Good Shepherd Catholic Parish

16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 21, 2024 (Season B)

          Peace be with you on this, our celebration of the 16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  So, as I meditated on these readings for a while I thought these could be appropriate for “Good Shepherd Sunday.”  In the first reading we hear God admonishing the corrupt shepherds of ancient Israel for scattering God’s sheep.  Then, I’m sure everyone knew which Psalm we were listening to with the opening words.  “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”  In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we’re reminded that Jesus leads both Jews and Gentiles equally, to salvation.  An impossible task in 1^st Century Israel, for any shepherd except God.  And finally in Mark’s Gospel, we’re reminded one more time, Jesus is the Good Shepherd with the words, “his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

          OK, anyone ever teach children?  If you’re a parent that’s certainly a silly question but for those of us who have attempted to teach young people in a classroom environment, you know things can be real interesting.  Today’s readings reminded me of one occasion when I was teaching a group of 3^rd graders about the Good Shepherd.  I was attempting to show examples that God calls all of us to be good shepherds sometimes using our own words, examples, and actions.  At the end I was hoping they would see me as the good shepherd in the classroom that day, so I asked, “Who is the good shepherd here today?”  Front row center, a hand shot up, “Jesus Christ!”  “OK.  That’s always right but what do you think I am today as the teacher?”  “You’re the sheepdog,” came the enthusiastic answer.

Wow.  You know, I’ve never forgotten that innocent little guy’s answer that day and wondered, that’s really not a terribly bad image.  Jesus Christ’s, the ultimate Good Shepherd’s own sheepdog helping with God’s flock of humanity.  You ever watched a well-trained herding sheepdog in action?  It’s really pretty amazing.  Words that come to mind are, loyal, fast, intelligent, instinctive, and endurance.  The metaphor of the Good Shepherd’s sheepdog, gives a quote from St. Benedict of Nursia a vivid new perspective, “The first degree of humility is prompt obedience.”  Let me repeat, “The first degree of humility is prompt obedience.”  Now please, please, before you hard core independently minded Americans sitting here become incensed, I am speaking metaphorically about sheep and dogs, not literally.  Personally, I’m proud to be called part of the Good Shepherd’s flock and maybe sometimes even one of His obedient sheepdogs helping with the flock.

          Now today’s Gospel is a continuation of last Sunday’s Gospel when Jesus originally sent the 12 out on mission.  Today they’re back and reporting everything they did and taught, and they are tired, and from the sounds of it, so is Jesus.  Jesus says, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”  Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any rest for the weary.  When they arrive at the deserted place they are met with a vast crowd and Jesus’ heart is moved with pity, “for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.”  And it’s probably safe to say, Jesus’ disciples did exactly as he did.

          Friends, God intends for us to live in community.  The heart of the community is the family, and the foundation of family is the marriage.  We sometimes forget the very first instruction God gave Adam and Eve had nothing to do with eating or not eating fruit.  The first instruction from God is found in GN 1:28. “God blessed them, and God said to them; Be fertile and multiply.”  Now flash forward thousands of years and we have God’s loving redemption of a fallen humanity through his life, suffering, death, and resurrection.  And this gift from Jesus called Christianity is neither individualism nor collectivism, neither capitalism nor communism, but communalism.  And sadly, unselfishness is not easy for us fallen creatures but without unselfishness community just does not work.  We need to learn it, to be conditioned to it, to be socialized.  We learn this lesson of unselfishness only in a community – most effectively in the family.

          I tell every couple preparing for marriage, don’t marry to find happiness; marry to give happiness.  God’s design was that this lesson of marriage, this universal vocation of unselfish love, this experience of becoming yourself by giving yourself away, should expand outward, like circles of water rippling from a stone thrown into a pool.  Of course, the first center is the first act of self-giving love of God’s, both in creating us and in redeeming us at the price of his own life.  Without that self-giving of the divine stone thrown into the pool’s center, there are no ripples of the human water.  There is no human substitute for God.

          In the Bible, the community is often described as a flock of sheep but regardless of what metaphor we use, it is part of God’s design for human existence.  And within community we all have a fundamental Christian vocation of self-giving.  Whether we are preachers, teachers, healers, farmers, bankers, lawyers, hamburger flippers, or comedians.  We work for others, and others work for us.  We row each other’s boat.  As Christians, we work not only to make money but to make love.  And my sisters and brothers, there are many kinds of love.  Some of them are sentimental, and most of them are not.