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.
The man planted the seed. He probably weeded and watered to encourage it as it grew. But the growth remained something mysterious, internal to the seed itself. Paul was familiar with the fact of this hidden inner reality, saying "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase" (see First Corinthians 3:6-8).
There are several consequences to this truth that God is alone is responsible for the growth and the fruit of the seeds. The first consequence is that we aren't required to have a perfect understanding, either of the seed, or of the soil, in order to share the Gospel, just as this man did not need to be a botanist for the seed to grow. We need neither be Scripture scholars nor highly competent in human psychology or masters of persuasion in order to plant and water seeds for the Kingdom of God. Our part in this scheme is in fact fairly basic. We plant, we water, we weed. But nothing essential happens apart from the action of God.
A second consequence of the hidden nature of growth is that there may be much that we misinterpret as we observe the process. The seed may take longer to burst through the soil than expected. It may be more than one season before it finally yields full grain in the ear. It may seem dormant for long periods of time, or appear withered and at risk of dying. At such times we remember that God gives the increase. We simply remain faithful, providing what support we can, but not attempting to become botanists who dissect the plant to discover what is wrong. Such efforts more are destructive more often than are beneficial. It is God alone who can bring about the fruit for his harvest.
A third point to make about this hidden seed is that everything that is true about it in others is true in ourselves as well. We don't need a precise or scientific understanding to make Spiritual progress. Even with our own spiritual lives it is not we ourselves that give the growth, but God. We cooperate with him by making room, by ensuring that we are watered by the living water of the Holy Spirit in faith, prayer, Sacraments. We allow ourselves to be pruned of the branches that don't bear fruit. We work to have sin uprooted from the fields of our lives. All of these are graces with which we must cooperate. But the fundamental fact of our growth stems from the gratuitous gift of God alone. Even more so in ourselves than in others it is easy to misread the signs of this growth. Even more so, then, must we walk by faith.
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
The Lord wants us to understand that the things that make for greatness and success in the kingdom are not predictable, and do not conform to the usual patterns of the world. The greatest in the kingdom are to be like children. God chose the weak in the world to shame the strong. He chose those who are nothing to bring to nothing those who believe themselves to be something (see First Corinthians 1:27-28).
The most perfect example of the mustard seed principle was seen the cross of Christ. How likely was it, from humanly speaking, that this tree would bear fruit and put forth branches large enough to welcome the entire world to dwell in its shade? Yet it is in this shade, the shade of the Church that we dwell. It is from the fruit of this tree that we receive gifts charismatic, Sacramental, and hierarchical. It was seemed most unlikely indeed. But it was exactly what Ezekiel predicted.
And all the trees of the field shall know
that I, the LORD,
bring low the high tree,
lift high the lowly tree,
wither up the green tree,
and make the withered tree bloom.
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