We are here on earth to make things grow for God!

The spring season is up. We see signs of new life and new growth all around us. The trees and flowers are budding. People will soon be tending to their lawns, spreading out seed and fertilizer. The feeling of growing something is so great that we bring up new lives around us and thus bring harmony to our eco-system. The capacity of a seed is unbelievable and that Jesus often had a close relationship with seeds and grounds throughout his life. His parables and life are filled with corn fields, vine and the grapes, wheat, mustard and different trees.

The parable of the wheat seed could be seen in three levels:

1. The moment of unacceptance from the part of the people and the struggle to prepare the people from the part of Jesus. The seed falls and it does not share anything with the ground. The ground is the dust, moisture and mud. They represent the age old traditions and practices that shape the lives of the people. It was difficult for them to accept Jesus as the Messiah. A Messiah can never come from Nazareth. He can never work as a carpenter and hang around with a bunch of fishermen. He can never eat with sinners and tax collectors. He should engage himself in politics and overthrowing the Romans. The people could not accept Jesus as their Savior. In the prologue of John we read, He came to his own and the own did not accept him. The Pharisees and Sadducees, the scribes and the Sanhedrin and some of the Jewish royalties and ordinary people voiced his death sentence. They want to do away with him. Jesus teaches them the lesson of love and forgiveness. He teaches them that he is the compassion of the Father.

2. The human life of God. God took the human flesh. He merges himself in human history. He, who cannot be contained in time, is subjected to time and death, body and pain, temptation and accusation. The seed merges with the dust, moisture and mud. It becomes one with the ground that no one can identify what is what. The seed has become part of the ground. He dies for our sins by accepting our own sinfulness on his own shoulders. He experiences the same human experiences of hunger, thirst, cry and agony. He is one of us in all things except sin. He was accused and sentenced to death like a thief. He was crucified and pierced with the lance. His body was buried in a tomb like one of us. He shared the mother’s and father’s love, friends love and the love of enemies which is so fond of. As a human being, he experienced poverty, humility and simplicity. As a human being he spoke the truth and stood for it. As a human being he bore the pain and suffering and death. He did all these as a human being. The dead seed but fully human fully alive.

3. The lessons took deep roots on the ground. The lives of the people were transformed. The disciples received the strength and courage to go our boldly and stand for the values that he left behind. Mary stood beside them and us in all our thoughts and actions. The people who were cured by Jesus were transformed for life. The man who received sight at the foot of the cross was transformed. The thief on the cross saw paradise on that day itself. People’s lives got transformed.

Jesus is that seed who fell and died and rose for us. We imitate him in all struggles and rejections yet stand strong in faith, hope and love. He says the same words to us: If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you too. How do we act against struggle? We imitate him in all our good Christian principles: speaking and living the truth, loving and forgiving and being the heart of God for others. We imitate him when we set to transform others with our love and service. We are here on earth to make things grow for God. We are people of life. Let us be the seed to bring great harvest to the Kingdom of God.
Amen.