Word Wide Open: The Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) - 6/13/21

 First Reading (Ezekiel 17:22-24)

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel.

Thus says the Lord GOD:

I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar,

    from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot,

and plant it on a high and lofty mountain;

    on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it.

It shall put forth branches and bear fruit,

    and become a majestic cedar.

Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it,

    every winged thing in the shade of its boughs.

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.

As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? How does God reveal Himself through creation?


Second Reading (2 Corinthians 5:6-10)

A reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians.

Brothers and sisters:

We are always courageous,

although we know that while we are at home in the body

we are away from the Lord,

for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Yet we are courageous,

and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.

Therefore, we aspire to please him, 

whether we are at home or away.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

so that each may receive recompense,

according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? What does it mean to be courageous? Why are we away from the Lord?

Gospel (Mark 4:26-34)

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark.

Jesus said to the crowds:

“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.

Of its own accord the land yields fruit,

first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,

for the harvest has come.”

He said,

“To what shall we compare the kingdom of God,

or what parable can we use for it?

It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,

is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.

But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants

and puts forth large branches,

so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”

With many such parables

he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.

Without parables he did not speak to them,

but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this Gospel reading? What is the Kingdom of God? Where does faith start? Why did Jesus speak in parables?