Friends, today’s
Gospel shows Jesus’ compassion for the multitude in the desert. "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."
There
is the motif of the people Israel in the desert after their escape from
Egypt. Isolated, alone, afraid, without food, they clamored for
something from Moses. Here we see people who are
dying to be fed, and a prophet who is under threat of death. This crowd
around the threatened Jesus is a metaphor for the Church. We have come
to him because we are hungry, and we stay even when things look bleak.
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 107
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."
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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