Sunday between 12 and 18 June    (if after Trinity Sunday)    

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading - Ezekiel 17.22-24

A reading from the book of the prophet Ezekiel. I will take a cutting from the top of a flourishing tree, says the Lord. And I will plant it high in the mountains of Jerusalem. There it will grow, and put out branches and bear fruit. Every kind of bird will come and nest in its branches. And every tree will know that I am the Lord, the one who can make the green tree wither and the dry tree flourish, the one who can take down the mighty, and raise up the lowly. This is the word of the Lord.

Second Reading - 2 Corinthians 4.16 - 5.1

A reading from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Our outer nature is wasting away, but every day our inner nature is renewed. So we do not lose heart. The temporary afflictions that we suffer are as nothing when compared to the eternal glory which is to come. We look not to the visible, which is temporary, but to the invisible, which is eternal. This earthly tent may be destroyed, but we know that in God we have a secure and eternal home in the heavens. This is the word of the Lord.

Gospel - Mark 4.26-34

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark. Jesus said to his disciples, ‘The kingdom of God is like seed, that a farmer scatters on the ground. The farmer sleeps, and rises, night and day, knowing that the seed will sprout and grow - though not knowing how. Out from the soil grows first the stalk, then the head of grain, then the grain itself. And when the grain is ripe, the farmer comes to collect the harvest. Or the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, which grows into a great tree; and the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.’ Jesus spoke to the crowds with these, and many other parables, as they could understand. And he would explain everything when he had time alone with his disciples. This is the Gospel of the Lord.