Scripture Study for
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ezekiel 17:22–24 / Psalm 92:2a / 2 Corinthians 5:6–10 / Mark 4:26–34
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Understanding the Word
By Br. John R. Barker, OFM
Just before today’s reading, Ezekiel speaks a prophecy about the divinely ordained exile of the Davidic king to Babylon, in which a great eagle plucks the crest of a cedar and transplants it (17:1– 4). But now the new Davidic king has appealed to Egypt for help against Babylon, attempting in effect to circumvent the divine plan of judgment against Judah. Now God affirms that divine power alone “will take from the crest of the cedar” and plant it. In other words, not the Davidic kings but God will rebuild the dynasty, and only after the time of judgment ends. It is God, not the kings, who raises up and brings down, who withers and who restores life. The oracle both affirms God’s plans for restoration and warns that only God will carry it out.
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul is pondering the fact that discipleship brings with it many trials, yet these same hardships “produce for us an eternal weight of glory” (4:17). While we are in our earthly bodies, we can only groan in anticipation of this glory (5:1–5). This is why we must be courageous; although we are now “away from the Lord,” this is only temporary, a truth that can only be discerned in faith. This distance from the Lord must not lead us to falter in our discipleship, because in time we will appear before Christ, who will judge us precisely on what we have done during our time “in the body.”
Jesus gives two parables to explain the mysterious nature of the kingdom of God, both drawn from the natural world and focusing on the hidden process by which plants grow, which human beings cannot control. There is something inherent within the grain and the mustard plant that allows them to grow, in their own time and manner, independent of human will or power. At the same time, humans are involved in the process by sowing the seeds in the first place. The parables suggest that while the kingdom is indeed God’s, and cannot be manipulated by humans, human action is nevertheless part of the dynamic of the growth of the Kingdom.