The Kingdom of God is

When we reflect on today’s Gospel, I think the words “fully grown”, and “leavened” jump out at us. Jesus is trying to explain the Kingdom of Heaven to us, and He gives us two parables. When we pray about this, Jesus is telling us that when we work with grace, the Kingdom of God in our hearts might seem small at first but grows into something mighty.

In the first parable, Jesus mentions this large bush that came from the smallest mustard seed. Jesus speaks in other passages of the Gospels about seeds and growth. Then, in the second parable, Jesus speaks of the yeast that brings the dough to leaven.

In both parables, we see this pattern, something really small over time grows into something big and mighty. Jesus is telling us that the Kingdom of God is the experience of our Lord that grows into something that changes us forever into something more than we can ever be without Jesus. We will be forever changed when we are united with God in heaven, especially when Jesus comes again and raises our bodies to give us glorified bodies like His own glorified body. As we dwell on Earth, however, the Kingdom of God, most of the time, enters into our hearts in small doses.

For us, especially during the times of chaos and strife we see today in our culture, we can be tempted to feel abandoned and question why isn’t God doing anything to help us? But I think what God is saying to us is that He is doing what He does best, working through humanity. Good people are still working on the frontlines, good community leaders are working to bring harmony back to our neighborhoods.

God is using us as instruments to bring about a more unified community. We should go where He calls us so we can do our part to bring about this unity. But the most important thing, we need to let God put that seed, or that leaven in our hearts. This is what we can call a non-negotiable part of being in relationship with God. God plants His seed into our hearts by prayer, frequent reception of the Eucharist, and opening up the Scriptures to let God speak to us through His word.

There is no reason to panic or worry, but we should have a healthy fear that brings us to God through these paths. Jesus tells us, when we let God plant seeds in our heart, we grow into something mighty!