Commentary
Sunday, 6/17/2018, Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Everything that God Does Is Good
First Reading Commentary: Ezekiel 17:22-24
God is good all the time and all the time, God is good. If we were to make a list of all of the reasons why God is good all the time, the list would be infinitely long. The message in today’s reading from the prophet Ezekiel is this: Nothing is beyond God and He can do all things and what God says He will do, He will do and everything that God does is good. That pretty much says it all.
In fact, what God said that He would do in the first part of Ezekiel’s prophecy, He has already done although we may have to think about it because God used metaphors to make His point. God said that He would take from the crest of the cedar and plant on the mountain heights of Israel, a tender shoot from the topmost branches of the cedar and that it would bear fruit and become majestic.
As I meditate on this, I see God telling us that the crucifixion is a beautiful thing and He is painting a beautiful picture of it. This cedar is Christ on the cross high on Mount Calvary and in all of His majesty as our Savior; He bears much fruit as we become a part of His Mystical Body.
Then God tells us that He will use anything and everything in His creation to accomplish His Will. But more importantly, God tells us that everything shall know who He is and everything shall come to Him. God said that birds of every kind would dwell beneath the cedar and every winged thing in the shade of its boughs. God used birds in this metaphor but the birds represent all living things and that includes us.
The second part of Ezekiel’s prophecy makes me think of the Book of Revelation. It begins with God telling us that all of the trees of the field shall know who He is. Anyone who does not believe in God in this life will know who God is on the last day. They will: either accept God and surrender to Him or they will perish.
The third part of Ezekiel’s prophecy, reminds me of the Lord’s Prayer, specifically the line, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God said that He will bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, wither up the green tree and make the withered tree bloom.
Not only is God telling us that His Will shall be done, He is also telling us that those of us who are full of pride are in for a rude awakening. On the other hand, the humble shall be raised to greatness. That makes this part of today’s reading a prophecy of the beatitudes, specifically those found in Matthew 5:3-5 as well as a prophecy of what Mary said to Elizabeth at the Visitation, found in Luke 1:52, “He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones, but lifted up the lowly.”
Finally, God said, “As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do.” Nothing is beyond God, He will do everything that He says that He will do and everything that God does; is good. That’s the way it always has been, is now and will be for all time.
On Our Way to the Home We Have Never Seen
Second Reading Commentary: 2 Corinthians 5:6-10
St. Paul says that we are at home in the body but we are away from the Lord. He is reminding us once again that this life is a journey home to heaven.
We feel like we are at home in the body because it is all that we know. We wake up in our bodies, we sleep in our bodies and everything that we do is done with our bodies. Our bodies live in this world on earth and everything that we do is here on earth. Everything that we experience in a physical way is of this earth. It is all that we know and so we feel at home.
But the reality is that we were created by God to be with Him in heaven which means that in this life, we are not at home. When we allow ourselves to become too complacent with what this life has to offer, we find ourselves living in the flesh and that gets us into trouble with God. When we find ourselves overburdened with worry about the things that are wrong in life, we loose faith and that gets us into trouble with God.
Paul speaks in the plural by using the word, “we” in offering his suggestion on what to do. He is making reference to himself, the Apostles and anyone who has total faith in God. When we have total and absolute faith in God; nothing that happens in this life, good or bad, matters. It is all worthless in comparison to what awaits us in heaven and we can’t take any of it with us. We cannot take our possessions, money, pleasures or worries with us. None of it means anything in heaven.
The only thing that matters is whether we have pleased the Lord or sinned against Him without reconciliation. That is why Paul tells us to be courageous, look forward to being with the Lord in heaven, aspire to please Him during this life because each of us will be judged by Christ according to what we do in this life.
We Are the Birds of the Sky Who Dwell in the Branches
Gospel Commentary: Mark 4:26-34
In today’s first reading, God the Father used the image of a cedar tree. In today’s gospel, Christ used the image of the mustard seed and its plant. God the Father was speaking about what He was going to do so that the Kingdom of Heaven would be available to all of mankind. Christ the Son was telling us what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
Both Father and Son said that their image would become great and that the birds of the sky would dwell in its branches. Christ is the seed from which the mustard plant grows, the plant is heaven and we are the birds of the sky that dwell in its branches. The mustard plant is also the home that Paul wrote about in his letter to the Corinthians.
Christ said about the Kingdom of Heaven that it is as if a man scatters seed on the land and the seed sprouts and grows although he does not know how. We all plant seeds and we want results when we do. Our expectations are based on faith because we cannot tell the future. Even if the results should be expected, we do not know what will happen until it does nor do we know how.
What is Jesus telling us by comparing the Kingdom to a mustard seed? The answer is simple. A little bit of faith goes a long way! Just as a mustard seed, when cultivated, grows into a large tree, a little bit of faith will grow within us if we use it.
If we keep the faith, it will continue to grow and the more our faith grows, the closer to God we will be and the closer we are to God, the more that we want to be with Him just like the birds of the sky that seek the shade and protection of the tree.
