GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY AND HUMAN COOPERATION.

June 13, 2021 
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - B.

Readings: Ez 17:22-24; Ps 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16; 2 Cor 5:6-10; Mk 4:26-34.

A Sicilian proverb says, “God has dominion over your possessions and your life.” And an Albanian proverb adds, “If you don't believe in cooperation, watch what happens to a wagon when one wheel comes off.”

We live surrounded by many things humanly hardly understandable. Many are the mysteries that our mind cannot pierce. In front of all these, not that we make no efforts to comprehend, but we must bow down and acknowledge that all things that are on earth have a master who has designed them and fixed them the way they are. God is the sovereign master of all things in heaven above and on earth below.

What must we understand through God’s sovereignty? It is all about his supreme and independent power or authority. God has an absolute right to do all things according to his own good pleasure. He alone is in power to command anything to anyone. Nevertheless, he makes use of humans to achieve his plans. We are speaking here of God’s sovereignty and human collaboration in salvation.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church comes to our rescue when it states: "God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures' cooperation. This use is not a sign of weakness, but rather a token of almighty God's greatness and goodness. For God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other, and thus of co-operating in the accomplishment of his plan." CCC. 306.

Today's readings help us to feel the sovereignty of God in the creation and our human cooperation or collaboration for the completion of that creation. Creation, theologians, and scientists say, is continued action. It is not a static matter. God did everything in his Divine Project and plan. It is now ours to move this work to its accomplishment.

In the first reading, through the Prophet Ezekiel, God is shown as the one who lifts high the lowly and lowers down the proud. He gives growth to the small tree and withers up the green. All things are in his sovereign hands, and nothing can resist his will and power. For he says, “I, the Lord, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, wither up the green tree, and make the withered tree bloom.”

Our part, St. Paul will say in the second reading, should be to aspire in everything, to please God. Paul insists on our belongingness and nothingness before God's glorious majesty. The Apostle says, “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.” Our entire being should aspire to please the Lord for he is the master of all, and we should live through faith in Him.

The Gospel enforce this when the Lord Jesus uses different parables to describe God's sovereign work and his kingdom. He is the one, as we said before, who gives growth to all. Of the smallest mustard seed, he makes a majestic tree.

How can we relate to the Lord's parables? First, the parable of the growing seed: the seed, we know, is God's word. It is the seed of his kingdom. Once the word is thrown in the soil of human life, it takes root in the heart of the believer, and by itself carries its process till it brings forth abundant fruits. Nothing, but the receptive heart of the believer is needed. All the other stages of the process depend on God alone.

With the second parable of the mustard seed, we learn that God's kingdom comes to us in a very insignificant way, the smallest of all seeds, yet eventually it becomes one of the largest plants. God works mysteriously in those who welcome him generously.

The human collaboration to God's project of salvation and the coming of his kingdom is called faith and openness to live in accordance with his will. God's kingdom begins in us as a little seed. We are therefore urged to lend it the ground and give it to be firmly grounded in our hearts. At the end of our earthly existence, we will see the fruits of what life has been here on earth. Thus, Paul can say, “each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.”

You are a cooperator and architect of your own salvation. Look at your life as an investment and yourself as an investor. Therefore, invest well in order to harvest profusely. And, let us keep this firmly, even though God is sovereign in his design, he never opposes human freedom. Cooperate at your future. Live your present life as the preparation of the Kingdom to come.

And let us end our meditation with this quote from Martin Luther, “Free will without God's grace is not free will at all, but is the permanent prisoner and bondslave of evil, since it cannot turn itself to good.” Martin Luther (1483-1546) in “De Servo Arbitrio”. God’s sovereignty does not enslave man, but rather sets him free and makes him responsible of his actions. For, cooperation means co-responsibility. The seed, of course, shoots and grows on its own, but it also needs water and fertilizer from the farmer for good growth.