Today I brought to the alter a mustard seed. It lies between my two fingers (The preacher shows the mustard seed between my fingers). If you cannot see the mustard seed, I ask you to take one from the bowl that the altar boys are handing out. Look how small a mustard seed is. As we heard in the Gospel, the mustard seed was the smallest seed among the seeds of Jesus’ time or the hearers of Jesus knew of the seeds. But when such a tiny mustard seed is sown in the earth, it springs up and becomes a tree and grows large branches so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.
But we shouldn’t think that a mustard tree will grow as big as a an oak. We need to understand the size of the mustard seed in the geographical situation of Palestine. In Palestine there is no desert with sand, but a desert where the trees become dry and have very dry soil. There are mustard trees with white, yellow and black mustard seeds. The mustard tree mentioned in the Gospel is one with black mustard seeds, because such grow in Palestine and India.
When Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed and its growth to a tree, Jesus means that our faith has a small beginning like a mustard seed, but can grow like a tree. When our faith grows and shows perseverance like a small tree in the desert with greenery and fruit, it can have an unimaginably great impact. A little faith in God and in Jesus Christ and appropriate action can give many people support and hope.
Like a mustard seed, we believe in Jesus Christ and like many birds building their nest and finding support near a mustard tree in the desert, we can give support and hope to many people with our testimony of faith in God. Like a mustard seed, our faith is small, but it can be the beginning of many great things and a significant source of hope for many people.
The parable of the mustard seed is one of several parables about the kingdom of God. When Jesus talks about the smallness of the mustard seed and the greatness of the plant, he means that the kingdom of God has a small beginning and it can become extensive and great. On the question of what is the Kingdom of God or what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of God,
Christians once thought that the church was the kingdom of God and today Christians understand that the kingdom of God is greater than the church and the church is the herald of the kingdom of God, just as Jesus was the herald of the kingdom of God.
Church is the community that proclaims the Kingdom of God and all people who accept the message of love, peace, justice and mercy and practice it in their lives belong to the Kingdom of God. The Church had a small beginning and the Kingdom of God also has a small beginning.
Jesus announced the small beginning of the Church and the Kingdom of God some around 2000 years ago and the history of the last 2000 years has proven that the community of the Church and the Kingdom of God has become very large. But in this century we are experiencing that the church as a community and the Kingdom of God as a listener of this community and recipient of this message are becoming smaller again and we hear from all corners, from bishops, priests and parishioners, that the church and its members as heralds of this Message are discriminated against all over the world and their message of charity, mercy and truthfulness and Christians hardly find people who are still interested in the true message of faith, although in some continents the interest is great and many people are becoming believers.
Church as a community and as a herald of the Kingdom of God, it has not only its message, values and confessions, but also its way of proclamation, their structure, which is constantly being renewed whether we want it or not. If the community is large, the structure will also need to be adapted or renewed accordingly. I cordially invite you as an individual to live and proclaim the Christian message in your own way and to make a small contribution as a community within the framework of the existing and jointly developed structures. We will see how quickly the church and the kingdom of God will grow and become larger.
Fr Joseph Pandiappallil MCBS