Tuesday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 26, 2021

Luke 13:18-21

Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”  Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”

The Lord Jesus often used simile to teach about the Kingdom of God.  This allowed him to compare this tremendous mystery with ordinary things and experiences.  All the same, his similes are deceptively simple and nearly amount to short parables.  Their simplicity aids ordinary folks while the kernel deep within the heart of each simile provides the more spiritual person much to consider and to be amazed at.

“What is the Kingdom of God like?”  The Lord does not propose to define the Kingdom of God, only to tell “what it is like”.  We might think about what we want to know about it.  For some of us, the answer might be its location.  Where is it?  Others might want to know what does a person do there.  Others are interested in what it looks like.  The Lord answers the question he sets forth by talking about its experience.  He says, “It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.” The Kingdom of God grows around us and also within us.  We can see it grow through baptisms and vocations to the Priesthood and the religious life.  We can see it grow as its missions spread across the face of the earth.  This is very mysterious.  How does it happen that people come to desire to give up their lives to Christ, whatever we are called to in this life?  How does it happen that people in countries and cultures hostile to the Faith will risk death to be baptized?  And this has been happening for two millennia now, in all parts of the world.

We can feel the mystery within us too: “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”  How does it happen that we are attracted to and love a God who died a shameful death on the Cross? Where does our love of God come from?  How has it grown within us as we grew?  Why do grown men and women confess their sins to priests?  What deep feeling motivates this and what is its origin?  Most believers have moments or periods in which they feel very close to God.  Where does this come from?  How does the dough feel as the yeast rubbed into it causes it to rise?