Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Luke 13,18-21

He went on to say, 'What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.' Again he said, 'What shall I compare the kingdom of God with? It is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.'

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

These two very brief parables of this Gospel passage are better understood if placed in the context of the growing opposition to Jesus by the leaders of the people. Truly what was happening to Jesus is a destiny that belongs to the entire Christian history. The Gospel finds opposition in every generation that succeeds another in history. The question that raises from this very wide opposition to the Gospel is about the irrelevance of the Gospel, about its weakness in changing the world. Maybe the first communities were wondering if it would be really possible to inaugurate the kingdom of God only through meekness and words, given that these parables are reported in the Synoptics. In fact even we can wonder if the Gospel is too weak to change a world that appears so much stronger. To these ancient and contemporary objections, Jesus responds with these two small parables, that of the mustard seed and the other of the yeast in the dough. As we know, the Kingdom of God is the heart of Jesus proclamation as the Synoptics show us. On the one hand there is this world subjugated to Satan. On the other is the new Kingdom, that of God, which Jesus came to inaugurate on earth. And here is the meaning of the two parables. The kingdom that Jesus came to open begins not in a powerful or glamorous way, but like a small seed or a handful of yeast. Of course, it is important that the seed enter the soil and that the yeast be mixed with the dough. In the parable, Luke underlines the idea of development, of continuous growth. The seed - that is the Gospel proclamation and the practice of love - will produce a great tree and the yeast will ferment the bread of society and of the world. Many people will be able to rest in the shade of the tree of love, and many people will be able to feed on the bread of mercy.