Last Updated on July 27, 2022 by GMC
A reflection on Matthew 13:31-32
Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
©️2021 by Gloria M. Chang
He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’”
Matthew 13:31-32
The word “universe” in this couplet stands for “flesh” (Hebrew basar and Greek sarx), as used in the Genesis Flood account and in John’s Prologue. All “flesh” is destroyed in the flood and saved in the ark in the recreation of the world after the Fall (Genesis 6:13; 17; 19). With the coming of Christ, a new “beginning,” the Word became “flesh,” divinizing humanity and the cosmos (John 1:14). The Holy Spirit conceived the Word as a microscopic seed in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and continues to nurture and expand the Mystical Body of Christ throughout the world.
Dear GMC, I have never heard before the connection between the small mustard seed and the Word conceived by the Holy Spirit as a microscopic seed in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Wow, such truths to ponder! And as the birds of the sky come and dwell on the branches of the mustard plant, we are the branches of the Most DiVine.
And, may our Blessed Mother continue to nurture and expand our relationship with one another, especially the one we meet for the first time.
One last “And,” I received your post via Gmail. Thank you!
Thanks, fdan. Parables are suggestive and speak to the heart in variegated ways. The word leads to the Word radiating infinite rays of light omnidirectionally.