The Lord Is My Shepherd
Homily for Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
There is the story of a young priest who was teaching a catechism class. He told the children that they were sheep who needed guidance. He then asked, “If you are the sheep, then who is the shepherd - obviously indicating himself. A silence of a few seconds followed. Then a young boy said, “Jesus. Jesus is the shepherd.” The young priest, obviously caught by surprise, said to the boy, “Well then, who am I?” The boy frowned thoughtfully and then said, “I guess you must be a sheep dog.”
We see an image of ourselves in the people of Israel at the time of Jeremiah, who were suffering as a result of bad shepherds, and we see ourselves in the crowd who were thronging around Jesus and his disciples and who followed them on foot when they tried get away to rest. The crowd were like sheep without a shepherd. Like the people in the crowd, many of us know what it is to experience loss and bereavement, suffering and difficulty. We know the wounds and painful experiences that life can deal us. Recognising something of ourselves in these images, means that the readings for Mass this Sunday can speak into our lives.
Recently Fr Mike Schmitz, a well-known American priest, who is particularly good at preaching the Gospel to youth and young adults, made a podcast called, How to understand the entire Bible Story in 10 minutes. The popularity of this podcast has exceeded all expectations – more than 1 million views in the first few days. That should not be surprising because it is the story of God’s passionate love for us and the salvation he works for us in Jesus Christ.
You see, the Old Testament gives the history of the relationship between God and the people of Israel. In the ups and downs of the people, in their unfaithfulness and crises, God remained faithful to them and promised the coming of a Saviour. And in the New Testament, we see the fulfilment of
God’s promises in Jesus. And as we scan through the Scriptures we find ourselves there, and the way that God related to our ancestors in faith in the past, is the way that he relates to us today. God loves us and has given us Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
The prophet Jeremiah was prophesying at a very difficult time for Israel. Jerusalem was under threat. It was obvious at this stage that they were going to be conquered. Jeremiah speaks out against the bad leadership of Israel which had led to this disastrous situation. The opening line is: “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture.” The passage then continues with God saying that he himself will shepherd and rule his people, Israel. And, God then promises to raise up a king, a descendant of King David, a human king, to shepherd and rule his people.
This is a common theme in the writings of the prophets, this theme of God promising to be a shepherd himself to his people, and the promise of a Davidic king, a messiah. The Gospels show us that Jesus is the perfect fulfilment of this Old Testament prophecy. God became King of Israel through a descendant of David, who is both human and divine.
Over and over again in the Gospels Jesus is presented as a Son of David, a descendant of David. Remember how at the Annunciation the Angel Gabriel says that Jesus will be given the throne of his ancestor David? Remember the genealogy at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus is shown as descending from King David? Remember the cry of the blind man, Bartimaeus, outside Jericho: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me”? Remember the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when the crowds shouted out, Hosanna to the Son of David? So, in the Gospels Jesus is presented as a Davidic figure, a king in the line of David.
At the same time, in the Gospels Jesus is presented as divine. Remember how he forgives sins to the shock of the scribes and Pharisees who declare that only God can forgive sin. Remember his miracles of healing and raising the dead. Remember the calming of the storm on the Sea of Galilee? Remember the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor where in the presence of Peter, James and John, he was transfigured and was seen talking to Moses and Elijah? We can say then, that the Gospels present Jesus as the divine figure who came in the flesh, as a descendent of David.
Jesus had sent the twelve apostles, two by two, to the villages of Galilee to announce the coming of the Kingdom of God, to heal the sick and to help the weak and the poor. Today we hear about the return of the disciples from their mission. And they give a report to Jesus of all they had done and taught. The shepherding of the messiah as prophesied in the first reading from Jeremiah is fulfilled in Jesus. By his own preaching and by sending out these twelve apostles to preach, Jesus is gathering in the people of Israel, shepherding them, fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies.
Notice the extraordinary effect of the preaching and ministry of the apostles. After their return to Jesus, the Gospel says that there were so many coming and going that the apostles didn’t have time to eat. There is something extraordinary about the magnetic appeal of Jesus and the ministry of the apostles. It is as if the scattered sheep of Israel sensed that the Davidic king had arrived.
The Gospel text then shifts to reveal the heart of the Shepherd-King. We are told that even though Jesus and the disciples tried to get away in a boat to a lonely place so that they could rest, the people saw where they were going, worked out where they were off to, and they rushed there on foot from all the towns. When Jesus and the apostles landed, there was a great crowd, and Jesus had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for these people. The Greek word used for this pity and compassion of Jesus is extraordinarily strong; it speaks of an emotion coming from deep within him, from his gut.
What does this mean for us today? Well, Jesus looks at us with the same heart of pity with which he looked on the crowds as he landed on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The same compassion of Jesus we see right through the Gospels, in his teaching and in his deeds, is given to us. Jesus heals and feeds us, and he forgives our sins.
“Like sheep without a shepherd” is an accurate description of the spiritual lives of many people in our world today. So many people are directionless, helpless, and vulnerable. We might well see ourselves in this description at times. We are a people in need of God. We need salvation. Left to our own devices, we hurt ourselves and others; we mess things up. We are like wandering sheep. We are all adrift, scattered, in some way. We may delude ourselves for a time, believing that we are fine as we are, that we can direct our own lives. We may even try to fill our lives with all kind of other things, to mask our emptiness and need for God, as so many in our world do, but ultimately we recognise that we are looking for someone to lead us, to give us direction and hope.
Perhaps this is why Psalm 23, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’, is such a favourite psalm. Perhaps it is because the psalm expresses our vulnerability and need, and as we as we read it, we long to experience this shepherding love of God for us. We read it as an expression of confidence and faith in the Good Shepherd.
In the context of the demands and stress that they were experiencing, Jesus called his disciples to come away to a lonely place to rest awhile with him. It is the same for us. Right here in the Eucharist, we can rest in Jesus. The Mass is a place of peace and restoration and healing for us.
In the busyness and stresses of our daily lives, in the mess and weakness of our lives, we are invited to go to the Shepherd-King, a compassionate Good Shepherd, who will give us healing and rest.