Collect
Generous God,
you give us gifts and make them grow:
though our faith is small as mustard seed,
make it grow to your glory
and the flourishing of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Matthew 13.31-35
He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’
He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’
Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet:
‘I will open my mouth to speak in parables;
I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.’
From Psalm 82
God has taken his stand in the council of heaven;
in the midst of the gods he gives judgement:
‘How long will you judge unjustly
and show such favour to the wicked?
‘You were to judge the weak and the orphan;
defend the right of the humble and needy;
‘Rescue the weak and the poor;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
‘They have no knowledge or wisdom;
they walk on still in darkness:
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.