So Little for so Many

Matthew 13: 31-35
Ex 32:15-24.30-34 / Ps 106:19-23

It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full grown it is the largest of shrubs.
(Matthew 13:32)

To make the bread of life expand,
With yeast of love a pinch will do;
Christ’s parables we’ll understand
If in His Word we are renewed.

He put another parable before them. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’ He told them another parable, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’

Reflection

Our Lord was not speaking in parables to confuse His listeners, or to hide the true meaning of His teachings. He was in fact being faithful to Scriptures, fulfilling what was prophesied in Psalms 78:2- “revealing old mysteries which our ancestors have told us.” He also clothed His messages in parables in order to make them relevant to the contemporary setting, and at the same time allegorical to highlight the truth for all generations to understand throughout human history.

His kingdom on earth for instance (which is our Church), started out like a tiny mustard seed (just a few apostles), but is now like a great tree, home for many birds in its branches — various Christian denominations, all children of the One True God. Our Church has also been like a yeast, mixed in with so much flour — the millions of unbelievers among us, who would never have risen above their apathy or faithless state, had they not been infused with the Gospel values of Jesus Christ.

We in the renewal are part of the yeast of the Kingdom of God. Like “the salt of the earth” that permeates the bland, and “the light on the lampstand that dispels the darkness,” God’s yeast will make His Church expand to all the corners of the earth. It is true that out of the many who are called, only a few are chosen, but in God’s kingdom, like salt, yeast, a single candle, or a mustard seed, only a little is required to make a great difference.

Our diocesan priests are few and far between, ministering one to 20,000. And yet a few of them still go periodically on mission to such places like Papua New Guinea or parts of Africa to spread the Catholic faith and the Good News of Jesus to the far corners of the globe. According to Msgr. Afable of the Diocese of Davao del Sur, who was once a missionary himself, hundreds of thousands of these modern pagans have been converted by such a “small measure of yeast”.

Like the tiny host that we receive when You come to us, Lord Jesus, so little is required to make the whole body renewed in Your Spirit. Thank You, Master for Your parables. Make us worthy to be the yeast of Your kingdom. Amen.