22 JULY 2018 - 16TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B) Jer 23:1-6; Eph 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34
Fr Fernando Armellini SCJ
Claretian Publications, Macau
He who works needs to take a break. That’s why, at the return from their mission, the apostles are invited by Jesus to rest for a while. The apostles, after accomplishing their mission, gather around the Master, and report what they have done and taught. After listening, he invites them to retire with him apart into a desert place, away from the crowds.
Jesus retreating with the disciples is repeated often in the Gospel of Mark. It always prepares for a major revelation. Here, again, “Jesus and the twelve are alone” on a boat, in silence, slowly moving away on the lake.
Mark wants to give a message to the leaders of the Christian community. Service to the community requires much effort and great generosity. However, there is a need to be attentive because it can easily turn into frenzied activity, assessed according to the criteria of enterprise productivity. The danger of losing contact with the giver of the work, with Christ and his word, looms even on the most generous ministers.
It is true that all of life is prayer. In the poor one meets God, in the service of others one works in the name of Christ. However, if one does not reserve spaces and moments of silence where one is alone with the Lord, if one does not get away from activities that absorb all time and energy, one ends up in atrophy.
As Jesus and the apostles reach the shore, a large crowd greeted them again. The encounter of Jesus with the crowd stirs a very strong emotional reaction. Jesus expresses a feeling of compassion so deep and so intense that it can be proved only by God. In the emotion of Jesus, the Christian community captures the unique feeling that she too must embody always: mercy.
The image of the compassionate shepherd recalls the various texts of the Old Testament. The first reference is to the prayer of Moses asking for a replacement for him “that they may not be like sheep without a shepherd” (Num 27:16-17).
The image also alludes to the accusations of the prophets against the leaders who led the nation to ruin: “They have scattered for want of a shepherd…. and no one bothers about them or looks for them” (Ezk 34:5-6) and the famous Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Ps 23:1).
Returning to the image of the shepherd, Mark shows in Jesus the guide sent by God in answer to the prayer of Moses, and in fulfillment of the promises made by the prophets. Jesus is the true shepherd because he reveals a heart sensitive to the needs of the people, a heart that immediately perceives what kind of food they are hungry for and what kind of water they are thirsty for.
Translated by Fr John Ledesma SDB
Abridged by Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF
Sheep without a Shepherd
Edmond Lo
One general thrust of the Old Testament books as a whole is that the shepherds given the responsibility to look after God’s sheep, i.e. God’s people, had failed to do a good job. They were looking after their own interests, not the interests of the sheep. As a result, God promised to punish these selfish and irresponsible shepherds, and replace them with good shepherds who would look after His sheep properly. This theme, found in this Sunday’s first reading (Jer 23:1-6), can also be found in other OT books, particularly Eze 34 and Zech 11.
The Christian reading of such OT passages sees the bad and good shepherds as the leaders of Israel and the leaders of the New Israel – the Church – respectively. Similarly, “God’s sheep” in the OT refers to the people of Israel, but it also points forward to the people of the Church. (This method of reading the Scripture is called “typology”. See CCC 128-130, 1094 for explanation and illustration.)
As usual, the goodies promised by God are often more plentiful than we expected. On further examination, God’s promise to send good shepherds actually went one step further: “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands,” the Lord said (Jer23:3). As it turned out, not only would God send good shepherds, He Himself would be our Shepherd!
Now we can understand better why in this Sunday’s gospel reading when Jesus saw the vast crowd waiting for him to disembark from his boat, “his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mk 6:34). This is because Jesus knew he was the only Shepherd – the ultimate Shepherd – who could really look after them properly! With this understanding in mind, Jesus’ good shepherd discourse in John 10 now makes perfect sense: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11).
Thus in the responsorial psalm we chant together with David, “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.”
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