11th Sunday in Ordinary Time of the Year B

READINGS: Ezek 17:22-24; Psalm 91:2-3,13-16; 2 Cor 5:6-10; Mark 4:26-34

THEME: THROW YOUR SEED ON THE LAND!

Dear brothers and sisters, the readings of today challenge us of giving God chance to perform his work in our lives as our God. They remind us that we can only put into use what we have, but only God grants success to the works of our hands. 

a. IT IS GOD’S HANDIWORK, NOT YOURS!

The context of the first reading (Ezek 17:22-24) is believed to be the period of Babylonian exile. The people of Israel were dominated and carried into exile by the mighty Babylonian armies. As they were in exile, Israelites wondered how they would be able to deliver themselves from the hands of Babylonian kings and warriors, having seen how mighty they were and their sophisticated arms of war. 

Apart from Babylonian empire, there were other strong empires like
Egypt, and Assyria, who were striking Babylonia from all sides in order to take over their empire and their slaves. Seeing all these mighty people, and seeing their exile as God’s punishment and abandonment, Israel became despondent. But God’s message to the people of Israel through prophet Ezekiel brought consolation and a way out of their exile. It is not Israel, rather God himself, who will take Israel and plant her on a high mountain so that it will stand
higher than all other kingdoms and people. 

Only God is capable of making Israel stand mightier than all these other empires that they were afraid of. It is only God who is capable of dwarfing a tall tree and making low ones grow high, only God is capable of making a green tree to wither, and a withered one to become green (cf Ezek 17:24). 

Hence, Israel must not be afraid of nations that present themselves as mighty and overpowering. Israel should not be worried of those who at the present time showcase their riches, their might and their successes. Israel should not be discouraged by her weakness, inadequacy, hard times and difficulties. Israel should only turn to her God, reconcile herself with her Maker and Owner, lay before Him her nakedness, nothingness, and deficiency, and hold him tight as her only Worth and Heritage. God will surely raise Israel from where the Mighty of the world are suffocating her and make her stand taller than all who stood before her. 

However, unlike other nations like Babylonians, who used their might and privilege to suffocate and enslave others, when God raises Israel, she will not become a terror to other nations beneath her but will become a home for every kind of bird, and a resting place for every creature (cf Ezek 17:23b). That is to say, Israel’s exaltation by God will be at the service of other people. 

Child of God, you are that Israel who is thinking that there is no way of standing again. You are that Israel who is looking at him/herself now and is saying to him/herself “How
can I overcome this difficult and miserable life of mine?” God is telling you, when the time comes, it is not going to be your handwork but his. You only need to keep on abiding in him, trusting his words and obeying his commands. And when eventually God raises you up, everybody, including those who are suffocating you now, must be given opportunity to enjoy God’s blessings to you. If you have been raised by God in anyway at all, and people are not benefitting from God’s blessings to you, you are making yourself an enemy of God who has
saved you that you may save others.

b. SOW THAT YOUR SMALL MUSTARD SEED

In the Gospel reading, Jesus presents two parables about the kingdom of God. In the first parable, Jesus explains to us that the fruitfulness of the kingdom of God is not of our handiwork but God’s doing. However, the farmer needs to throw the seed on the land. In the second parable, this seed which the farmer throws on the land can be as small as a mustard seed which looking at it discourages the farmer if something as small as that mustard seed would produce anything that would be sufficient to solve his/her needs. 

In the first parable, God begins to work on the seed only after the farmer has thrown it on the land. Any seed planted on the soil has possibility of developing into a big tree-bearing plant. But if it is stored somewhere or is hidden or even abandoned because of its size or number, it won’t have the opportunity of developing. 

Also, if the seed, instead of being thrown on the land, is thrown into a bottle of oil, it shall have been denied a proper place where it could have yielded something more than what it is. Every one of us has a seed God has given him or her to throw on the land. That is, God has given everyone of us something to put into its proper use. It does not matter if the seed is small in size or in number. It does not matter if the seed is considered nonsense and useless or inadequate by the society.

 You have only one assignment from God: THROW YOUR SEED ON THE LAND! Do not keep it by the side because it is not one of the famous seeds in the world. Do not throw it careless that it falls on any other place that is not the land. Your own seed may be carpentry, mason, salon, shoemaking, farming, gift of voice. Do not say “what happens to being a doctor, an engineer, a Tech-boy, etc.” Do not even think that the success of the seed you are holding depends on you. God only wants you to put it into its proper use. He
is the one who gives growth, success and abundance. He is the one who multiplies and magnifies the mustard seed to become one of the biggest trees.

I know of a boy (now a husband and a father of two) who, after eight years ofapprenticeship was settled with 400 thousand naira in 2018. When I was discussing with him before even he was settled, he told me that he was expecting as from One million naira up from his Oga. When he was given 400k, he did not know what to do with it. Before he could pay for shop, money would have finished. My friend cried to his God, took 20 thousand naira from the 400k,  bought gifts and went and appreciated his Oga. He went to a very timid place in Lagos, very far from the booming site of the business he learnt, hired a container, rented a room and started his electronics business. Today, in 2024, he has three big shops, has his own house in Lagos, and is married with two small boys. 

Assuming my friend went home with the 400k, began to go out with friends while lamenting of how wicked his Oga was, maybe he would be somewhere today in Nkwelle-Ezunaka selling other people’s land, smoking weed and terrorizing the elderly people with weapons. Of course, this does not mean that his ‘Oga’ is canonized as one of the best, but the emphasis in the story is that my friend believed that, although the money was discouragingly small, his future and greatness lie in the hands of God.

My dear brother/sister, put that resources you consider small into something meaningful. Do not wait until you have billions of dollars before you open that business. Do not wait until you have millions of containers before you begin that foundation. Do not be your own God. Allow God to manifest himself in your life. He is still the same God of yesterday. 

This also applies in our spiritual life. Do not think that the small and short prayers you say before you eat, before you sleep, when you wake up, before you begin your day etc are nothing. Do not think that the little things you have are almost nothing to be given to others who have none. Do not think that you are too slow spiritually. Those little things you do are big things before God. Mother Theresa of Calcutta said “we ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” Do not neglect the little things which you do. In little things, greatness shows itself. St. Theresa the Little Way said, “If I can do the little and ordinary things of the day with an extraordinary attention and love, I shall have lived a happy life of God’s glory.”

c. GREATNESS IS A GRADUAL GROWTH

Mustard seed can grow into a bigger tree, but it has to be planted first. Then it has to be followed with patience. In the gospel Jesus tells us that a seed that is thrown on the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear, and it continues to grow until it is time for harvest. Then again, the mustard seed, once sown in the soil, begins the process of growing
into the biggest shrubs, putting out big branches. Every growth is a gradual process. 

Every genuine and lasting success is carefully built and nurtured. You do not begin today, and want to be wealthier than Dangote in 24 hours. In your building, you will experience discouragements, downfalls, hardships, even temptation to abandon what you have begun. If a farmer does not have patience and allows the seed he has planted to follow their due course, he may end up destroying the seeds and going home empty handed. Be a patient and courageous builder. Do not want it fast fast. Anything that comes fast fast, goes away fast fast. Empires are built with strategies, patience, and gradual growth.

d. LIVE MORE BY FAITH, AND NOT BY SIGHT

In conclusion dearest brothers and sisters, in the second reading, St. Paul reminds us that our vocation as Christians is not so much of our bodily senses but of our faith. It is only with faith that someone would believe that the same business many people are running away from because of its insufficiency in holding the needs of a man, is the same business that will make him a very successful man. It is faith that will help one to remain steadfast in his daily efforts and struggles, trusting that his clock will tick someday, and not join the bad ones in looking for a quick but destructive way. 

In all, we must always remember that our primary assignment is to please God. This pleasing God consists deeply in standing with him even when all odds are against us, even when it feels that we are forgotten and abandoned by God. Our anthem should be, “Even when I am being tossed up and down by the wind of the world, I know that my Redeemer liveth.”

May God give us the grace to always remember that we are nothing without him, and that whatever we count as “success” must have its origin in Him and must be sustained by the Him. 

Fr. Nnamah Henry C.
Catholic Diocese of Aguleri