Vigils Reading – 11th Sunday

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

AND THE MUSTARD SEED

From a commentary by St Peter Chrysologus1

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Brothers and sisters, you have heard today how the kingdom of heaven,

for all its vastness, can be compared to a mustard seed… A mustard seed! Is that

the sum of believer’s hopes? Is that what the faithful are longing for – a mustard

seed, the blessed reward of virgins for their long years of self-restraint, the

glorious prize won by martyrs at the cost of their blood? Is this the mystery no

eye has seen, no ear heard, no human heart imagined; the mystery past telling

that the Apostle assures us God has prepared for all who love him?

Let us not be too easily disappointed at our Lord’s words. If we remember

that God’s weakness is stronger than human strength, and God’s foolishness

wiser than human wisdom, we shall find that this smallest seed of God’s

creation is greater than the whole wide world. It is up to us to sow this mustard

seed in our minds and let it grow within us into a great tree of understanding

reaching up to heaven and elevating all our faculties; then it will spread out

branches of knowledge…

Christ is the kingdom of heaven. Sown like a mustard seed in the garden

of the virgin’s womb, he grew up into the tree of the cross whose branches

stretch across the world. Crushed in the mortar of the passion, its fruit has

produced seasoning enough for the flavoring and preservation of every living

creature with which it comes in contact. As long as a mustard seed remains

intact, its properties lie dormant; but when it is crushed they are exceedingly

evident. So it was with Christ; he chose to have his body crushed, because he

would not have his power concealed.

We too must crush this mustard seed in order to feel the force of this

parable. Christ is king, because he is the source of all authority. Christ is the

kingdom, because all glory of his kingdom is within him. Christ is a man,

because all humanity is restored in him. Christ is a mustard seed, because the

infinitude of divine goodness is accommodated to the littleness of flesh and

blood.

Do we need further examples? Christ became all things in order to restore

all of us in himself. The man Christ received the mustard seed which represents

the kingdom of God; as man he received it, though as God he had always

possessed it. He sowed it in his garden, that is in his bride, the Church. The

Church is a garden extending over the whole world, tilled by the plough of the

gospel, fenced in by stakes of doctrine and discipline, cleared of every harmful

weed by the labor of the apostles, fragrant and lovely with perennial flowers:

virgins’ lilies and martyrs’ roses set among the pleasant verdure of all who bear

witness to Christ and the tender plants of all who have faith in him.

Such then is the mustard seed which Christ sowed in his garden. When

he promised a kingdom to the patriarchs the seed took root in them; with the

prophets it sprang up, with the apostles it grew tall, in the Church it became a

great tree outing forth innumerable branches laden with gifts. And now you too

must take the wings of the psalmist’s dove, gleaming gold in the rays of divine

sunlight, and fly to rest forever among these sturdy, fruitful branches. No snares

are set to trap you there; fly off, then, with confidence and dwell securely in its

shelter.

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – 1999 – pg90.3