(Tissot - Jesus teaches)
"They were like sheep without a shepherd"
Mark 6: 30-34
Sunday Word: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/072218.cfm
Often after returning from a vacation that was filled with all kinds of new adventures or activities, such as an overseas tour, we may feel that we need a little “mini vacation” after the vacation to catch up and recover. It might be readjusting to the time zone I live in, or catching up on mail or getting the home in order before going back to a routine. Generally, it might mean taking a bit of a rest to get organized again.
That’s the context in which our Gospel this Sunday can be seen. The disciples of Jesus had just been sent out “two by two” on mission to preach and heal and now they return from what must have been a tiring journey and need a bit of R and R to rest a while. Jesus recognizes this and invites them to: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” We hear as well that these men were thrilled with the results they saw. Although tired and in need of a rest, their enthusiasm must have pleased the Lord. Yet, predictably, they were actually a bit filled with themselves and the power that Jesus had shared with them. So before the false assumption that all success was due to them alone, Jesus recognized their human need as well. So, get away from the crowds and the demands of ministry and just recharge. Sounds good to me!
However, that was short lived. We continue to hear in the Gospel passage, “. . . people were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat . . .” The need was so great and the hunger of the crowds for the preaching of Jesus, that their own personal needs may have to be set aside for a little while more. The crowds found in Jesus a charismatic teacher unlike any other. He brought them hope and healing and a new meaning and purpose for their lives. What greater human need is there than for an existence which is meaningful and fulfilling? He was a very good shepherd to his people and the disciples, soon to become Apostles, were called to model themselves after his example. It’s all very ordinary and extraordinary at the same time.
However, you would know from our first reading of the prophet Jeremiah that such shepherds had not been in the historical memory of the Jewish people. God warns his people, in particular their leaders that they had been poor shepherds who “mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture.” These leaders, among them the Kings of Israel hundreds of years before the coming of Jesus, had been everything they should not have been: compromising the purity of the Jewish faith by mixing with other pagan religions, allowing sacred worship to be overrun with corruption and scandalizing the people who were desperate for unity and satisfaction in their faith. “Where is our God?,” they must have cried.
But, hope was offered since God decided to take over and directly intervene in this desperation by his promise: “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock . . . I will raise up a righteous shoot to David; as king he shall reign and govern wisely, do what is right and just in the land.” A real shepherd will come to gather the broken and lost under his kingdom. As Christians we of course see this as a prophecy to send the best shepherd of all, Christ Jesus himself.
So, while the crowds continued to gather with Jesus and his band of disciples, even pursuing them to the other side of the lake not giving them rest, it was the need it self that Jesus responded to and provided the example for his disciples. “He was moved with pity . . . for they were like sheep without a shepherd.” This deep compassion to set things right moved Jesus and in like manner his disciples to not rest at this time but to respond to the need of the crowds before them. Such compassion for others is a powerful motivation for action. But it is also a lesson in remembering whose mission this really is: that of Jesus who we are privileged to promote
The mission of Christ, we are all entrusted with means that at some point we need to recognize that our own needs may not always be the most important. By offering himself to the crowds even beyond the limits hoped for at that time, opened up a door in the heart of the crowds to his further teaching and how they were ready to receive him.
So, maybe the question for us is that rather than moan and complain about scandal and poor leadership which indeed we have seen over the last couple of years, would it be better to provide for what might be lacking in the Church today? Would it be better by our own good example and faithful leadership, however that may be played out in our lives, and I include myself of course, to provide for the Church what may be lacking? What good do we see and where can we offer that good in greater ways? In other words, what is my ministry; my living out of my Christian mission? How and where do I attend to the needs of the flock before me?
If we all think about it, we all have others who look to us for something: children to their parents, grandchildren to their grandparents, patients to their health care providers, clients to their attorneys, parishioners to their pastors, and further in the Church leaders to attend to the faith formation needs of the flock. More examples are obvious as we reflect on our own lives.
So, what is your ministry? What part of your life can be identified as a share in the mission that Jesus offers you? In short the mission of Christ is a way we offer to others a sharing in the love of God for his people.
Next Sunday, our Gospel is about the loaves the fishes and the feeding of this very crowd that pursue Jesus and his band of men. They are now hungry and tired and Christ sees a golden opportunity to not just attend to their physical needs but in a dramatic gesture show them how God’s generosity is available for all.
So, here we have the ultimate example from Jesus himself, of how we must live our lives. Whatever sort of ministry of service and love that I identify in my life, it’s good to ask in the end who do I point to – myself or to Jesus himself? Am I truly bringing others to the Lord or do I seek to have my own self recognized. Are parents, as they form their children, really directing them to come to know and love the Lord or simply to see them as a good Mom and Dad?
Yesterday, when visiting a gentleman in the hospital I had seen last year, I also found there one of his daughters and her husband. We had a great chat and then the daughter said to me: “Father, you really worked a miracle on Dad last year. After you prayed, despite what doctors had told him, he recovered enough to still be with us today at the age of 93.”
Well, if I was brazen enough to take that literally and now see myself as a great miracle worker, I better be ready to hear what God spoke to the poor shepherds of Israel: “Woe to the shepherds who mislead . . .”
So, let’s examine our hearts as disciples on the mission of Christ given us. Our Eucharist gatherings remind all of us whose mission we are privileged to share in. As Ghandi once said: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
He always showed compassion
for children and for the poor,
for the sick and for sinners,
and he became a neighbor
to the oppressed and the afflicted
(Preface: Eucharistic Prayers for Various Needs IV)