I myself will gather the remnant of my flock and bring them back to their meadow. Christ as the Good Shepherd, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, 15th century 16 th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B July 22, 2012
First Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6 23Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. 2 Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. 3 Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord. 5 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: The Lord is our righteousness. Responsive Psalm 23 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; 3 he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long. Second Reading: Ephesians 2: 13-18 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15 He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16 and might
reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. 17 So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18 for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. Mark 6:30-34 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while. For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. Homily: Today, we have recurrent themes of the Good Shepherd as contrasted with those who fail their flock across our readings. In our First Reading in Jeremiah, the prophet was writing toward the end of the reign of Zedekiah, shortly before the final captivity in 587 BCE. He condemns the last kings of Judah who failed as shepherds. The Lord speaks to those who are shepherds who mislead and scatter the sheep, that is, those who do not stay in an authentic spiritual path for themselves, resulting in distortions and misleading others who are seeking God. Then the sheep of the pasture are scattered, left alone, unprotected, and without safety. It is in the meadow of the Lord that they will flourish under the care of shepherds who will not cause them to fear, or to regard any single sheep as unworthy of finding if s/he is missing from the flock none should be abandoned! In the Hebrew, the word for shepherd also means to rule and contains the image of feeding and providing for the flock, or our conceptualization of a pastoral role. In our Second Reading, in Paul s letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle says that Jesus came and preached peace to those who were far off or near, breaking down the wall of enmity indeed, even being willing to take the burden and to suffer so as to free his followers seeking reconciliation with God and his living community. An Alleluia which is often associated with the liturgy for this day refers to John 10:27 which says: My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me. Alleluia, alleluia! I think of close relationships between a parent and an infant, or a person and his/her companion animal; both recognize their person, and turn their heads when they hear that familiar voice. The ability of infants to discriminate the face and voice of the parent develops very early if there is parental availability and reliability. But if there is no predictable parent, what happens to the infant? We will observe them a little later as young children being very indiscriminant -- going from one person or another -- with no preference. When we see this pattern in a young child, we know that something went terribly wrong. And perhaps there is an analogy spiritually, that if we don t develop a stable bond with a shepherd and a community, we go on searching and searching for
what seems never to be found. Emotionally and spiritually, there needs to be a trustworthy and predictable home base. Jesus offers himself as that person who gives us a place where we are known, loved, and where we are safe. And we know from real-life shepherds that when sheep are herded together from several herds, the sheep will unerringly follow the voice of their own shepherd to whom they have previously bonded. God is saying that if we who are disciples are connected to him, we will come recognize his voice and know which way to go. And, similarly, as we follow in his path, it is we who are called to provide that bond for others seeking the Lord and community. In our Gospel Reading, we see what was going on among the disciples and Jesus before the Loaves and Fishes story that we who grew up in churches are all familiar with. We see that Jesus and the disciples sought rest and because people were coming to them in such great numbers, they themselves had had no opportunity to sleep or to eat. So they sought to withdraw to a deserted place to be alone. But the crowds relentlessly followed them. We can see that the sheep knew where the nurturance was to be found, and their spiritual hunger drove them to follow Jesus. In today s Gospel, we see the disciples following Jesus who tells them to rest for awhile. They had not even had the leisure to eat. Every shepherd needs to take time to rest and restore himself/herself physically and spiritually. But we also see when they went away to a deserted place, people were relentlessly following them. We have that image again of a bond, a connection to Jesus, that this was the person who was going to feed them spiritually. What follows is the feeding of the five thousand which has been taken as a template of Eucharist and read both literally and metaphorically. But today s passage is before that event, and the disciples and Jesus are tired. But we see that Jesus had compassion for them, seeing that they were like sheep without a shepherd, so he began to teach them. We have a model for both self-care and caring for the flock. Sometimes we must override our own needs in order to take care of others, whether in the workplace, our neighborhood, our faith community, or among our friends and family. We see here that people were hungry to be fed spiritually, and we will learn that it was evening and the people also needed food at the time of the Loaves and Fishes story to follow today s passage. Part of being a shepherd is to care for both physical and spiritual needs at one time or another. And if we are disciples of Jesus, his examples are relevant to our lifestyles today, to take time to take care of ourselves, but to be ready to override our own needs when required. Jesus felt compassion for the crowds who were following him, and recognized their eagerness and even desperation to be taught. We teach both in our words and our actions. I think of the analogy of riding in an airplane and the instructions given to passengers in case there is an emergency landing. The adults are instructed to place the oxygen mask on themselves before helping their children. The logic is clear: If you pass out from lack of oxygen, you are no help to anyone. And in ministry, we need to model self-
care because there are so many who sacrifice themselves, perhaps to a fault in some cases. Perhaps in some cases, they give out of their emptiness, out of a belief that they must override themselves at all costs, and they are not giving out of spiritual abundance but out of emptiness We as servants of Jesus need to examine ourselves and attend to our own motivations and understand what we are doing. Sometimes we give out of a sense that we will not be accepted or approved by others who are important to us. Jesus addresses some motives for giving that are based on self-pride, wanting to look better than other people, which is always a temptation in any human setting. If we do not love and take care of ourselves, recognizing that we and those we serve are created in God s image, we are at risk for giving out of our deficit rather than wholeness. Then, we are not good examples for those for whom we offer care, support, and ministries. Let us examine ourselves, recognizing that we all have a mix of contradictory and contrasting motives for doing ill or doing good. Today s reading are not just for religious leaders but for us all, to examine the choices we make in relation to our fellow human beings. They hastened on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place to wait for you. Today we hasten in cars and planes and computers and trains, but we do not find the place. Where to look? In crowds, and deserted places? When we are being carried; when we carry others? Lord, you know that we need to find you in all things, in whatever we do, wherever we are. Show us, please. Coffee workers in Guatemala plead for fair prices.
24 million Africans fear death from starvation, Aids, Malaria. Salvadorans in terror of parasites in their water. Hungry people dreading empty plates. Lord, let us be shepherds like you. Help us do what is right and just. The dividing wall is destroyed. Jews and Gentiles, Catholics, Protestants, Tree-huggers and developers, conservatives, liberals, whites, blacks, browns, yellows, reds, men and women, gay and straight Their meeting place is Christ, and his word is peace. Get us to come to the meeting. Prayers only. Copyright 2012, Anne M. Osdieck. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce for personal or parish use.
Study Notes: What was an apostle? It is interesting that in the Gospel passage, verse 30 points back to the mission of the Twelve. It is only at this one place in Mark that they are referred to as apostles. In the beginning, this term did not refer to a fixed title or status, but rather, a function. In the earliest Pauline epistles, which were the most ancient of Christian writings, we see that there was at least one female -- Junia who was called an Apostle. Mark, the earliest Gospel, uses the term only once. But by the time the Gospel of Luke was written, probably 20-30 years, definition of an apostle had been modified to the point that only the eleven or twelve disciples would be so designated, and of course, women were now out of the loop. And the history of Junia is very interesting, how the name was distorted to turn her into a male, because later scribes thought it was impossible that a woman could be designated as an apostle. But for the first thousand years of Christianity, this question was never raised. It was politicized later. And the phrase in Romans 16:7 where she is mentioned was changed to say that she was known by the apostles rather than prominent among the apostles. Research has proven this to be an incorrect interpretation. Announcements: September 2 (Labor Day weekend): There will be no Mass this weekend. I will be in Phoenix with Bp. +Peter and Jetty. We have a priest who is being incardinated into the ECC, Rev. Kate Lehman and her community, the Teresa of Avila parish. Jetty will be doing music and other ministries in several parishes in Arizona, along with Rev. Elaine Groppenbacher+ so I will be traipsing around with them.