In the First Reading of the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, Jeremiah 23:1-6, we see God replaces and punishes kings who failed to govern God’s people according to His will and eventually replaces them with the Davidic Messianic King (Jeremiah 23:5; 30:9; Ezekiel 34:23; 2 Samuel 7:12), as He takes the matter to His own hands (Jeremiah 23:4-6; cf. Ezekiel 34:11-16; cf. Zechariah 11:15-17). And He sends His only begotten Son for our salvation (1 John 4:14), to be our Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14) and King (Revelation 19:15-16). In the Gospel Reading (Mark 6:30-34), we see Jesus, the Good Shepherd, reaching out to a large crowd, who were like sheep without a shepherd, with compassion. In the Second Reading (Ephesians 2:13-18), we see that we become one flock in Christ, through his sacrificial blood, no longer scattered but becoming one as the new creation in him.
During the period of monarchy in Israel, it was a
king, who served as a shepherd to God’s people (His sheep). However, except for
a few, like David, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah, many kings were
unfaithful to God and failed to govern kingdom and shepherd the people. Even
Solomon, who started his reign with great wisdom, given by God, fell (1 Kings
3:1-12:43).
After Hezekiah, Manasseh and Amon, scattered people of
God away from Him as these detestable kings promoted pagan deity worship (2
Kings 21:1-25). Then, Josiah brought Judah back to God (2 Kings 22:1-23:28).
However, all his successors were corrupt and led the remaining Jewish kingdom
to its demise because they failed to govern – failed to shepherd God’s people
of Judah (2 Kings 23:31-25:30). God foresaw these kings after Josiah were
troublesome leaders. Through Jeremiah, He spoke, juxtaposing these kings to
unscrupulous shepherds. So, Jeremiah wrote:
Woe
to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the flock of my pasture—oracle of 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
banished them and bring them back to their folds; there they shall be fruitful
and multiply. I will raise up shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that
they need no longer fear or be terrified; none shall be missing—oracle of the
Lord. See, days are
coming- oracle of the Lord - when I will raise up a righteous branch for 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 to be given him: “The Lord our justice” (Jeremiah 23:1-6).
The pasture in this context is Judah, the remaining
Jewish kingdom, after Israel (northern ten tribes’ kingdom) was destroyed by
Assyrian Empire in 722 BC (2 Kings 17:1-23). God called Jeremiah to prophesize against not
only Israel’s (northern kingdom’s) corrupt monarchy but also Judah’s corrupt kings
(Jeremiah 1:1-19). Specifically, God’s woe (Jeremiah 23:1) was addressed to the
last four defiled kings of Judah: Zedekiah (Jeremiah 21:4-10), Jehoahaz
(Jeremiah 22:10-12), Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:13-19), Jeconiah (Jeremiah
22:20-30). Their failures to govern Judah led to the fall of Judah to the
Babylonia (2 Chronicles 36:15-21).
Because of these last four crook shepherds (kings) of
Judah, God’s people (sheep) of Judah, who survived Babylonian seizes of
Jerusalem in 597 and 587 BC, were taken to Babylon. God’s people (sheep) in
Judah were scattered away to a pagan nation (Babylonia) because of these
unscrupulous shepherds (kings) (i.e. Jeremiah 23:1-2). However, as God says
that He will bring his people in the Babylonian exile back to Jerusalem, as He
will take the matter to Himself (i.e. Jeremiah 23:3). This suggests that the
exile’s return to Jerusalem, led by Ezra (Ezra 1:1-8:36). And the first new
post-exilic shepherd (governor) to rebuild Jerusalem was Zerubbabel (Haggai
1:1; 2:2, 21). Though he did not shepherd God’s people (sheep) upon their
return from the Babylonian exile as king, he served as the first governor to
rebuild Jerusalem, and he hailed from the Davidic lineage (Matthew 1:6-12), and
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, comes from this lineage (Matthew 1:6-16). So, from
David to Zerubbabel to Jesus, God’s oracle for the Davidic Lord of Justice
(Jeremiah 23:4-6; cf. 2 Samuel 7:12-16; cf. Ezekiel
34:23-31) has been fulfilled, as he was sent by God to save us (i.e. John
3:16; 1 John 4:9).
Though the post-exilic period is known as the second
temple period, as the Temple was rebuilt after the Babylonian exile, God’s
people went astray again, because they did not listen to prophets (e.g. Joel 1:13-14;
2:12-17; Zechariah 1:1-6), God announced His judgement upon the wicked and
coming of Christ (Messiah) as the Sun of Justice (Malachi 3:20, NABRE), forerun
by John the Bapti, wst (Malachi 3:1, NABRE) to establish the New Covenant
through him (Malachi 3:1-24, NABRE).
The Davidic Messiah King shepherd (Jeremiah 23:4-6;
cf. Ezekiel 34:10-16) has come as the Good Shepherd, shepherding us to eternal
life (John 10:1-18, 27-30).
In the Gospel Reading (Mark 6:30-34), we see the Good
Shepherd in action.
This Gospel Reading has two parts: the Good Shepherd
takes care of the shepherds in training (his disciples) upon their return from
mission work (vv.30-33) and the Good Shepherd takes are of lost sheep (v.34).
As spoken in God’s oracle to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:4-6), Jesus, who is the Christ, the Son of God, is Davidic (Matthew 1:6-16) and came to us as our Good Shepherd so that we may enjoy eternal life (John 10:1-18, 27-30).
Jesus knew that his task as the Good Shepherd needed
to be delegated to his disciples so that his shepherding and pastoral work can
be done on a greater scale (i.e. John 14:12). In order to prepare them for
their apostolic mission upon his passion, death, resurrection, and ascension,
he sent them with his authority over unclean spirits, and they accomplished
their mission. as read on the Fifteenth Sunday (Mark 6:7-13). So they returned
to Jesus and reported all they had done in his name (Mark 6:30). Knowing that they
were tired and needed to recuperate, Jesus sent them to a deserted place so
that they could rest for a while (Mark 6:31a). Because a great number of people
were coming toward him, Jesus and the disciples did not have a time to eat
together, before they would leave by boat to rest (Mark 6:31b-32). The Good
Shepherd wanted take care of the future shepherds. Then, a large crowd saw
Jesus and his disciples leaving to cross the Sea of Galilee and hastened to
catch them on the other side of the sea on foot (Mark 3:33).
When he was getting off the boat, upon crossing the sea,
Jesus saw the approaching crow and had compassion for them because they were
like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34a). Then he began to teach them many
things (6:34b).
Upon taking care of his disciples, who were to be the succeeding
shepherds to the Good Shepherd, Jesus, the Good Shepherd now takes care of the
crowd, who desperately sought him. He was moved by compassion and began to take
care of this herd of lost sheep (sheep without a shepherd) by teaching many
things (Mark 6:34) and feeding out of five loaves of bread and two fish (Mark
6:35-44).
One important character of the Good Shepherd is his
compassion. Though he could have postponed in tending to the lost sheep’s needs
for having a small retreat with the future shepherds first, the he rather chose
to take care of the lost sheep immediately, because of his compassion for them.
The Greek word for “compassion” is σπλαγχνίζομαι/
splagchnizomai.
This word literally means to have internal organs shaken, as it is derived from
σπλάγχνα /splagchnon, which means internal organs or inward parts. In other
words, in the Biblical Greek, compassion is visceral. As such an emotion runs
through the limbic system of the brain, is it powerful and fast. Given that the
Good Shepherd is not only fully divine but also fully human, for he has been
incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus (i.e. John 1:14; cf. Luke 1:35), Jesus’
compassion for the lost sheep was visceral. That is why he did not wait until
he finish a little retreat with his disciples, in taking care of them.
There were lost sheep because unscrupulous shepherds
did not take care of them (i.e. Jeremiah 23:2). But it is God who takes care of
them by way of the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-18, 27-30), who is also the Davidic
messianic King (Jeremiah 23:2-6; cf. 2 Samuel 7:12-16; cf. Ezekiel 34:23-31; cf.
Matthew 1:6-16). So he took care of them by teaching (Mark 6:34) and feeding
(Mark 6:35-44). He responded to the lost sheep with his spiritual work of mercy
and corporal work of mercy, as he was moved from deep inside by compassion for
them. This way, they were no longer lost as they were under the care of the
Good Shepherd. Thus, they are satisfied (Mark 6:42), having nothing they want,
as reflected in the refrain of the Responsorial Psalm: The Lord is my
shepherd; there is nothing I shall want (Psalm 23:1).
For the next five consecutive Sundays (17th,
18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st Sundays
in Ordinary Time, Cycle B), the Gospel Readings are drawn from John 6, to
address what the Good Shepherd really feeds us with for our eternal life. The
multiplied bread and fish to feed the lost sheep were just temporary and would
not lead to eternal life, just as manna in the desert did not, but his flesh,
as the living bread of life, and his blood, as the true drink, keep us
satisfied thus from hunger, and entitle us to eternal life (John 6:35-58). So,
this is how God Himself takes care of His sheep, by sending His only begotten
Son (1 John 4:9), who is, indeed, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14) and the
Living Bread of Life (John 6:51). Thiis how God’s oracle to care for his flock
through the Davidic messianic shepherd (Jeremiah 23:2-6; cf. 2 Samuel 7:12-16;
cf. Ezekiel 34:23-31; cf. Matthew 1:6-16) is fulfilled.
The Good Shepherd lays down his life to save his sheep
(John 10:11-18). In the Second Reading (Ephesians 2:13-18), we see how we are
brought back to him through his redemptive blood, as he laid down his life on
the Cross, even we may have gone far off, fallen to sin and have become lost
sheep (v. 13). And he is our peace, bringing us together as communion, breaking
down what can divide us, by offering his total self – his body, blood, soul,
and divinity (v. 14; cf. John 6:53-58). Namely, this refers to the Sacrament of
the Holy Eucharist, the Communion. Then, we shall transcend the Law,
reconciling with God, and have access to the Father (vv. 15-18).
Ultimately, the Good Shepherd leads us to the Father
as the way, the truth, and the life for us (John 14:6). The messianic mission
of the Good Shepherd, the eternal Davidic King, is to bring sheep scattered by
defiled shepherds to one flock, shepherded by him to the Father. And this is
what God’s oracle to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:1-6) means.
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