SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B
TO PASTURE IS TO GIVE NOURISHMENT, NOT ORDERS
Introduction
Those who hold power are called to perform a service for their brothers and sisters. Still, they are also subject to the temptation to abuse their position of prestige and use it to impose themselves, to further their own personal or family interests. The author of the book of Wisdom warns: "For the lowly there may be excuses and pardon, but the great will be severely punished" (Wis 6:5-6).
Dominion over others is strictly forbidden in the Christian community (Lk 22:25). Christ does not invoke a power conferred on him by the institution to ask the disciples to adhere to his life proposal. He precedes the flock, feeds it with his word and his bread, and leads it by his example.
In the Church, the one who presides cannot but reproduce the model of the Master. Peter, repeatedly reprimanded by Jesus for his eagerness to emerge, recommends to the presbyters of his communities: "Shepherd the flock which God has entrusted to you, guarding it not out of obligation but willingly for God's sake; not as one looking for a reward but with a generous heart; do not lord it over those in your care rather be an example to your flock" (1 P 5:2-3).
It seems as if the person who wrote the following reflection for the Scoutmaster had this recommendation in mind: ‘Remember, Scoutmaster, if you slow down, they stop; if you give in, they go back; if you sit down, they lie down; if you doubt, they despair; if you criticize, they demolish. If you walk forward, they will overcome you; if you give your hand, they will give their skin; if you pray, they will be holy.’
"Only by following the only true shepherd, I shall not want."
First Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6
It was in a challenging social and political moment that, towards the end of the seventh century B.C., Jeremiah pronounced this oracle. The prophet had pinned many hopes on the young king Josiah who seemed to have been raised by the Lord to reunite the scattered tribes of Israel. But, in an inauspicious battle in the plain of Megiddo, this pious and wise king dies tragically. His son, Jehoiakim, rises to the throne. He is an imbecile, a corrupt lover of luxury who does not care about the poor, but thinks about building splendid palaces, does not pay the workers, commits harassment, and allows the courts to punish the innocent and acquit the guilty.
Politically he is inept: he allies himself with Egypt and makes the foolishness of challenging the Babylonian empire, which is at the height of its power. Nebuchadnezzar confronts him and beats him. After a few months, Jehoiakim dies, probably murdered by his political opponents. He is succeeded by his son, who is immediately taken prisoner by Nebuchadnezzar and replaced with another son of Josiah, Mattaniah, which is given the name Zedekiah.
The situation does not improve because Zedekiah lacks personality and is surrounded by foolish advisors who encourage him to take up arms against Babylon. It is the ruin. Jerusalem is reduced to a pile of rubble, and the people are deported to a foreign land. In this historical context, the oracle proposed to us in today's reading should be placed.
The beginning (v. 1) is constituted by the Lord's irrevocable condemnation of the political leaders who, except for the pious Josiah, have proved unfaithful to God and insensitive to the words of the prophets. They are compared to shepherds who, instead of caring and attentive to the flock's needs entrusted to them, are leading it to ruin.
This is not the first time that the prophet uses this image; he has already done so on other occasions and always to deplore the actions of the leaders of the people: "The shepherds have become foolish, they have not sought the Lord; therefore, all their flock is scattered" (Jer 10:21). Now that the situation has become more dramatic, the Lord resorts to threats: Woe to you! I will ask you to account for your actions (vv. 1-2).
After this sentence of condemnation against the leaders, the prophet turns to the discouraged, leaderless people and tries to revive them. There is a reason for hope: Israel does not belong to any human king, even if unworthy rulers have lorded it over them; the flock is God's, He will personally take care of his sheep and lead them back to their land, to the pastures from which they were violently snatched (vv. 3-4).
To console Israel, Jeremiah does not limit himself to the immediate future; heannounces what the Lord will do in even more distant times: he will raise up in the family of David a righteous sprout, a wise king who will exercise right and justice throughout the earth (vv. 5-6).
Jeremiah probably hopes for the providential appearance of a new ruler, capable of restoring the kingdom to the splendor it had at the time of David and Solomon. He also announces his name. He will be called Lord our Justice, in Hebrew Ja Sidqénu, an obvious allusion to Sidqíja, Zedekiah, the inept ruler in office who did not guarantee justice or protect his people.
The prophecy was fulfilled, but not according to human expectations; God exceeded all expectations. The promised shepherd did not restore a kingdom of this world, grant prosperity to only one nation, or subjugate people by force of arms.
The shepherd, the promised son of David, we can identify today: he is Jesus of Nazareth, he is the Ja Sidqénu, the Lord of our justice, because he initiated a kingdom of peace and justice, not by imposing himself by force of arms, but by changing hearts. His reign, apparently without a future because it lacks those supports in which people place their hopes of success, is instead destined to extend over the whole earth and last forever.
Second Reading: Ephesians 2:13-18
Throughout the Roman Empire, Jews were known for their isolationism; Tacitus brands them as ‘enemies of humankind.’ A wall one and a half meters high surrounded the holy area of the temple of Jerusalem. On it, thirteen marble tablets were engraved in Greek and Latin, forbidding pagans to enter the sacred enclosure under penalty of death. It was the sign of the separation, which Israel believed God wanted, between two peoples: on the one hand, the chosen ones, the only heirs of the blessings promised to Abraham and his descendants, and on the other hand the foreigners, those excluded from salvation.
Addressing himself to the latter, the author of the Letter to the Ephesians proclaims the end of this opposition, established by people, not by God. Christ has reconciled the two peoples forever: "You who once were far off have now become neighbors;" at the price of his blood, he has purchased the right of citizenship in Israel for those who did not belong to the people of the covenant (v. 13). He then explains how, of the two, he made one people.
He is our peace, the ‘prince of peace’ announced by Isaiah (Is 9:6), the ‘lord of peace’ promised by Micah (Mic 5:4), sent to break down the fences and barriers that separate, to put an end to all divisions between people because God equally loves all (v. 14).
He achieved this goal by abrogating the Jewish law, which, to preserve the people from the impurity of the Gentiles, sanctioned and blessed separation (v. 15) and reconciled the two peoples. Not only that, but, by his incarnation, he also abolished the distance between God and man; he united heaven and earth, proclaiming peace, peace to those who were far away, and peace to those who were near (vv. 16-17). These gentle expressions echo Isaiah's prophecy: "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet ofthose who bring the good news of joy, who herald peace" (Is 52:7).
The passage concludes with a superb image derived from court ceremonial. United by the one Spirit, infused in all by Christ, Jews and pagans, near and far, present themselves together in a solemn procession to the Father (v. 18).
Animated by this Spirit, the Christian cannot but become a peacemaker. Like Christ, he is committed to demolishing all the walls that still prevent people from meeting each other; he does not allow himself to be involved in speeches that emphasize what divides people, the wrongs they have suffered, past misunderstandings; he repudiates prejudices, discrimination, and every kind of caste; he believes in dialogue between peoples, cultures, races, and religions.
Gospel: Mark 6:30-34
All those who work need to take a moment of rest, and apostolic activity, as Paul, who carried it out for many years, says, is ‘hard work’ (2 Cor 11:23). This is the reason why, upon returning from their mission, the apostles are invited by Jesus to take a little rest. The episode might seem relatively trivial, but the evangelist reports it because it contains important messages for Christ's disciples.
In the first part (vv. 30-32), the apostles are introduced; they return from their mission satisfied, gather around the Master, and report what they have done and taught. After listening to them, he invites them to withdraw with him to a solitary place far from the crowd.
The scene of Jesus secluding himself with the disciples is repeated often in Mark's Gospel and always prepares for an important revelation. After telling the parables to the crowds, Jesus, in private, explains everything to the disciples (Mk 4:34); "far from the crowd, in a secluded place" he cures the deaf and dumb man of Bethsaida (Mk 7:33); he leads Peter, James, and John to the mountain of the transfiguration in a secluded place, alone, (Mk 9:2); it is in private that he answers the disciples who ask him for an explanation about the end of the world (Mk 13:3) and about the reason why they were not able to drive out a demon (Mk 9:28).
In our passage, the expression ‘on the sidelines’ is repeated twice and is accentuated by the fact that Jesus and the twelve are alone in a boat that, in silence, slowly moves away on the lake.
The first message, the most straightforward and most immediate, Mark intends to address to those in Christian communities who are responsible for presiding over and proclaiming the word of God. He wants them to compare their apostolic zeal with that of the twelve and to learn to serve their brothers and sisters with such dedication and love that they no longer have time even to eat.
However, the main message is different and should be understood in the expression apart that sets the tone for the entire passage. Service to the community requires much commitment and incredible generosity, but one must be careful because it can quickly turn into a frenetic activity, evaluated according to the criteria of business productivity; then looms over even the most generous ministers the danger of losing contact with the giver of the work, with Christ and his word.
The apostles who gather around the Master and evaluate, together with him, what they have done and taught, show what must be the point of reference for all apostolic activity. Before implementing projects, a sincere confrontation with the Master is necessary to receive the indications on the task to be carried out and to feel sent by him. Programs cannot be developed without a constant reference to the Gospel. Choices and initiatives that are not born of prayer, meditation, and community reflection on the word of God risk being dictated by human criteria. Behind the screen of charitable and beneficial works, there are sometimes lesser noble objectives, ambitions, personal interests, the desire to compete, impose oneself, and make proselytes.
It is true that the whole of life is prayer, that in the poor we encounter God, that in the service of our neighbor we work in the name of Christ, but if we do not carve out spaces and moments of silence in which we remain alone with the Lord, if we do not detach ourselves from the crowds and activities that absorb all our time and energy, we end up atrophying.
Even during the realization of apostolic programs, one must, at every moment, allow oneself to be challenged by Christ; one must never fail to refer to his word and, when the work is completed, it is always necessary to withdraw into the background, to evaluate with him, as the Twelve did, what has been accomplished. Only those who proceed in this way can nourish the conviction that they are not "in danger of running or having run in vain" (Gal 2:2). The rest of Jesus and the apostles last only a short time, only the time needed to cross the lake.
In the second part of the passage (vv. 33-34), here they are, in fact, again amid the people who, having come from all over, are waiting for them on the shore. The boat's occupants represent the Christian community which, after having taken a good moment to reflect on itself and to be with the Master, now returns to the service of people. Its seclusion was not an escape but a spiritual recharge. When they are bearers of a divine word that instills hope and communicates salvation, disciples are always eagerly awaited and joyfully welcomed.
The encounter with the crowd arouses in Jesus an emotional reaction so strong that, to describe it, the evangelist uses the Greek verb splagknízomai, which expresses a feeling of compassion so deep and so intense that God can only experience it. The Bible indicates the tender and affectionate gesture of the Lord who bends down over humanity to bind their wounds.
Mark had already noted this feeling in Jesus when a leper, kneeling, begged him (Mk 1:40-41) and, again, he will report it in his encounter with the hungry crowds: "I have compassion on these people, for they have been with me for three days and have nothing to eat" (Mk 8:2). Jesus' reaction reveals God's tenderness in the face of human pain.
When misery, evil, and pain are caused by sin, the spontaneous and natural reaction is to expect or, if it is a matter of others, even to invoke divine punishment, considered an expression of perfect justice. In the emotion of Jesus, the Christian community grasps the only feeling that it too must allow to shine through: always and only mercy.
The evangelist completes the scene with an image of incomparable beauty and sweetness: "He was moved by them because they were like sheep without a shepherd" (v. 34). The image recalls various texts from the Old Testament. The first reference is to the prayer that Moses made to the Lord after the exodus from Egypt. Fearing that, after his death, Israel might be left without a guide, he implored this grace: "May the God of the spirits that give life, appoint a leader for this community, who shall go out and come in at their head, that the community of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd"(Num 27:16-17).
The image then alludes to the prophets' accusations against the leaders who led the people to their ruin: "They have scattered for want of a shepherd and became the prey of wild animals. My sheep wandered over the mountains and high hills, and no one bothers about them or looks for them" (Ezk 34:5-6), and to the famous psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" (Ps 23:1).
Taking up the image of the shepherd, Mark points to Jesus as the guide sent by God in response to the prayer of Moses and as the fulfillment of the promises made by the mouth of the prophets. In Israel, some presented themselves as shepherds: the scribes, the Pharisees, the rabbis, the political leaders, King Herod, but they shepherded themselves, not the people.
Jesus is the true shepherd because he reveals a heart sensitive to the needs of the people, a heart that immediately perceives what food they are hungry for and what water they thirst for. He is mindful of the words of the prophet: "See, days are coming when I will send a famine upon the land: Not a hunger for bread, or a thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord. They shall stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east in search of the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it" (Am 8:11-12).
The leaders of the people were not able to satiate this hunger and thirst; indeed, with their false doctrines, they had led the people astray. Jesus then began distributing his bread, the twofold bread: the teaching that nourishes the mind and heart and the food that feeds the body.
Today's passage concludes by noting that Jesus "set about teaching them many things" (v. 34). He did not get down; he did not swear at those responsible for the painful condition in which the people were reduced; he began to teach because this is above all the bread that people need.
