Sixteenth Sunday of Year (B)
(Jeremiah
23:1-6; Saint Paul to the Ephesians 2:13-18; St. Mark’s Gospel 6:30-34)
Under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit the O.T. Scriptures, as we know them, were built up very gradually over more
than a thousand years, with later ages adding new layers, strata, to traditions
received from earlier times; and in some of the most ancient of these
traditions thus providentially preserved and developed is the theme of shepherd:
Then (the
prophet Micaiah) said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep
that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master. Let each
return to his house in peace.’” (1 Kings 22:17)
The Israelites were originally nomads, people wandering with their
flocks and herds from one grazing land to the next, always in search of pasture
for their animals. This original, wandering existence -- bound by no ties
other than the well-being of their flocks and herds and the constant search for
the best available grazing -- this, in a word, nomadic life was very much
admired in later ages by some of the great prophets of Israel who found
themselves surrounded on every hand by decadence: by the luxury, violence,
injustice, superstition and depravity of city life, and the abuse of settled
agriculture in the pursuit of profit and pleasure. They looked back with
nostalgia for the old days because it seemed to them that as nomads they had
lived with the dignity and simplicity of men who were free: being disciplined
and protected by the tranquil rigours of desert life. Yes, they regarded
the original nomadic life as ideal for God’s Chosen People seeking, ultimately,
only God’s will; while rejoicing in His great beauty and goodness in the world
around and above all in their own national history and personal lives.
With such sentiments those prophets regarded the Exodus as the high peak
of Israel’s spiritual experience, when – with God as her shield and guide – she
came out of Egypt’s slavery and wandered over desert wastes learning to know
her God on the way to the land He had promised them. Moses appeared to them as the true shepherd
and David -- their great king -- as his heir.
I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble; and none shall be missing, says the LORD
This is the
name they give him: “The LORD our justice.” (Jeremiah
23:4-6)
After David, however, his royal successors failed to respond
satisfactorily to their calling and so we heard Jeremiah declaring to them in
today’s first reading:
Woe for the
shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of My pasture, says the Lord;
and looking to the more distant future the prophets foretold two things:
God Himself would be the Shepherd of His People; as would also a future king,
the Messiah of God.
Behold, the
days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to
David. As King He shall reign and govern
wisely, He shall do what is just and right in the land. In His days Judah shall be saved, Israel
shall dwell in security.
These two traditions were fulfilled in the Person of Our Lord Jesus
Christ … and the great work of Christ our Shepherd was to bring peace to His
flock: peace with God and with men of good will, as Saint Paul told us in our
second reading:
He came and
preached peace to you (Gentiles) who were far off and peace to those (Jews) who
were near, for through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Sublime Peace; a peace not for idleness, but for progress: progress through
faith in Jesus, by the power of His most Holy Spirit, leading ultimately to the
Father’s presence.
Therefore, having heard in the Gospel reading that:
When Jesus
disembarked and saw the vast crowd, His heart was moved with pity for them, for
they were like sheep without a shepherd;
we can guess that He pitied them above all for the lack of peace in
their hearts and of ultimate purpose in their lives and aspirations.
His Apostles had just returned from the missionary work on which He had
sent them and they were so very excited about the results of their work: the
conversions brought by their preaching, the cures they had wrought and the
demons they had cast out. Oh, how excited they were; and how glad, how
anxious to tell Jesus all about it!
Nevertheless, Jesus’ first care was to calm their over-excited minds and
jubilant hearts:
He said to
them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (for)
people were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even
to eat.
Dear People of God, notice Jesus’ guidance: leave the crowd and
learn to rest in (His) Jesus’ presence.
And yet, on reading today’s Gospel passage I was a little puzzled by Jesus’ words, because I would have expected Him to say, ‘Come away with Me to a deserted place (away from the crowd) by yourselves’, but He does not say ‘Come away with Me’, but ‘Come away by yourselves from the crowd’. Can it be that there Jesus does not explicitly promise to be physically with, or waiting for, His disciples; but rather, that by His use of the words ‘Come away by yourselves’, which, only imply His presence, He also wants to positively encourage them to actively seek Him there in that lonely place?
That guidance of Jesus, is, dear People of
God of the utmost importance for ourselves whenever we can find such a place of
solace for ourselves in the stresses of life. He wants to be found
indeed, but, nevertheless, He does not want to be thought of as being
‘automatically’ available?
Then, on seeing the crowds who had followed after Him, how He pitied
them, how deep was their unrest!!
We notice a similar thing so very frequently these our days. How
easy it is, in a crowd, to forget oneself; how easy to be swept along from one
absorbing interest to another, to be drawn into and embroiled in a kaleidoscope
of ever-changing events and excitement! But what about when people need
-- as eventually they must -- to go their own ways when each is then left alone
with his or her own thoughts? How few can bear that silence: for
some, a threatening loneliness, for others, oppressive boredom! And what
does that show? Simply that, of themselves, they have little that is
positively theirs: life for them is a wearisome business without the constant
novelties of crowd-life, crowd-noise, crowd-provocation and excitement.
Look around you! How often young people
are to be seen with ear-phones pumping into their heads rock and pop music or
whatever is the latest hit-style. There is, of course, nothing directly
wrong about that, but I’m sure Our Lord pities many such young people too, who
cannot bear to be alone with themselves, to be aware of nothing but their own
thoughts and fears, longings and regrets. Why? Because they don’t
know where their life is going, they don’t have any ultimate guiding
purpose. Out of touch, out of tune, with any such aspirations,
surrounding silence only seems to provoke deep and largely inarticulate
longings, vague and unrecognizable feelings, which well up within themselves
when noise and distractions from around cease.
Jesus came to bring peace to our souls by offering us TRUE LIFE: life such as the
world cannot give; life with a calling and a purpose that endures
throughout the variations, trials, and storms of eventful life and goes with us
into and beyond the grave; life centred on a rock which no storms can
unsettle let alone overthrow; life with a joy which cannot be taken away
from us by worldly chance, because it wells up from within our own hearts and
minds; life, drawing us with Jesus our neighbour our companion and
friend, our Lord and Saviour, to God His Father and our fulfilment. That,
is the treasure offered us by faith in Jesus and the Gift of His Spirit in the
Church.
People of God, don’t let yourselves get too wrapped up in the things of
this world. Take serious measures to be alone in the vicinity of Jesus at
times: and then shut yourselves off from the noise around and open yourself up to be with Him in faith that He may deepen His Peace, His Life, within you.
Those words are emphasized because Christian prayer, and above all
Christian contemplation are not to be entered upon in accordance with Yoga-like
practices. We Catholics and true Christians do not try use
any technique on, we do not try to exercise any power (even persuasive) over,
Him. We turn to Him in our need, and in His Power is our contentment and peace; we hope in His great Goodness, and in His merciful Wisdom and Providence
we confidently rest.
Thus, may we learn to say with all our heart on our daily way through
life the words of today’s Psalm:
The Lord is
my shepherd; I shall not want. He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil;
and may we ultimately
find our lives fulfilled beyond all possible measure and desire in our faithful
experience of those sublime words:
Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
