The proclamation of the Kingdom of God

543 Everyone is called to enter the kingdom. First announced to the children of Israel, this messianic kingdom is intended to accept men of all nations.251 To enter it, one must first accept Jesus’ word: (764)

The word of the Lord is compared to a seed which is sown in a field; those who hear it with faith and are numbered among the little flock of Christ have truly received the kingdom. Then, by its own power, the seed sprouts and grows until the harvest.252

544 The kingdom belongs to the poor and lowly, which means those who have accepted it with humble hearts. Jesus is sent to “preach good news to the poor”;253 he declares them blessed, for “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”254 To them—the “little ones”—the Father is pleased to reveal what remains hidden from the wise and the learned.255 Jesus shares the life of the poor, from the cradle to the cross; he experiences hunger, thirst, and privation.256 Jesus identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active love toward them the condition for entering his kingdom.257 (709; 2443; 2546)

100. In this great endeavour to create a new culture of life we are inspired and sustained by the confidence that comes from knowing that the Gospel of life, like the Kingdom of God itself, is growing and producing abundant fruit (cf. Mk 4:26–29). There is certainly an enormous disparity between the powerful resources available to the forces promoting the “culture of death” and the means at the disposal of those working for a “culture of life and love”. But we know that we can rely on the help of God, for whom nothing is impossible (cf. Mt 19:26).

God’s Grace Demands Man’s Cooperation

16. Now, if we cannot expect to reap a harvest when no seed has been planted, how can we hope to have a people with sound morals if Christian doctrine has not been imparted to them in due time? It follows, too, that if faith languishes in our days, if among large numbers it has almost vanished, the reason is that the duty of catechetical teaching is either fulfilled very superficially or altogether neglected. It will not do to say, in excuse, that faith is a free gift of God bestowed upon each one at Baptism. True enough, when we are baptized in Christ, the habit of faith is given, but this most divine seed, if left entirely to itself, by its own power, so to speak, is not like the mustard seed which “grows up … and puts out great branches.”20 Man has the faculty of understanding at his birth, but he also has need of his mother’s word to awaken it, as it were, and to make it active. So too, the Christian, born again of water and the Holy Spirit, has faith within him, but he requires the word of the teaching Church to nourish and develop it and to make it bear fruit. Thus wrote the Apostle: “Faith then depends on hearing, and hearing on the word of Christ”;21 and to show the necessity of instruction, he added, “How are they to hear, if no one preaches?”22

47. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not hesitate to confide the formidable task of evangelizing the then-known world to a handful of men to all appearances lacking in number and quality. He bade this little flock not to lose heart,91 for, thanks to His constant assistance,92 through Him and with Him, they would overcome the world.93 Jesus has also taught us that the kingdom of God has an intrinsic and unobservable dynamism which enables it to grow “without [man’s] knowing it.”94 The harvest of God’s kingdom is great, but the laborers, as in the beginning, are few. Actually, they have never been as numerous as human standards would have judged sufficient. But the heavenly King demands that we pray “the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”95 The counsels and prudence of man cannot supersede the hidden wisdom of Him who, in the history of salvation, has challenged man’s wisdom and power by His own foolishness and weakness.96

5. The mystery of the holy Church is manifest in its very foundation. The Lord Jesus set it on its course by preaching the Good News, that is, the coming of the Kingdom of God, which, for centuries, had been promised in the Scriptures: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand”. In the word, in the works, and in the presence of Christ, this kingdom was clearly open to the view of men. The Word of the Lord is compared to a seed which is sown in a field; those who hear the Word with faith and become part of the little flock of Christ, have received the Kingdom itself. Then, by its own power the seed sprouts and grows until harvest time. The Miracles of Jesus also confirm that the Kingdom has already arrived on earth: “If I cast out devils by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you”. Before all things, however, the Kingdom is clearly visible in the very Person of Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man, who came “to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many:”

Priests should remember that in performing their office they are never alone, but strengthened by the power of Almighty God, and believing in Christ who called them to share in his Priesthood, they should devote themselves to their ministry with complete trust, knowing that God can cause charity to grow in them. Let them be mindful of their brothers in the priesthood as well, and also of the faithful of the entire world who are associated with them. For all priests cooperate in carrying out the saving plan of God, that is, the Mystery of Christ, the sacrament hidden from the ages in God, which is only brought to fulfillment little by little through the collaboration of many ministries in building up the Body of Christ until it grows to the fullness of time. All this, hidden with Christ in God, can be uniquely perceived by faith. For the leaders of the People of God must walk by faith, following the example of faithful Abraham, who in faith “obeyed by going out into a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out not knowing where he was going” (Heb 11:8). Indeed, the dispenser of the mysteries of God can see himself in the man who sowed his field, of whom the Lord said: “then sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should sprout without his knowing” (Mk 4:27). As for the rest, the Lord Jesus, who said: “Take courage, I have overcome the world,” (Jn 16:33) did not by these words promise his Church a perfect victory in this world. Certainly this holy synod rejoices that the earth has been sown with the seed of the Gospel which now bears fruit in many places, under the direction of the Holy Spirit who fills the whole earth and who has stirred up a missionary spirit in the hearts of many priests and faithful. Concerning all this, this holy synod gives fervent thanks to the priests of the entire world. “Now to him who is able to accomplish all things in a measure far beyond what we ask or conceive in keeping with the power that is at work in us-to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus” (Eph 3:20–21).

The two seed parables (4:26–29 and 4:30–32) are identified explicitly as parables of the kingdom of God by their introductory formulas. They make similar points about the nature of God’s kingdom: There is a sharp contrast between small beginnings (the seeds) and great conclusions (the harvest, the great bush); something is happening in the present (the process of growth), and the process is mysterious to humans (the seed growing automatē, the small mustard seed turning into a large bush), which suggests divine guidance. These two seed parables may well once have formed a pre-Markan unit with the parable of the sower/seeds (4:3–9). Their message was one of hope for Jesus’ discouraged followers and for the persecuted Markan community. They affirmed that despite the rejection and opposition that Jesus’ “word” encountered, the “seed” sown in and through Jesus is growing and mysteriously moving toward the fullness of God’s kingdom.

Taken as a whole, Mark 4:1–34 develops the major theological motifs of this gospel. A christology emerges that not only continues the portrait of Jesus as one who teaches with authority (1:27; see 4:1–2) but also proclaims that the death and resurrection of Jesus constitute the mystery of the kingdom. This is present in the material that precedes and follows this chapter. In 3:23–30 Jesus is “the stronger one” (see 1:7) who comes to despoil the kingdom of Satan (see 1:24). The kind of disbelief that attributes Jesus’ power to Satan is blasphemy (3:28), the same charge that will be leveled at Jesus (14:64). In the pericope that immediately follows the parable discourse Jesus is addressed as “teacher” (4:38; see 4:1–2, 33–34), but his teaching is manifest in his control over the chaotic powers of nature (4:35–41; see Pss 65:7; 104:7; 107:23–31, where God has power over the raging sea and rescues those threatened by it).

I answer that, One thing may be contained in another in two ways. First, actually; as a located thing is in a place, Secondly, virtually; as an effect in its cause, or as the complement in that which is incomplete; thus a genus contains its species, and a seed contains the whole tree, virtually. It is in this way that the New Law is contained in the Old: for it has been stated (A. 1) that the New Law is compared to the Old as perfect to imperfect. Hence Chrysostom, expounding Mark 4:28, The earth of itself bringeth forth fruit, first the blade, then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear, expresses himself as follows: He brought forth first the blade, i.e., the Law of Nature; then the ear, i.e., the Law of Moses; lastly, the full corn, i.e., the Law of the Gospel. Hence then the New Law is in the Old as the corn in the ear.

Priests should remember that in performing their office they are never alone, but strengthened by the power of Almighty God, and believing in Christ who called them to share in his Priesthood, they should devote themselves to their ministry with complete trust, knowing that God can cause charity to grow in them.4 Let them be mindful of their brothers in the priesthood as well, and also of the faithful of the entire world who are associated with them. For all priests cooperate in carrying out the saving plan of God,5 that is, the Mystery of Christ, the sacrament hidden from the ages in God, which is only brought to fulfillment little by little through the collaboration of many ministries in building up the Body of Christ until it grows to the fullness of time. All this, hidden with Christ in God,6 can be uniquely perceived by faith. For the leaders of the People of God must walk by faith, following the example of faithful Abraham, who in faith “obeyed by going out into a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out not knowing where he was going” (Heb 11:8). Indeed, the dispenser of the mysteries of God can see himself in the man who sowed his field, of whom the Lord said: “then sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should sprout without his knowing” (Mk 4:27). As for the rest, the Lord Jesus, who said: “Take courage, I have overcome the world,” (Jn 16:33) did not by these words promise his Church a perfect victory in this world. Certainly this holy synod rejoices that the earth has been sown with the seed of the Gospel which now bears fruit in many places, under the direction of the Holy Spirit who fills the whole earth and who has stirred up a missionary spirit in the hearts of many priests and faithful. Concerning all this, this holy synod gives fervent thanks to the priests of the entire world. “Now to him who is able to accomplish all things in a measure far beyond what we ask or conceive in keeping with the power that is at work in us-to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus” (Eph 3:20–21).

280 Again, how will they be certain that the bread over which they give thanks is the Body of their Lord, and that the cup is his Blood if they do not say that he is the Son of the Creator of the world, namely, God’s Word through whom the wood is fruitful, the fountains flow, and “the earth gives first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear.”59