First reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm: Ps 23:1-6
Epistle: Ephesians 2:13-18
Gospel: Mark 6:30-34

In Christ Jesus you who once were far off
have become near by the blood of Christ.

The Good Shepherd:

We’re a quite a few weeks away from Good Shepherd Sunday. In the midst of the Easter season we read of the Good Shepherd. We ponder this Shepherd who came to us, took care of us, sacrificed Himself for us, and finally showed us the promise of the resurrection. What happiness, to hear of the goodness of Jesus as shepherd in our Easter joy.

Today’s first reading alludes to that Good Shepherd, the shepherd the Father sent to gather the remnant of my flock; to bring them back to His meadow; to bring them to the place where they will increase and multiply. The Father promises the Good Shepherd Who will free His people from fear and trembling; Who will ensure that none go missing.

This promise in Jeremiah tells of the Lord Jesus Who is the righteous shoot to David; the King who reigns and governs wisely, Who does what is just and right in the land.

With Jesus Judah is saved and Israel dwells in security.

Reminding us of the bad:

Jeremiah also reminds us that bad shepherds do none of this. They mislead and scatter the flock. The bad shepherds are the complete opposite of Jesus.

God says that He will deal harshly with the bad shepherds, those who mislead the flock and scatter them, but let’s not be too melodramatic about that punishment. We are simply reminded that the bad are in for a bad end. It isn’t an end created by God who is all good; it is an end the bad shepherds create for themselves.

The bad shepherds’ misleading words and falsity lead them and their followers out of the light. The bad shepherds punish themselves and doom their followers to the darkness of unbelief, to solitary caves of darkness, to separation.

How different:

That dichotomy, that difference is the clear distinction between the ministry of the Good Shepherd and the ministry of bad shepherds.

We can enumerate the things the bad shepherds offer. They start with the promise of self-aggrandizement. From there they lead people through the dark valley, with no rod or staff to show the way, searching like blind men for a promised reward but finding emptiness. Their promised rewards and their paths do not connect to anything or anyone. Will riches, power, unconnected sexuality, gluttony, laziness, theft, or murder make anyone happy? Will those things reveal connections of any type? Will they make us truly happy?

Bad shepherds throughout the ages have touted the rewards of falsehood. In our day the purveyors of falsehood, the bad shepherds, are in the millions. You have a question or a problem; they have an answer, a book, a philosophy, a technique. You will not find the Good Shepherd in any one of those. They avoid Him completely. If they mention Him they make Him into something that fits their philosophy. They never fit to Him or follow Him as Shepherd.

Together:

Good Shepherd gives us the direction, the choices that bring us together, that build family, friendship, human relationship. In our God given gift of freedom and with the inspiration and grace of the Holy Spirit let us choose the path described in St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. Paul tells of a people who have been made one. He talks about the Shepherd who brought unity, who eliminated division. Paul tells us that in Him we are one in peace, we are one, no longer divided by enmity. In Jesus we are in a new unity established in peace and reconciled with God. In Jesus no one is near while others are far off — all are near to God.

The Good Shepherd unites. The choices we find in Him bring us together. We don’t dwell apart, lost in dark caves, but together in the light, guided in all we do.

Jesus sent them:

Last week we read that Jesus sent the twelve out. He sent them on a shepherd training mission. When He sent them He didn’t say, ‘go preach what you will, make it up as you go along.’ If He had done that He would have created a whole bunch of really bad shepherds. Judas would have talking about power through betrayal and the purse. Peter would have told the flock to go out and cut peoples ears off — power through the sword. Thomas would have pointed to the god of confusion and doubt. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, would have told everyone that they could sit at God’s right hand, that they could be Jesus.

Rather, Jesus sent them with clear and distinct instructions and a specific message. That is why the Holy Church is hard for so many, because we can’t have it our way, we can’t make it up. We have scripture and Holy Tradition handed down from our Lord, to His Apostles, to the Bishops, and to us. It is certainly old stuff — very permanent stuff — and most especially true stuff, the teaching and way of the Good Shepherd.

Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand. Love God and love your brother as yourself. Pick up your cross and follow me. Die to yourself, to the world, and find life. Eat My body, drink My blood. Be meek and humble. Take the last place.

They came back:

J.. Jee… Jesus! Jesus!!! You should’a seen it. We did this and this and people actually listened. People were cured. Oh my!

He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”

They were tired and they needed a retreat, a time to integrate all that had happened. They needed to rest in a quiet place so Jesus could make sense of their awesome experience.

But…

But… the crowds came. They tried to walk to a private place and the crowds blocked the way. They got on a boat and the crowds reached the other shore first. What did the Good Shepherd do?

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.

The crowds were in need. The leaders weren’t leading, the qustions weren’t getting answered, and the people were relegated to dark caves, apart and alone. Yes, Jesus taught them, but the why of His teaching is key today. He came to shepherd them, to bring them together, to help them in fulfilling their humanity. He showed them the way. Jesus didn’t give them a silly or self-serving message, just something they wanted to hear, but the message that was for eternal life.

Getting of the boat Jesus (note that He, the Shepherd, got off the boat, not the Apostles) —was moved with pity.—

Pity isn’t pity as in our definition of the term. This sense of the term pity is used both in the Old and New Testament and is only used in reference to God. Men have mercy, God is the one and only who is moved with pity. This ‘pity’ is not a feeling; a sense of condolence or sorrow for a persons situation. It is not reactive. In God it is proactive, a divine action by which God restores the life of those who have lost it.

Jesus comes to the shore to restore these people’s life. He came to the shore, and to the cross, to restore our life. Jesus came as the Good Shepherd, bring the dispersed flock together as one, and in doing so he revealed the reality of life in God.

We are the beneficiaries of the Good Shepherd, Jesus, who came to the shore to bring us together, to make us one. We are one and not apart. One in the Body of Christ, one in the Christian family of faith — a family open to all. As St. Paul reminds us again:

In Christ Jesus you who once were far off
have become near by the blood of Christ.

Near to each other and near to God, one in living in the light. Amen.