What is the sign that God is at work?

SIGNS OF GOD AT WORK

Mk. 4:26-34

Jesus begins today’s Gospel with the words, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God.”  How do we define the kingdom of God?  It is that society on earth where God’s will is done as perfectly as it is in Heaven.  It is like seed planted in the ground and eventually reaps a harvest and it is also like a mustard seed that grows into a large tree.

There was a reason for the evangelists to tell us these parables of Jesus.  It was to encourage the persecuted early Church.  They were not too great in numbers and yet so many of them were being persecuted and martyred.  These stories were to help them not to get discouraged, that this tiny seed, the church, no matter what happens will one day be harvested.

The seed is probably one of the most fascinating things in God's creation.  When you hold it in your hand, it seems like nothing, just a little speck.  If you keep it outside of the soil, it will remain just a speck, never doing anything or becoming anything.  You might even think it's a worthless particle and discard it.

Once you sow it deep within the earth, the seed sprouts and grows without the farmer knowing how it happens. This to me is a great proof of God’s existence.  He not only creates a thing, but sets it in motion and guides it along its journey to fruition.  How can anyone say that such a thing just happens and there is no one sustaining its growth?  That person just has to be God.  In fact, it is an insult to God to say it just happens.

God and only God can create a seed, but there is something we can do, and which we have to do.  God will not do it for us, not that He couldn’t do it.  He wants us to be partners with Him.  The seed that He created He wants us to plant.  He is going to show us that this little seed has the most amazing potential!  All we have to do is to place it in the soil.  From that moment He takes over.  He waters it with rain and gives it sunlight and transforms it into a mighty tree, or a beautiful flower or a nourishing vegetable.  The farmer doesn't have to do a lot.  Night and day, while he goes about his regular business, this seed is busy producing abundantly.  On its own, it can become the greatest of all shrubs, and put forth huge branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

Another lovely way of looking at these parables is to realise that Jesus Himself is the seed in these parables.  He came into our world quite unnoticed, born to poor parents huddled in a dark cave.  For thirty years, He lived a quiet life, learning His father's trade.  Once He began His public ministry, many religious leaders thought He was some fanatic, or possessed by a devil.  Even His own family misunderstood Him and thought he had gone mad and was throwing His life away.  Yet, from this seed, God brought about the largest "plant" in the garden of His creation - the tree of life.  Now, through Jesus, salvation has come to the whole world and we, His people, can find rest and nourishment in the shade of His branches.

Sometimes we can find it very difficult to see God at work in and around us.  Like the mustard seed, it is usually in small ways that we can miss this growth if we don't look carefully, or if we are preoccupied with looking for something immensely powerful.  Let us not discount the small works of God we see around us.  Instead, let us keep our minds open and to wherever the Lord chooses to work in our life.  If we can compare Jesus to the seed that grew, why can’t we also compare ourselves?  We never know what God can achieve through us.

Lord Jesus, You are the One who plants the seed in the life of every human person and brings forth fruit.  Help us today to recognize Your work and to cherish the fruit it brings forth.  May we never be an obstacle to Your work.

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