Homily
for July 23, 2006
Liturgical Year B - Cycle II
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Joshua Nyoni
Topic:
Becoming the good shepherd
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Reading
I
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture,
says the LORD. Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my
sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will
take care to punish your evil deeds. I myself will gather the remnant
of my flock from all the lands to which I have driven them and bring
them back to their meadow; there they shall increase and multiply. I
will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they
need no longer fear and tremble; and none shall be missing, says the
LORD. Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up
a righteous shoot to David; As king he shall reign and govern wisely,
he shall do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah shall
be saved, Israel shall dwell in security. This is the name they give
him: "The LORD our justice."
Reading II
Eph 2:13-18
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by
the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing
wall of enmity, through his flesh, abolishing the law with its
commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new
person 2 in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might
reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that
enmity to death by it. He came and preached peace to you who were far
off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have
access in one Spirit to the Father.
Gospel
Gospel Mk 6:30-34
The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had
done and taught.
He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest
a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had
no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves
to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know
about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at
the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his
heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a
shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
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I would like to begin with a quotation from Father Tommy Lane. I think
he is at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland. He says this,
“The TV is
my shepherd, I shall not want. It
makes me to lie down on
the sofa. It leads me away from the faith. It
destroys my soul. It
leads me to the path of sex and violence for the advertiser’s sake.
Even
though I walk in the shadow of Christian responsibilities, There
will be no interruptions, for the TV is with me. Its
cable and remote
control, they comfort me. It
prepares a commercial for me in the midst
of my worldliness And anoints my head with secular humanism and
consumerism. My
covetousness runs over; surely ignorance and laziness
shall follow me all the days of my life, And I
shall dwell in the house
of wretchedness watching TV forever.”
That is the end of the quotation. Now, why do I bring this to you
today? It is
mainly because the image that dominates the readings
today is the image of the shepherd, shepherding, being the good
shepherd. As Fr. Lane says, the TV is his shepherd. The first reading
says “Disaster for the shepherds who lose and scatter the sheep of my
pasture” [Jer. 23:1].
The psalm, as we heard, “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I
shall want.” What we see here is this: the prophet Jeremiah in the
first reading challenges the shepherds of Israel; especially the kings
who have lead the people astray. They had not acted as true shepherds
of the people. In fact, they were supposed to be guardians of the
covenant and the faith.
For Jeremiah, the shepherds of Israel were not only the kings but also
the priests and the prophets. They were supposed to protect, to
provide, to lead, to guide the people. Their role was that of service,
setting direction and letting the people follow those directions.
Unfortunately, the shepherds had misled, scattered and driven away the
people. They had not cared for them. What became of the people? The
people were lost. But that did not discourage God. He, in fact, was
going to raise up and appoint new shepherds who would properly tend His
people. Jeremiah
is challenging the kings, the prophets, and the priests so that they
could
be good shepherds and lead the people of God.
When we come to the second reading, what do we find? We find this: the
letter to the Ephesians speaks of Jesus as one who breaks down the
barriers,
the divisions. He brings peace and unites that which was scattered.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd reconciling us with God.
In the Gospel, what do we realize? What do we come up with?
We see that the disciples, the apostles, they are bubbling with joy as
they recount to Jesus of their missionary work, their shepherding. You
will remember a week or so ago, our youth went to Oklahoma and they did
many things in just a week’s time. When they came back, I think you as
parents experienced what they had experienced. They told you this,
that, and the other. “Oh Mommy, we did this.” “Oh Daddy, we did that.”
This is the same thing we see here in the Gospel. The apostles are very
excited. They
recount to Jesus what they had taught, what they had done, the curing
they had done. All of that they recounted to Jesus. Jesus takes them to
a lonely place so that they could be by themselves. Jesus wants them to
realize that the strength of being a missionary, a good shepherd comes
from that lonely place where they can be by themselves. It is that
sanctuary, that sacred place, where we are with God and where we can
get the strength to be good missionaries--to be good shepherds.
For Jesus, good shepherding involves a series of going from the
presence of the people, to the presence of God and then back again. It
is only when we are refreshed by God that we can have something to
offer to other people. I think we have to get this very clear. It is
only when we are refreshed by God that we can have something in us to
offer to other people. Here, I want to stress, many times we
Christians are empty and I can say, allow me to say, not only empty but
hollow. You understand what I mean? Why? It is because of this: We
don’t cherish that sacred space of prayer, where we get the energy, the
strength to give something to other people.
Now when you read Mark 1:35, it says, “Very early in the morning, long
before dawn, he got up and left the house and went off to a lonely
place and prayed there." Before Jesus could face the world, he
faced
God. He spoke to God. He heard God’s perspective. Get this very clear
in your mind. What do we do ourselves, is the question. What do we do?
Let me
tell you what we do. Many times, as Christians, we rush to face the
world, we rush to face our work
when we have not even spoken to God, when we have not heard God’s
perspective. This is our real problem and this is what leads us to be
empty and without anything. Here I am not saying you should get up very
early in the morning like Jesus did. No please, don’t take that. What
I’m saying is this: Just a simple prayer will give you God’s
perspective, will help you and form your week. Just a simple prayer
will lead you into having the mind of God and doing things in God’s way.
The gospel tells us: Jesus was moved with pity when he saw the crowd
because they were “like sheep without the shepherd.” He went out of his
way and began to teach them. Now as a good shepherd, he did something
to meet the needs of the people.
From all the readings today, what we learn is this: We are taught about
shepherding, and being a good shepherd; being a good parent and
parenting in the context of the family; being a good shepherd at work
and in society. Now shepherding involves at times, leading the flock
through tough patches. You as parents, you will agree with me that you
have lead your children through those tough patches, when you had to
make tough decisions but they are still around, yes? They haven’t left
you, they are still around.
Shepherding entails going at times through those tough patches. This is
what the church does at times. She points to a challenging diet which
is not easy to digest, a bitter pill, which is not easy to take. She
does this only in fidelity to Christ’s teaching. She will remind us,
for instance, that love is the first commandment and that forgiveness
follows immediately. The church will teach us that Christian marriage
is for life, that abortion is wrong, because human life is sacred from
womb to tomb, that sexuality is an expression of love, not lust. Hard
teachings. Straight teaching. For some, extremely difficult teaching.
The church does this as an instrument of Christ’s love and concern. She
does this to bring out the best in us – to stretch us to our spiritual
limits; to help us realize the fullness of our humanity; to lead us to
rich pastures; to guide, motivate and encourage us, up the
mountainside, to the high pastures of truth, generosity and love. When
we fall or tumble, she helps us back through reconciliation so that we
can begin anew, we can begin afresh.
Lastly, I will say:
May the Lord
help us in our families, at work and in society, so that we can be good
shepherds. May the Lord help us realize the value of that sacred space
for prayer. It is when we move to that sacred space for prayer that we
regain and find the source of our own strength to begin things in a new
way to become the good shepherds of God.