A Reflection on the Readings for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 21st, 2024
Reading 1: Jer 23:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6
Reading 2: Eph 2:13-18
Gospel: Mk 6:30-34
Jeremiah lived at a time of crisis for the Jewish people. He was born about 650 B.C. in a village near Jerusalem and received his call to the prophetic office during the reign of Josiah, the pious King of Judea, around 628 B.C. at the very young age of about 22. It was a time of crisis because the nation that had been united under Kings David and Solomon was split into two separate kingdoms about 925 and the northern Kingdom of Israel was overrun and destroyed by the Assyrians in 722. And, by Jeremiah’s time, the southern Kingdom of Judea was threatened by Babylon and was eventually overrun and destroyed in 587. Jeremiah lived and preached during this turbulent time.
King Josiah instituted reforms in Judea in conformity with the Law of Moses, as he understood the law, and Jeremiah heartily supported those reforms. However, Josiah was killed in battle in 609 and the old idolatry returned. Jeremiah preached vehemently against the infidelity of the people, against the sins of the people and their leaders, and against alliances with other nations to face the threat of Babylon. God commanded Jeremiah to prophesy to the king of Judea and the elders and priests that they should surrender to Babylon, and they would live in peace in exile. If they resisted and fought against Babylon, they would die and the city would be destroyed, and that is exactly what happened in 587. Jeremiah was arrested, imprisoned, placed in stocks, thrown into a dry well and publicly disgraced. Jeremiah had a tough time of it. So much so that in chapter 20 we read that Jeremiah essentially told God: I QUIT! He told God he would no longer prophesy on God’s behalf because all it ever brought him was derision and reproach. But Jeremiah’s will was not as strong as God’s call and the urge to prophesy boiled up in him: “Like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.” (20:9).
Our first reading comes from chapter 23 which is entitled: “Messianic Reign.” It is prophecy against the false rulers who have led the people astray with their false teaching. Against these, Jeremiah contrasts God as the good shepherd who will gather his flock and will appoint a “Righteous shoot to David; as king he shall reign and govern wisely.” This is a messianic prophecy because it clearly points to Christ, a righteous shoot to David, who will reign and govern wisely. But it is also a diatribe against the priestly class whose responsibility it was to teach the people the Law and the proper reverence due God. If we read Lv 10:9-11 and 2 Kgs 17:28 we will see that it was the responsibility of the priestly class, the Levitical priests, to teach the law to the people and the reverence due God in that law.
In the modern world, we are surrounded by false teaching and hedonistic values, it is easy for us to fall prey to that which leads us astray. It is also easy for us to disregard the scriptures that show us what happens to those who follow false teachings, and to disregard the teachings of the church which remind us of the consequences of sin. In addition, unless we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit and place ourselves in communion with God, it will be easy for us to forget that Christ came into this world to forgive sins and teach us how to turn away from false teaching and hedonistic values. The world as we know it is in sad shape, and it is because humanity, as a whole, has failed to heed what is laid before us in the scriptures and Judeo-Christian teaching.
In our second reading, St. Paul reminds us that Christ, the good shepherd, tore down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile to: “create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace.” We are all God’s children, if we follow what we have been taught, we will “have access in one Spirit to the Father.”
Our gospel passage gives us an example of Jesus as the good shepherd. While Jesus and the disciples seek a deserted place to rest and refresh themselves, they find they are surrounded by people from all of the surrounding area. This reminds us of the exodus from Egypt. The people who followed Jesus were the people of a “new exodus” in a deserted place relying solely on the God who will deliver them to the Promised Land. They are like sheep without a shepherd, and Jesus took pity on them and began to teach them many things. If we continued on in this gospel, we would see that, not only did he teach them many things, his pity was so great for these lost sheep that he fed the five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. That makes this a Eucharistic passage as Jesus told the people, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood, or you will have no life in you. Not only does the good shepherd teach his people what they need for eternal life, he feeds them with the bread of eternal life.
Our golden thread this week is “The Good Shepherd,” prophesied by Jeremiah as the righteous shoot to David, and brought to fruition in Jesus Christ, a righteous shoot to David. It is left to us to recognize Jesus as the “Good Shepherd” who came into the world to save us from our sins and to establish the church as a contemporary good shepherd to carry on his work in the world.
Reference: Graphic ©LPi
