Lord, you are good and forgiving. (Psalm 85)
In today’s Gospel, Jesus draws on his knowledge of rural and village life to illustrate his parables of the kingdom of heaven. He frequently says, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”
We can marvel at how vivid and timeless are our Lord’s similes so that they still speak vividly to our situation 2,000 years later. He speaks plainly of evil in the midst of our society as something present, active and dangerous: an entity in itself and not just a consequence of our fallen nature. Jesus refers to the devil as an enemy of humankind wreaking havoc. On the other hand, he compares the kingdom of heaven to yeast in bread which leavens the whole batch, countering evil with divine grace.
At the moment, while we are very conscious of the mighty cosmic struggle between good and evil taking place in our world, it is reassuring to know that God is very much in charge of the situation. By sending His Son, we know that He loves us and does not let evil have the last word. As Saint Paul wrote: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded still more.” (Romans 5:20)
