Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 16, 2024
The connection between this passage from Ezekiel and today’s pericope from Mark is all the tree and planting imagery. But the Gospel takes on even deeper meaning when we look at the entire chapter from Ezekiel.
The segment in today’s first reading is a response to a riddle that Ezekiel poses about two eagles and plucked branches from a tree and its subsequent transplanted vine. The action of these eagles (earthly rulers) will result in poorly established, fickle growth (the downfall of Jerusalem and the line of David). But when God is the one who plucks and plants, the result is fruitful abundance for the growing branch (Israel) and all who seek shelter in its boughs (God’s people and beyond).
When we weave these images together with Ezekiel’s allegory, what becomes clearer is that our human endeavors will find their fulfillment and success when we co-labor with God.
If we listen to today’s Gospel reading with a poetic ear and imagination, we can hear echoes of Mary’s Magnificat from Luke and the parable of the sower and seed from earlier in this chapter of Mark. When we weave these images together with Ezekiel’s allegory, what becomes clearer is that our human endeavors will find their fulfillment and success when we co-labor with God.
In all we do in service to Christ’s mission, let us trust in God who plucks and plants and guides the growth that will surely come, in the most unlikely places, in ways we will not expect—beginning with ourselves.
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