Gospel: Three Parables About the Kingdom of Heaven

Today marks the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, and the Gospel passage will be proclaimed according to St Matthew (tap here for the complete Mass readings from USCCB).

In today's Gospel, Jesus offers three parables to describe the Kingdom of Heaven. He also explains why he speaks to the crowds in parables and interprets the parable of the sower for the disciples. This reading is a continuation of Jesus' discourse that we began reading last Sunday.

All three parables use commonplace experiences to describe aspects of the Kingdom. The first parable longer and more detailed than the next two, and it alerts us to the two-fold reality of the Kingdom of Heaven. The beginnings of the Kingdom can be found in this world. The fruition, however, will not be realized until the final judment. In the meantime, as Jesus' explaination to the disciples cautions, any effort to judge the progress of the Kingdom of Heaven is premature. Only God, in the final judgment, will distinguish the fruit and offer its rewards.

The second and third parables call to our attention the abundance that will result from the small beginnings of the Kingdom of Heaven. Just as a mustard tree--the smallest of all seeds--will become a large bush, so too God will bring his Kingdom to full bloom. As a small amount of yeast will leaven the entire batch of bread, so too God will bring about the expansion of his Kingdom. In each case the image is of the superabundance that God brings out of even the smallest of signs of the Kingdom.

Contained within these parables are words of caution as well as words of consolation. In the parable of the sower we are warned against judging others. To judge and uproot the "weeds" prematurely will harm the weed; final judgment rests with God. In the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast, we are consoled by the message that God can work wonders and produce abundance from even the smallest beginnings of the Kingdom.

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