July 22, 2018

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time B Jeremiah 23: 1-6; Ephesians 2: 13-18; Mark 6: 30-34 I was listening to a podcast about athletes who were asked if they were ever starstruck. They said they were and each shared times when they were with their ‘idol’. Speechless and tongue-tied filled their responses. Mariano Rivera, the great New York Yankee relief pitcher said he would love to be with Jesus. “I’m just a regular person and so is everyone else, but being with Jesus would be amazing.” What would it be like to be with Jesus? What are His concerns? Would He be more a ‘lecturer’ or a ‘listener’? Would He be concerned about me or about others? Would I do most of the talking or would I listen? Would I feel comfortable in asking my questions? The readings today help us with a picture of the qualities and concerns of God. Jeremiah was young when he received the call to prophesy. As so many of the prophets, he didn’t want to do it because he was by nature retiring and sensitive. But he realizes that the spiritual condition of Judah has so declined that God made this startling announcement, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My heart would not turn toward this people.” (Jeremiah 15:1) David’s successors were supposed to care for the people as a shepherd cares for his flock. They failed to do this; so God says today, “I myself will gather the remnant of My flock…and bring them back to their meadow.” (The Promised Land)…”I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble…” So God is personally promising to guide the people. A good question for us is: Have I ever realized that God sends me each day to show people what God’s love is all about? Do I shy away from this? Do I realize that the Spirit is filling me with the help I need to be love in these situations? The Responsorial Psalm affirms this, “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” Psalm 23 Paul is sharing with the Ephesians their past saying that they were once considered ‘aliens’ in relation to Israel; they were separated from Christ but now in… “Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.” Applying this to ourselves, whatever we felt kept us inadequate or ‘not called’ or not important enough has evaporated. These divisions do not exist. Our present status is the result of Christ’s gift of love on the cross which Paul is telling the Ephesians today has made all followers ”one new person”. This makes each of us, “…members of the household of God”. We have each been called to live and act as God’s family. It is so easy to read these words and say that they are nice and inspiring but they are a precise description of what my mission is as a follower and disciple of Jesus. Jeremiah had reminded the people of their covenant with God: “You shall be My people, and I will be your God.” Jeremiah 30:22 The people had turned their backs on God. God doesn’t give up. God continues to send prophets like Jeremiah to call the people back to this ideal. We still say what has this to do with me? Jesus shows us this in the Gospel. Mark is setting the stage for next week’s Gospel on the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. But we will hear the version from John’s chapter 6, the first fifteen verses and not Mark’s version. The importance is to focus our attention on how we can learn from Jesus and His disciples on how they are ministering to those in need. In today’s reading we see that the apostles had been sent to tell the people that God’s kingdom has arrived. Jesus has come to tell us that God loves us, the apostles were sent to confirm this with their preaching and healing of the sick. They had been tremendously successful. Jesus starts very positively but serious challenges will be coming for the apostles and for us. We have to notice that Jesus’ first concern is with the well-being of the apostles and not on the success of their mission. They had been so taken up with their work that they hadn’t even had time to eat. Jesus said, ‘OK, lets take some time together and go to a quiet place and get some R & R. The crowds surrounding them were making this very difficult. They made their escape by boat, but the crowds arrived at the other side of the Sea of Galilee before them. Now comes the key ingredient of our mission as shown by the compassion and concern of Jesus. The people “were like sheep without a shepherd…” and Jesus began to teach them. Mark does not tell us the content of the teaching. A good guess would be how Mark expressed Jesus’ ministry earlier: “After John (the Baptist) had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: ‘This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15 Then comes what I feel is the keynote of this passage and what it means to be a Christian today. Mark tells us, “When He disembarked and saw the vast crowd, His heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.” ‘His heart was moved with pity…’ The Greek word used means literally ‘to have one’s guts moved’. This is very powerful. We use the word compassion today which is defined as: ‘sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.’ This is what Jesus had for the crowd. This is what God has for us. Is this what we have for others…all of the time…some of the time…or not at all? Reflecting on the Word from Living the Word says this: “Compassion comes from the Latin words cum (with) and passio (to suffer or feel). To have compassion is to suffer with and feel with another. To have compassion requires that we pay attention to our sisters and brothers and all creation. We need to see the vast crowd to which we belong, the human family, and allow our hearts to be moved by what we see. But compassion does not end there; we have to do something to respond to what we see and feel. Pope Francis calls us to live the compassion of God in both social and civil life, building bridges, not walls, responding to evil with goodness, and to offense with forgiveness (audience, February 8, 2017). Rest in God. Feel with God. Live the compassion of God.” So I reflect on: • Do I look at ways in which I have experienced God’s compassion in my life? • I look at ways that I have been moved by the needs of people in my life? Am I supportive of them? Am I defensive? Do I play favorites in responding? Am I all inclusive as God has been to me? • When have I had a painful experience through which I was certain God was leading me? Did this awareness make the experience any easier? What was I called to do in this situation? • Do I reach out in faith when I recognize that someone is struggling in their faith or do I keep quiet? Sacred Space 2018 shares: “Jesus gave His time and energy to people for hours, days on end—and the apostles did as well. But He understood the need for rest and solitude, even in the midst of ministry. If Jesus needed it, can I imagine that I don’t? Help me, Lord to sense when it is time for rest—and when it is time to push through the next hour or day because people are in need and You have gifted me with ways to help them.”