The authors of the Lectionary advise us frequently to look at the First Reading and the Gospel together. Today they seem to be both about shepherds. In the First Reading Jeremiah castigates the shepherds and teachers of Israel who he says have let the sheep go astray. He warns them of the vengeance of God who will punish them for their misdeeds and neglect of their flock. He goes on to foretell the coming of new shepherds who the Lord will raise up to tend his flock. And more than this, because he says that there will also be a new King who will rule Israel with wisdom and integrity. From our vantage point in history we don’t need to be told that this new and virtuous King is Christ himself. In the Gospel reading we hear how the Apostles have returned from their ministry in the surrounding villages and Christ proposes that they now go to a place of rest for prayer and recuperation. However, it seems that the people had followed the Apostles and would give them no peace, not allowing them even time enough to eat.
The Apostles and Jesus go off together in a boat to a lonely place but the people follow them by land and by taking a short cut they get to the destination before them. Jesus sees the crowd and takes pity on them gathered there and so he starts to teach them at length because, as it says, they were like sheep without a shepherd. We are shown here the compassion of Jesus who takes pity on the people who were thirsting to hear the Word of God. This highlights the important role of shepherds, of those charged with leadership of the People of God. Even though the people tire them out with their constant demands they, following the example of Jesus, wish to serve them to the point of exhaustion. Switching to our own day we see that it is true that Apostles are now very much needed.
We have seen a steep decline in the numbers of priests and religious in the Church; and while some lay people are stepping up to take their place it is not enough. In short, we are facing a tremendous crisis of leadership in the Church. Bishops and Religious Superiors have drafted in priests and religious from the developing areas of our world but still we face a shortage. So there is a great need for new people to take on roles of leadership in the Church; whether this be as priests, religious or lay people. From each community there should arise a sufficient number of leaders able to take on the task of supporting the work of the Church in its own particular locale. Here in Wealdstone we are a particularly large parish but that means that there is a lot of work to do.
We certainly need more Eucharistic ministers, more readers, more catechists, more youth leaders, more altar servers and so on. But we also need others to help with preparing couples for marriage, people to support the bereaved and persons to take up positions of responsibility in our schools. We need too a few men who can train to become permanent deacons so that we can benefit from their preaching and ministry. There is a lot to do and we all have to realise that each one of us has a role to play within the life of the parish. Jesus tells the Apostles that they need to go away to a lonely place to be by themselves so that they can rest and pray. We all need this ourselves from time to time. In the Church today we often speak about going on a retreat or a pilgrimage. We go off to a holy place, whether it be a monastery or a shrine, and take some time to recharge our spiritual batteries. It is vital for us to do this now and again. All of us need on occasion sufficient space to reflect on our lives and to make important changes in our priorities.
To do this effectively we need to set aside the necessary time for us to be alone with the Lord. Actually, at St Joseph’s we do this sort of thing quite well. There are many opportunities through the year to go to Lourdes or Walsingham or to other pilgrimage places. For example there is a pilgrimage to the Motherhouse of the Sisters in Sturry on 22nd August and I hope that many parishioners will join the trip. This will be a very good way of us expressing our support for the Sisters but more importantly enabling us to spend a few hours in a holy place so that we can say our prayers and give a little time to God. I urge you to take advantage of these opportunities to be like the Apostles and spend some time apart with like-minded people so that we can return to the pressures of everyday life spiritually refreshed and rejuvenated.
Of course, if you are not able to get away to a place of pilgrimage it is possible to do it in your own home. It is possible to set aside a day or even a few hours for private meditation. Reading a spiritual book, saying some prayers, doing the Stations of the Cross, meditating on the scriptures; all these things can be done at home. I would urge every parishioner also to have in their home a special place for prayer. It doesn’t have to be an actual altar; it could be just a crucifix, a holy picture or a statue put in a particular corner. This small shrine can then become a place set aside for personal prayer and meditation. Having such a place in one’s home is a great advantage and brings blessings on the whole house. It can be the place where we sit when thinking about our own difficulties or interceding with God on behalf of our family and friends. It can be a place of meditation where we keep a copy of the scriptures or our Sunday missal. It can be the place where we keep our rosary and where we use it to enlist the help of Mary in times of trouble. In this way pilgrimage becomes part of our lives, the sacred begins to permeate our homes enabling the love of God to radiate out from there to the world around us. I’m not asking you to turn your homes into a Church but just to have a small corner set apart for prayer, a small place where we can easily express the love of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
HE TOOK PITY ON THEM
Mark describes the scene in full detail. Jesus and his disciples went in a boat to a lonely place. He wants to have the chance to listen to them quietly after they have had their first apostolic experience. Certainly they will have lots of things to tell him.
Jesus’ plan is suddenly made impossible. People guessed where they were going, and “they hurried all to the place on foot and they reached it before them”. When Jesus and the apostles arrived, they found a large multitude of people who had come from all the villages around. How did Jesus react?
Marks describes everyone’s reaction very graphically: the disciples haven’t yet learned how to deal with the people; Christian communities had to learn about Jesus’ relationship with the common people, mostly unknown to everyone else, and who were not really cared for by anyone else.“ As Jesus
stepped ashore, he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.”
What the gospel writer notices first is Jesus’ look and reaction. He is not disturbed or irritated after seeing all his plans upset. On the contrary, he looks at them attentively and is moved to pity. Jesus is never uncomfortable with people. He is truly compassionate and sees what they really need; he is fully aware of how disoriented and without future the village people of that time were.
All of us in the Church today must learn to look at people as Jesus did:
He understood their suffering, their loneliness, the loss and hopelessness in which most of them were. Real compassion is not shown by simply following the rules and remembering our obligations. We show real compassion when we truly look out for those who are in real trouble.
It is from that perspective that Jesus discovered the real needs of those crowds: “they were like sheep without a shepherd.” The teachings they received from their temple Law keepers did not offer them the food they needed. They had really nobody who cared for them. They did not have a shepherd to guide and protect them.
Moved with pity, Jesus “set himself to teach them at some length.”
Calmly, he began to teach them the Good News of God and his project of his kingdom. He is not obliged to do it. He forgets about his earlier plan and needs. He talks to them about God’s Word, motivated by the need of a shepherd that he sees in those crowds.
We cannot remain indifferent when we see so many people, within our own Christian communities, who are in need of something better than what they get. We cannot accept as normal the religious disorientation within our own Church. We must react in an enlightened and responsible manner. There are many Christians who need and expect better food. They need shepherds to guide and give them the real teachings of Jesus.
MOVED TO PITY
The Gospels give us more than enough evidence to show that Jesus looked at everyone through the eyes of love. The love of Christ for all people and for all sorts of people has been celebrated in song and sermons for many centuries. Let us try to take a special look at what it means to see how he related to people on a day-to-day basis.
Today’s gospel gives us a picture of Jesus, caught in the act of being Himself. He was not preaching a sermon. He was not teaching a lesson. He was not performing a miracle. He was simply relating to people. And that gives us the opportunity to take a look at how Jesus looked at people.
To start with, there is a strong indication that he sometimes got tired of people and wanted to get away from them for a while. His disciples had just returned from a mission of teaching and preaching. They were tired but there was no chance to rest. The place was swarming with people. Our reading tells us that they could not even eat, let alone rest. So Jesus pulled them aside and said this: “Come by yourselves to an out-of-the-way place and rest a little.”
My guess is that Jesus made that suggestion, not only for his disciples, but for his own benefit as well. He was tired of working. He was tired of not resting, and he was tired of all those people. He wanted to get away from them, at least for a little while.
Jesus was not a lonely, isolated tower of strength, who needed no one but himself and God. He could live that way when it was necessary; but basically, he was a people person. He not only loved them, he liked them. He enjoyed parties. Barbara Streissand used to sing a song that said, “People who need people are he luckiest people in the world.” Jesus was one of those. He needed people and made no apologies about it.
A third truth is that He looked at them sympathetically. When their boat arrived on the other side of the lake, a crowd of people was already there. Most of them were the same people that they had left behind on the other side. Jesus might have been very irritated, but he was not. Mark tells us, “He looked at them with pity, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
Jesus taught his disciples to live by the Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” And that needs the use of imagination. We must put ourselves in the place of that other person and try to understand what is going on in his heart and mind.
This was the genius of Jesus as he dealt with people. He saw possibilities in everybody. A Prodigal Son had the possibility of coming home. A despised Samaritan had the possibility of being a good neighbour. An unstable Simon had the possibility of becoming a rock, a Leader.
WITHOUT A SHEPHERD
The disciples sent by Jesus to proclaim the Good News returned all enthusiastic from their mission. They couldn’t wait to tell their Master all they had done and seen. Jesus, evidently, was waiting to hear all their stories at length: in fact, he invited them “to some lonely place and rest for a while.”
The crowds, however, spoilt their plan. People from all nearby villages came rushing and looking for them. The peaceful and private meeting that Jesus had suggested for him and his disciples was not going to take place. By the time they arrived at the secluded place of their choice, the crowds had already preceded them. How does Jesus react?
Mark the evangelist describes his reaction indetail. Jesus was never disturbed by and never avoided people. He always related to people, not only those He knew or was related with, but also the masses of faceless men and women, as well as the unknown and powerless. As soon as he saw such crowds, he felt compassion for them. He couldn’t help it: “He took pity on them.” Those were the people closest to his heart.
He would never forget them. “He saw them like sheep without a shepherd:” like people without a guide to show them the way, and without a prophet to listen to God’s voice. So “he set himself to teach them at some length,” and gave them much of His time and attention, teaching them the saving words.
A day will come when all of us will have to re-examine, before Jesus our Lord and guide, how we look and treat those large crowds of people who are leaving our churches, perhaps, because they do not hear anymore the Gospel message: our long sermons, encyclicals and written messages say little that they can understand or apply in their lives.
There are many simple and good people who may be disappointed because they can’t find in us Jesus’ compassion. There are many believers, too, who do not know to whom or where to go to find a God or a religious answer to their human problems. Finally, there are some Christians who choose to remain silent because they feel that what they need to say may not be important to the Church.
One day the face of the Church will have to change. We shall all learn to show more compassion; we shall pay less attention to our own doctrines and sermons and pay more attention to people’s sufferings. Jesus has the strength to transform our hearts and renew our communities.