Hello, I’m Jeff Cavins, and today we’re looking at the readings for the 16th Sunday in ordinary time. One of the great images that we have of Jesus in his relationship with his church is that of a shepherd and his sheep. We know from the teachings of the gospel that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and he is a shepherd. Jesus is a husband, he is a healer, he is the creator of the world. What I’d like to focus on today is the fact that he is a shepherd.
Now a shepherd really has a responsibility of feeding the sheep, leading the sheep, taking care of the health of the sheep, and protecting them from predators. There’s a lot of responsibility that goes with being a shepherd. Do you want to know the truth? Sheep are kind of dumb, and when they lay down, if they don’t watch themselves, they’ll get over on their back with their feet up in the air, and the blood will run down, and they will not be able to get out of that situation. We call that being cast down. Have you ever felt like that? Who said, “Oh, I feel so cast down”? It means that I’m immobilized. I don’t seem to be able to go anywhere or do anything.
It’s a responsibility of the shepherd to not only feed us and to make sure that we’re safe and so forth, but he also leads us and he knows us by name. In the readings this week, the context is the feeding of the 5,000, and we see here in Mark chapter 6, starting in verse 30, that the Apostles return to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while,” for many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves, which, by the way, Jesus oftentimes would go away to a lonely place and he would pray. And the Catechism tells us that what he did and said in the course of his day was a manifestation of his private time in prayer.
Now many saw them going and knew them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. As he landed, he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them. Watch this: because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.
The question I want to ask you this week is: are you living your life as though you don’t have a shepherd? Remember, a shepherd is responsible for feeding you, and what is Jesus gonna feed us? He’s gonna feed us his word for sure, he’s gonna feed us his body and blood, he’s gonna give us his life. But we have to avail ourselves to the Eucharist, to the body and blood. A shepherd is one that protects us, but we must be within close proximity. Where the shepherd is, that’s where his sheep are, and if we leave him, we are opening ourselves up for a major attack. If we are sick, we need our Shepherd. If we need to be led, we need our Shepherd.
And so I would ask you this week: are you living your life as though you didn’t have a shepherd? Alone, sick, abandoned? Or are you clinging to Jesus, the Good Shepherd? The beautiful thing about Jesus is that he is the one who will even leave the ninety-nine and go in search for that one. Maybe you are that one this week. Know that the Lord loves you, know that he’s seeking you, know that he looks at you with compassion as a sheep without a shepherd. He wants to be your Good Shepherd today. Amen.
Source: Jeff Cavins, Ascension Press. Jesus the Good Shepard. Aired: Jul 19th, 2019.
Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church 