XVI Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B

Jesus, the Disciples, and the Crowd

“They did not even have time to eat.”
Mark 6:30-34

If we wanted to grasp the main theme emerging from this Sunday’s readings, we could summarise it around two concepts or figures: the shepherd and rest.

– First Reading: “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the countries… and bring them back to their pastures, where they will be fruitful and increase in number… and Israel will live in safety” (Jeremiah 23:1-6);
– Responsorial Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd; I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters” (Psalm 23);
– Second Reading: “He [Christ] is our peace” (Ephesians 2:13-18);
– Gospel: “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”

From the outset, we ask for the grace to recognise Christ as our Shepherd, the only one who gives us a foretaste of the joy of “Rest,” the goal of a Christian’s life and humanity. Our life is a pilgrimage in the desert towards the rest of the “Promised Land.”

A Failed Escape!

The Gospel passage narrates the return of the Twelve whom Jesus had sent on a mission last Sunday. We have heard the story, but let’s try to relive it by imagining the scene. The evangelist tells us that “the apostles [this is the only time Mark calls them apostles] gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.” So, on the date that Jesus had set for them, they showed up, perhaps trickling in, to report what they had “done” and “taught.” The apostle always returns to the sender, to the source of the mission. Jesus listens to them with satisfaction and, noticing their fatigue, invites them to take a break: “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” There was indeed too much commotion from people “coming and going.” The Master was the attraction. Perhaps other people from the villages the apostles had evangelised wanted to accompany them to meet Jesus. The fact was that “they did not even have time to eat!”

The group needed not only physical rest but also quiet, reflection, and discussion with Jesus and their companions to evaluate their first mission experience. They risked being overwhelmed by the frenzy of activism or even falling into the trap of self-importance. “So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.” Several other times, the Master had withdrawn from the crowd to be alone with his disciples. However, this time the crowd figured out their plan and reached the place on foot even before them. A failed escape! How did Jesus react? He “had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began teaching them many things.”

Let’s now try to put ourselves in the shoes of the three protagonists of this Gospel passage: Jesus, the apostles, and the crowd.

1. JESUS: “had compassion on them.” He was moved with emotion in front of the crowd and changed his plans. His attitude is a double challenge for us. First of all, his compassionate gaze. Everything begins with the gaze. Our view of reality depends on our type of gaze. Cultivating a compassionate gaze is an absolute priority today. Through the media, we see these suffering crowds every day and risk becoming accustomed to others’ suffering, to the point of numbness and indifference. The compassionate gaze must be cultivated: how? By being mindful of the judgments and prejudices that arise in us, anaesthetising our feelings. Then, translating compassion into acts of solidarity, even if they may seem like a drop in the ocean of human suffering. Saint Paul says, “Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5).

We are also challenged by the promptness with which Jesus reacts to this situation. Upon seeing that crowd, the apostles must have felt irritation, as we often do when someone or something forces us to change our plans. Perhaps we come home from work, tired, wanting to rest, but instead, the children wait for us to play, or our spouse expects our attention or help. Sometimes, we have a task to finish, with time running out, and someone interrupts us… Allowing oneself to be interrupted to welcome a person, being available to change our plans, prioritising others, and knowing how to “waste time,” all this is part of the asceticism of service!

2. The APOSTLES: “did not even have time to eat.” Often their situation is ours too. Too busy with our tasks, dragged by the frenzy of our days, we risk becoming spiritually malnourished and, without even realising it, being sucked into the abyss of a materialistic vision of life. It is essential to cultivate moments of pause, silence, and quiet to read Scripture or a good book, to reflect and pray. Moreover, we all should have “a solitary place” to retreat to at certain moments: a church, a sanctuary, a park… Finally, it would be appropriate to check how we spend Sunday, if it is truly a day of rest, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

3. The CROWD: “were like sheep without a shepherd.” It was the crowd Jeremiah spoke about in the first reading (see also Ezekiel 34), a multitude adrift, a neglected crowd by the shepherds. When the shepherds do not fulfil their task, thieves, robbers, and wolves step in, seducing and exploiting people, offering illusions and leading crowds down paths of death.

This crowd can also be us. In moments of discomfort and inner emptiness, of fatigue and searching for meaning, of drift and confusion, if we are not careful, we can all be enchanted by the pipers that abound in our society. May the Lord, in moments of crisis, make his invitation resonate in our hearts: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28).

Weekly Exercise Proposal: Develop a rest plan (physical, mental, and spiritual) for this holiday period.

Fr. Manuel João Pereira Correia MCCJ
Verona, July 2024

To make common cause
A commentary on Mk 6, 30-34

We read today five verses from Mark’s chapter six, verses that are a transition between two big stories: the martyrdom of John the Baptist (a painful experience for the disciples and for Jesus himself) and the multiplication of bread (a clear sign of a God that sustains his humble people in the desert).

Theses verses are a transition text, but not for that less meaningful. In fact, the text is full up with deep and clear feelings in two directions: the community of disciples and the crowd looking for a better life quality. In Jesus we can contemplate a double movement, similar to the double movement of the physical heart, from the community to the crowd and back. As it happens with the physical heart, the same happens with community and mission: one movement cannot be without the other, community and mission go together. Let us meditate for a while on those two concrete movements of love:

1. Tenderness towards the members of the community

Mark tells us about the way Jesus receives the disciples returning from the mission: he welcomes them, listens to their stories and invites them to rest, as he used to do in Bethany.

Maybe you remember a fil by Pier Paolo Pasolini, some time ago, on the gospel according to Matthew. It was a very interesting and moving film, but –if I remember it properly- in it Jesus was a prophet quite severe, with a long face and severe words… Certainly, Jesus was quite clear in his denouncing a false religiosity. But what we read today shows us another Jesus: tender, welcoming, giving attention to the needs of his disciples. This is a human attitude that I feel we need so much in our everyday life: in the family, in the Christian community, in the apostolic group. Quite often we wish so much to do well, we try to be so perfect, we wish the best for our family or our Church. So much so that we risk becoming hypercritical, intolerant, angry, negative… Let us pray that we imitate Jesus and learn from him this tenderness that makes us able to be welcoming to people near us and to care for one another.

2. Sensible to the needs of the crowd

The attention to the small group of people near him does not make Jesus indifferent to the need of the crowd; rather it’s the opposite: together with the community he becomes more sensible to the needs of the crowd of people that are like sheep with no shepherd; they are hungry of bread, understanding, love… The attitude of Jesus has been imitated by so many disciples, among which Daniel Comboni, who arriving at Khartoum (Africa) said to the people: “I want to make common cause with each one of you”.

Before so many people that today, as in the times of Jesus, are looking for a better health, a better and more just food, a real dignity, a sense of life, real love, the answer of the disciple missionary it’s not indifference, it’s not look away, but to “make common cause”, to share the problems, expectation and possible solutions. This making common cause will give way too many initiatives of solidarity, but the first thing is not to be indifferent, to allow the situation touch our heart, to move our feelings, to share with the people; from that sharing will come out our concrete help, knowing that if everyone does its best, the miracle of brotherhood will take place.

Fr. Antonio Villarino, MCCJ

Mark 6:30-34

JESUS’ GAZE
by José Antonio Pagola

Mark describes the situation in great detail. Jesus sets out in the boat with his disciples towards a quiet and out-of-the-way place. He wants to listen to them calmly, since they have returned tired after their first evangelizing foray and they’re wanting to share their experience with the Prophet who sent them. Jesus’ plan gets frustrated. The people discover his intention and get there before him by running along the shore. When Jesus and his disciples arrive at the place, they find a crowd that has come from all the surrounding villages. How will Jesus react?

Mark graphically describes his actions: the disciples have to learn how they should treat the people; in the Christian communities it must be remembered how Jesus was with those people lost in anonymity, those whom no one is concerned about. «As he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length».

The first thing that the Gospel writer notes is Jesus’ gaze. He doesn’t get irritated that his plans have been interrupted. He lets his gaze linger on them and he’s moved within. Never does he get annoyed at the people. His heart senses the disorientation and the abandonment in which the villagers find themselves. In the Church we need to learn to gaze at the people as Jesus did: catching on to the suffering, the loneliness, the confusion or the isolation that many suffer. Compassion doesn’t spring from paying attention to norms or remembering our duties. It awakens in us when we look attentively at those who suffer.

From that way of seeing, Jesus discovers the deepest needs of those people: they go about «like sheep without a shepherd». The teaching they get from the teachers of the Law doesn’t offer them the nourishment they need. They live without anyone truly caring for them. They have no shepherd to guide and defend them.

Moved by compassion, Jesus «set himself to teach them at some length». Calmly, unhurriedly, he patiently sets out to teach them the Good News of God. He doesn’t do it because of obligation. He’s not thinking of himself. He communicates the Word of God to them, moved by the need that they have for a shepherd.

We can’t remain indifferent in the face of so many people who, within our Christian communities, go about seeking a more solid food than what they’re getting. We shouldn’t accept as normal the religious disorientation within the Church. We need to react lucidly and responsibly. Quite a few Christians seek to be better fed. We need shepherds who share with them the message of Jesus.

José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
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