Psalms 92:1-4, 12-15 / Mark 4:26-34 / Mark 3:20-35

This Sunday, June 16, we read Mark 4:26-34. This is the culmination of Mark’s collection of Jesus’ parables of the kingdom of God. Parables have often been compared to Buddhist koans — riddles with no answer that are primarily meant to jar us from misunderstandings that we confuse with truth.

For example, it is a misunderstanding of the Gospel to conclude that good people are rewarded with heaven and bad people are forever punished in hell. Read Mark 4:26-34 carefully, and you will see that, whatever the kingdom of God is, Jesus does not present it as something we truly can understand — it grows mysteriously and abundantly, according to God’s will.

Read Mark 4:26-29. What can we do, or not do, to make the kingdom of God grow?

Read Mark 4:30-32. What does the image of the mustard seed suggest to you about the growth of the kingdom of God?