We need to trust God and be patient...

This Sunday we have two parables that Jesus told and both seem to me to be a call to trust.

Gospel Mk 4:26-34

Jesus said to the crowds:
“This is how it is with the kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and through it all the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”

He said,
“To what shall we compare the kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

In the first parable, we see that the Kingdom of God does not depend on us.  We scatter the seed and it sprouts and grows. God is the one who both provides the seed and causes the growth. In the second parable, we see that again we see the Kingdom of God spreading from a tiny mustard seed, the smallest seed of all. Once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth its branches to welcome all. I think both parables teach us to trust in God's action. I may not understand (those listening to Jesus did not understand), but I can trust and go forth to sow the seed and plant and then be patient.