Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: July 21 (Fr. Karl Esker, C.Ss.R.)

The Good Word

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – B

July 21, 2024

Hello and welcome to the Word, bringing you the Good News of Jesus Christ every day from the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. I am Fr. Karl Esker from the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY. Today is the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our reading today is taken from the holy gospel according to Mark

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.

The gospel of the Lord.

With psalm 23 we sing “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want;” and we see that put into practice by Jesus in the gospel. Our reading there ends with the words: [When Jesus} 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.

That had not been Jesus’ original intention. After the apostles had returned from their mission, great crowds of people kept coming and going, and they had no time even to eat. So, Jesus invited them to go with him by themselves in a boat to “a deserted place and rest a while.” Somehow the crowd caught wind of it and knew where they were going. They raced ahead on foot and were waiting for Jesus when he arrived with his apostles at his special place. Instead of being disappointed and angry with the crowd for infringing on his plans, he sat down and patiently attended the crowds.

In the first reading from the prophet Jeremiah, we heard that because God was disappointed with the shepherds of Israel, God himself would shepherd his people, and would raise up a righteous one. We know that Jesus is that righteous one, Emmanuel, God with us. He is our Good Shepherd.

Jesus was a shepherd to the apostles. He not only sent them out in mission filled with the power of his spirit, but was concerned about them and took care of them on their return. The crowds, too, were the object of his concern. Even though they were demanding and not fully aligned with his message, he put their needs before his own.

Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, takes that a step farther, and declares that Jesus is not only the shepherd of Israel, but the shepherd of the gentiles as well. Through his death on the cross and his resurrection, Jesus broke down the wall dividing the peoples, so that now, all are called to be one people of God in the Spirit granted by Christ Jesus, who is now the shepherd of the whole world.

That is good news for us, because it means that Jesus is always with us, looking after us even when we are inconsistent and stray. Like the apostles, he invites us to spend time with him, meditating on his word and actions in the gospel and opening our hearts to him in prayer, sharing our deepest anxieties and doubts, and also our joys and concerns. And as the apostles learned to today’s gospel, there will be time when we have to put the needs of others ahead of our own, because like the apostles, Jesus sends us out not only to spread the news of God’s loving concern for each one of us, but to live that concern in the daily actions of our lives.

Like the apostles, we will not always be consistent, but the more time we spend with Jesus, the closer we will come to his way. As St. Paul assures us, we have already received his spirit in Baptism, and he will never abandon us. He is not only our companion for the journey, he is also our food for the journey, as we will hear in the Sundays to come.

May God bless you.``

Fr. Karl E. Esker

Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Brooklyn, NY