Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the four Gospels. It is full of parables, stories told by Jesus, the best of Storytellers. With some of His stories, Jesus uses elaborate details, making it easy to understand His point. Today’s “riddle” sounds like heaven is a “field of dreams.” This is a field where a man one day casts seeds with abandon, unmindful of whether they fall on soil that is good or not-so-good. That night he sleeps unaware that something mysterious is happening in the soil. Violá! Overnight the earth has sprung forth blade, and ear and then the fruit! Jesus queries exactly what our curious minds may be wondering: “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God?” Jesus floats another riddle for our consideration. The kingdom can be compared to the smallest of seeds that when nurtured grows into the largest of trees. Literally, the word parable means “a riddle.” Jesus told more than 40 riddles or parables during his ministry. Usually when a person tells you a riddle, they eventually tell you the answer. But Jesus only explained one parable to the crowds – the parable of the Sower and the Seed. Mark says Jesus explained everything to his disciples in private and they did not share for future generations the meaning of all the parables. Then, Jesus ascended into heaven and took the answers with him! So that left the later disciples, and us, with a lot of figuring out to do.
Let’s start with one of the most amazing seeds in the world: Chinese bamboo. The seedling lies buried in the soil for five long years before any sprout appears above ground. It seems dormant, or at least stunted. But don’t be deceived into thinking it’s a lost cause. The seedling requires constant cultivation during gestation, needing watering and fertilization on a regular basis. Then it requires much patience! Wait, wait, wait. It will make up for lost time. When the bamboo seedling finally emerges from the ground, it grows at an astonishing rate, ninety feet into the air in just six weeks. That’s fifteen feet a week, more than two feet a day, two inches every hour. Once it finally gets going, you can almost watch it grow before your very eyes! Why does it take so long to emerge, and grow so fast once it does? Plant experts say that during its first five years, the seed is busy building an elaborate root system underground. This is what enables it to grow ninety feet in six weeks.
Think of yourself as a “Chinese bamboo”. Growth in us within God’s Kingdom is in a similar pattern. We take a long time to emerge. Sometimes it takes so long we wonder, “Did the seed of God’s kingdom planted in me at Baptism ever take root? Maybe it fell on a rock in my heart and died. Maybe it got choked by the thorns of my sins.” More often than not the seed of God’s Kingdom is building an elaborate root system.
This means that we need to trust God who in the first place planted the seed of the Kingdom in us. God understands what’s happening inside us because he sees into the heart, even if we can’t. We also need to be patient with ourselves and overly generous with mercy and compassionate with others. Even though the Kingdom may not seem to have taken root in you, and you don’t seem to be getting any holier, there’s no need to be discouraged. Growth may not be visible for a long time, but eventually something wonderful, beautiful and multi-faceted will emerge.
~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB
