Homily For Monday Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 28th July, 2025

 

Readings: Ex . 32:15-24.30-34; Ps. 106; Matt. 13:31-35

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

WHAT KIND OF SEED ARE YOU NURTURING  IN YOUR HEART? 

Using a simple story to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson has always been one of the characteristics of Jesus when addressing the people regarding very important things. By couching his teaching in parables, Jesus made certain points much clearer to his audience. 

This is evident in our Gospel passage today, where he told us two parables: the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the Leaven,

using them to describe the nature of God’s kingdom, which he came to establish in the hearts of humanity. 

In the scriptures especially in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus used the mustard seed in two different analogies. First, in today’s Gospel passage, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed growing from the Word of God spoken to the hearts of his few disciples, which will grow and spread to the hearts of all humanity. This analogy focuses on the size of the seed that grows to become a mighty tree that gives shelter and salvation to all.

The second analogy of the mustard seed is found in Matt. 17:20. In this analogy, Jesus is not speaking of the size of the mustard seed, but the faith of the people as that of a mustard seed. Telling us that just as the mustard seed responds to the word of God and grows into a mighty tree, so will the faith of the people grow into a great vessel through hearing and doing the word of God. However, God has given humanity the freedom to choose whether to hear his word and embrace the faith so as to bear fruits of the kingdom or to reject it and perish. 

Nevertheless, these two analogies of the mustard seed symbolise the humble beginnings of the Christian faith, which is well nurtured and watered by the Holy Spirit to grow and give life and hospitality to all the people of the world. However, we know that there are good-for-nothing seeds present in this world to deceive people from listening to God’s word. 

Such seeds include: fear, regrets, doubt, jealousy, hatred, disrespect, greediness, lying, gossip, impurity, wickedness and all sorts of sinful acts. For those who embrace these good-for-nothing seeds follow the dictates of their own hard hearts and will soon be thrown away as good-for-nothing, because they have not listened to God’s words.

Therefore, let us not embrace such good-for-nothing seeds; rather, we should learn to embrace the mustard seed of faith entrusted to us and nurture it. We must let the word of God dwell in his heart and bear great fruit that will become a great instrument for God’s salvation for humanity. We are also entrusted with different seeds of responsibilities that seem very little as a mustard seed, but are we nurturing them to grow into great trees for God’s Kingdom?

Dear friends, in the world today, we have different kinds of responsibilities in the form of seeds. But the question remains, what kind of seeds are we embracing and watering in our lives today? Are we watering valuable mustard seeds of faith and love or weeds of fear, regrets, doubt, jealousy, hatred, disrespect, greediness, lying, gossip, impurity, wickedness and all kinds of sinful deeds that will destroy us? 

Today, we are called to quit watering these weeds because that's what the enemies want, and we must not fall into their traps. Rather we are called to nurture and water those valuable mustard seeds of faith, love, holiness, hospitality, obedience, charity and make them our values of life. For when we feed and water such values, they will grow stronger like the mustard tree where people may find solace and so build up God’s kingdom.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as you sow the seeds of your word and faith in our hearts, give us the grace to grow it into the mustard tree of love, holiness and hospitality. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a fruitful week ahead.