16th Sunday in ordinary time, Cycle B. Today’s readings: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ephesians 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34.
An obituary published in the state of Virginia (USA) eight years ago reads thus: “Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday, May 15, 2016, at the age of 68.”
Despite its amusing tone, this announcement reflects the sad reality that decent citizens often feel orphaned in the present political landscape. Principled voters face an almost impossible choice between candidates whose positions they cannot support in good conscience, and populist contenders whose morals are dubious.
The situation in our churches can be quite disheartening as well. We are all too aware of the manifold abuse scandals that have tarnished our reputation almost beyond repair. But beyond the ‘front-page’ scandals, our flock is also harmed by the not-so-secret double lives of some pastors, by sloppy liturgies that reveal the presider’s lack of faith, and by homilies that are out of touch and uninspiring, if not outright fallacious.
Just recently, a friend shared with me the abject sense of betrayal she felt during mass when the priest started off his homily by flatly denying the veracity of the miracle recounted in the Gospel that had just been proclaimed.
Bearing this in mind, we realise that it is not only the civil and religious leaders of their own time who are being called to account by Jeremiah and Jesus in today’s readings. How terrible to be on the receiving end of these words from the first reading: “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the Lord. (…) You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them.”
Our Lord’s first act of shepherding in today’s gospel was not directed at the flock, but at the shepherds themselves
Christ too – we are told – has strong feelings for the crowd he encounters while leading the apostles to a well-deserved break. Seeing them “like sheep without a shepherd”, he experiences an overwhelming compassion for them. Scriptural translations struggle to express the depth of feeling conveyed by the Greek word esplanchnisthē. It refers to a profound sympathy coming, as it were, from one’s inward parts which, in those times, were held to be the seat of love and pity.
Yet Jesus promptly transforms his feelings into action. Mark tells us that he started teaching the people many things, thereby fulfilling Jeremiah’s messianic prophecy that God himself would shepherd his people through a righteous descendent of David: “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock.” He also promises to appoint shepherds of integrity to guide the flock in his name.
How are we to apply this promise in our own time? Primarily, we can do so by trusting that God will never leave his people bereft of good shepherds fashioned according to the heart of Jesus. The Church’s history provides us with ample proof that, however dire the situation may have appeared at different times, and however corrupt or immoral certain Church leaders may have been, God always raised up saints to guide his flock back onto the right path.
As for our often overworked and disheartened priests, religious, catechists, and lay leaders, let us gratefully note that our Lord’s first act of shepherding in today’s Gospel was not directed at the flock, but at the shepherds themselves: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
Let us be renewed and encouraged by this awareness; and let us actively spend time with the Lord in moments of recollection and prayer. It is only by allowing ourselves to be refreshed and recreated by the Good Shepherd that we can in turn be the righteous pastors that God’s flock needs and deserves.
bgatt@maltachurchtribunals.org