Gospel for October 27, 2009, Tuesday
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. | 10/27/2009 12:21 AM
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30th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Rom 8:18–25
Gospel: Lk 13:18–21
Jesus continued speaking, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? Imagine a person who has taken a mustard seed and planted it in the garden. The seed has grown and become like a small tree, so that the birds of the air shelter in its branches.”
And Jesus said again, “What is the kingdom of God like? Imagine a woman who has taken yeast and hidden it in three measures of flour until it is all leavened.”
Commentary
Central to the gospels is Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God. Jesus’ primary mission to his people was to offer them the possibility of salvation, which, for the most part, he expressed by the term, kingdom of God. Jesus also saw the appearance of the kingdom of God as manifested in his exorcisms and healings.
Christ compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed, or to what happens to a mustard seed. The mustard plant begins as inconspicuous, the smallest of all seeds, but becomes conspicuous, a large tree. The emphasis of the parable is on the contrast between beginning and end. The depiction of the mustard plant as a tree, large enough to support birds in its branches, is a metaphor of the kingdom of God as offering protection to those within it. The emphasis of the parable is on the contrast between beginning and end. Jesus’ point is that the kingdom of God is an historical process, beginning inconspicuously, but leading to conspicuous results. The birds sitting in the branches of the mature mustard plant serve to illustrate how large the plant has become, so as to accentuate the contrast between the beginning and the end.
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