A few weeks ago, I presided at a funeral for a member of a family I’ve known for a long time.  The family’s extended relations attended the funeral, and I was astounded by the fact that people I remember as children have become adults.  Their faces and voices were familiar, but talking to adults who were children when I saw them last was a disorienting experience. Those former children had been transformed completely. 

Despite our contemporary knowledge of the organic growth and development of plants and animals, there remains the experience of radical transformation on which the parables in today’s Gospel reading are based.  The farmer in the parable of the harvest and the observer in the parable of the mustard seed were astounded by the seeming miraculous transformation that caused mere seeds to yield plentiful crops.  The parables intend to portray the arrival of God’s kingdom as an experience of the radical transformation similar to what occurs in the growth of seeds, plants, or even people. 

These parables illustrate the same message Jesus proclaimed in his preaching, namely, that one must repent sincerely and be transformed by God’s mercy; the “kingdom of God” is a description of the life of one who has been transformed radically by faith in Jesus. 

Not all radical transformation is created equal, of course.  The contingent nature of the world leads to the possibility of experiencing transformation as detrimental or destructive.  In fact, the word “radical” is often used to describe people or groups who are judged to hold extremist opinions or commitments.  Jesus’ two parables in this Sunday’s Gospel refer intentionally to the positive transformation of growth, fruition, and productivity, but it is necessary to consider the alternatives, as well. 

Some Scripture commentators think that these two parables expressed Jesus’ denunciation of the Zealots, a group who fomented violent revolution against the Roman government in Judea. Jesus seemed disinterested in the major political issues in Judea during his lifetime. He certainly condemned violence and conflict; the repetitive message in his preaching was reconciliation. One important lesson we can draw from these two parables is that the kingdom of God is to be received because it cannot be taken by force. 

A second lesson can be drawn from the actions of the farmer in the first parable and the unmentioned observer in the second parable. The first parable says that the farmer “would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, but he knows not how.” (Mk 4:27) This isn’t a statement about the farmer’s disinterest or laziness or lack of engagement with the responsibilities of farming. Rather, it is a reference to the astounding, but predictable process of transformation from seed to crop. The parable about the mustard seed contains a similar meaning. This second lesson is similar to the first, namely, there is nothing one can do to precipitate or hasten the coming of God’s reign. The kingdom will come at the time appointed by God. 

It is God’s intent to transform us into the image of Jesus so that we can then participate in God’s transformation of the world. When we intend to transform ourselves, or refashion the world to suit our tastes, however, the transformation is not guaranteed to be as benign as what God offers. 

How, then, does one determine if one is being transformed by God’s will or by some other guiding principle? Again, the simplicity of these parables provides an answer. The growth of a plant or an animal or a person is astounding, regardless of how many times one witnesses it. Nevertheless, the growth of plants, animals, and people is predictable in the sense that seeds give rise to mature plants and newborns give rise to adults; a life grows into the mature form of its origins.  

In the life of faith, this means that an unredeemed human life matures into an unredeemed person. On the other hand, a redeemed human life, that is, one that has been reborn by faith, grows into the image of Jesus. In fact, this is a truism: one grows into the image of what one holds in highest regard, for good or for ill. 

Using the images in these two parables, we might say that each person’s life yields a crop, that is, each person has a lasting effect on the world. Not all crops, however, are equal. True goodness requires more than good intentions; true goodness requires lifelong nurture by the perfect goodness of God.