets various fates: it is pecked up by the birds, or it is suffocated among the thorns, or else, it ripens into abundant fruit. Another parable tells how the seed of the Kingdom grows, but an enemy comes and sows weeds in its midst, which for the present grow up with the seed, with the division coming only at the end. Another aspect of this mysterious "God's lordship" comes to light when Jesus compares it with a treasure that was buried in the field: the finder sells everything in order to buy the field, and thus, gain possession of the treasure.

—The communion with you, O Jesus, is the "Pearl of great price" which is worth more than everything else.