Balancing Service and Rest: Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus took His apostles away for a quiet retreat after their exhausting preaching mission.  It didn’t go precisely as deliberate.  Why?

St. Mark tells us that when the apostles returned to Jesus after a busy mission of preaching and therapeutic (see Mk 6:7-13), He needed them to “Come away by yourselves to a abandoned place and relaxation awhile.”  They all went off in a ship so they may have a possibility to catch their breath, as a result of “folks have been coming and getting in nice numbers, and so they had no alternative even to eat.”  This easy description offers us an thought of how intense Jesus’ public ministry received at instances.  It’s straightforward for us to neglect that though there have been instances of quiet for Jesus and the Twelve, they lived and moved amidst crowds of individuals with urgent wants.  

This invitation to relaxation after their work is an echo of the Creation story, when God labored after which rested.  Here, within the work of Redemption, there is similar rhythm of labor and relaxation.  The third of the Ten Commandments God gave to His folks to control our religious and ethical lives makes the Sabbath “relaxation” an obligation for man.  

God all the time instructions what’s greatest for us (not “guidelines” however mild on our path).  To be known as to relaxation after our work is among the clearest marks that we’re made within the picture and likeness of God.  He labored and rested; so will we.

As we ponder the refreshment Jesus and the apostles are anticipating of their “abandoned place,” St. Mark attracts again a curtain so we are able to see different motion additionally going down on this scene.  “People noticed them leaving and plenty of got here to find out about it.  They hastened there on foot…and arrived on the place earlier than them.”  Busted!  It appears the folks have been decided to not let Jesus out of their sight.  His plan to offer some much-needed solitude to the apostles was thwarted by their desperation.  

St. Mark lets us really feel the sharp conflict of competing wants on this temporary episode.  We can think about how the apostles will need to have longed for his or her boat to succeed in what they thought was an remoted vacation spot.  We may also think about the fervor of the folks to be as close to Jesus as they may presumably get.  How would this battle get resolved?

St. Mark offers us solely Jesus’ response (possibly that’s a superb factor?): “When He disembarked and noticed the huge crowd, His coronary heart was moved with pity for them, for they have been like sheep and not using a shepherd; and He started to show them many issues.”  

We can assume that Jesus Himself additionally desired relaxation from the fixed strain of the crowds.  He most actually desired it for the apostles.  However, when He noticed the misplaced look on the faces of the individuals who had tracked Him down, He couldn’t resist them.  He knew nobody else might meet their aching want.  He served them somewhat than Himself.  He gave a robust instance of selflessness to the weary apostles, too.  Ever the Good Shepherd, He lovingly fed His sheep.

We ought to be cautious to savor these moments within the Gospels—instances once we see Jesus moved to pity, in a deeply human manner, for these in want.  His tenderness and sympathy are actual.  His Sacred Heart beats with the identical sort of human love that so imperfectly beats in our hearts, too.  In our instances of nice want, once we do the whole lot in our energy to get His consideration, allow us to not neglect what we see right here—we all the time have it.

Possible response:  Lord Jesus, assist me to know once I must relaxation and once I must serve others.  May my coronary heart be as tender as Yours.

We should surprise if Jesus, in our Gospel story, had this Scripture in thoughts when He determined to reply the necessity of the group of individuals already gathered within the abandoned place somewhat than take the remainder He desired.  

Here, the prophet Jeremiah, who lived within the 6^th century B.C., delivered each a warning and a promise to God’s folks.  He warned the unhealthy shepherds of coming woe as a result of they’d misled and scattered His flock by their unfaithfulness to the covenant.  The kings of Israel have been purported to be good “shepherds,” as the unique shepherd-king, David, had been.  The sinful kings cared just for their very own welfare, neglecting the care of the sheep.  God, nevertheless, promised to “elevate up a righteous shoot to David; as king He shall reign and govern properly.”  

Jesus knew He was that king.  The leaderless folks He noticed within the Gospel reminded Him of His mission.  In His affected person instructing “many issues” to them, even in His exhaustion, He fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecy of a coming king who would “do what’s simply and proper within the land.”  He is “The LORD, our justice.”

Possible response:  Lord Jesus, thank You for main us as a Shepherd-King.  Thank You that we are able to belief Your Shepherd’s employees carried in the present day by the bishops of Your Church.

This lovely, acquainted psalm extols the treasures of being a sheep within the Lord’s flock.  It describes the sort of relaxation and safety we are able to belief once we observe Jesus, the Good Shepherd of our souls.  In peaceable instances of feeding in “verdant pastures,” in instances of travail as we stroll “at nighttime valley,” and even once we are face-to-face with our enemies, the Lord’s kindness and mercy are unfailing.  

Perhaps the folks within the keen, anxious crowd in our Gospel story—those who outran a ship by hoofing it to the abandoned place—had this psalm in thoughts after they noticed that Jesus was prepared and prepared to look after them when He arrived.  They, like us, might sing, “The Lord is my shepherd; there may be nothing I shall need.”

Possible response:  The psalm is, itself, a response to our different readings.  Read it once more prayerfully to make it your individual.

As typically occurs in our epistle studying, these verses from St. Paul can appear unrelated to the theme of our different readings—Jesus as our loving, tender Shepherd.  However, we are able to greatest perceive the connection if we see that St. Paul is giving us an instance of how Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  

We know from the opposite readings that Jesus listens to, guides, heals, and teaches us.  Here we see that He has additionally accomplished the miraculous work of bringing Jews and Gentiles collectively, by dying for all males, “that He would possibly create in Himself one new individual rather than the 2, thus establishing peace, and would possibly reconcile each with God, in a single Body, by the Cross.”   

When we consider Jesus because the Good Shepherd, it’s often in very private, particular person phrases—His form mercy and tender love for me.  Very true, after all.  Yet Jesus loves the entire flock of God, and, in St. Paul’s day, the flock was deeply divided due to all of the Jewish ritual separation (i.e., in worship, dietary legal guidelines, gown, observance of feast days, and so forth.) from Gentiles.  

Jesus abolished these ritual legal guidelines, drawing all believers into Himself for salvation.  “He got here and preached peace,” says St. Paul, after which Jesus created peace by breaking down “the dividing wall of enmity” that saved Jews and Gentiles aside (presumably a reference to the wall within the Temple courtyard that saved praying Gentiles outdoors of its holy inside precincts).  “For He is our peace,” and that’s but one more reason we name Him the Good Shepherd.

Possible response:  Lord Jesus, You gave Your life for all Your sheep.  Help me love all Your flock as You do.

Photo by Patrick Schneider on Unsplash