16th Sunday of Ordinary Time; Year B 2015

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Jeremiah 23,1-6; Ephesians 2,13-18; 

Mark 6,30-34: 16^th Sunday of Ordinary Time; Year B 2015)

The gospel of today portrays two traits of Jesus that demonstrate his nearness to us human beings. The first is his compassion: So as he (Jesus) stepped ashore he saw a large crowd and he took pity on them... Compassion means to suffer with, to be able to feel in one’s heart the suffering of the other. Why was Jesus moved to pity? This was because the crowd was like a herd of sheep without a shepherd; that is, like animals without a guide. What did he do next? He set himself to teach them many things. This passage is not the only instance in his ministry where Jesus felt pity in the face of human suffering and sorrow and showed compassion to the sufferers. He had pity on the crowd that followed him for long and had to multiply bread so that they could assuage their hunger (Mark 7, 35). Out of compassion, he had for the widow of Naim, he brought her dead son who was then about to be buried to life (Luke 7,11). He was also moved to pity at the tomb of Lazarus, his friend (John 11,38). These examples stand to show that in all difficult situations of need and suffering, be it material or spiritual, the heart of Jesus is moved to pity and compassion. We should never think that he is indifferent or insensitive to our situations of suffering. Certainly, we would want him to free us from all situations of suffering and sorrow. This would be expecting too much and might not be very plausible. We know for sure that He is near us and suffers with us; he counts every drop of tears from our eyes and sustains us with his grace. We are not to forget that it is the same Jesus who, out of compassion for us, shed the last drop of His blood for us. The important corollary or consequence of Jesus pity and compassion for us is that we have to be compassionate to our neighbours who are in different type of distresses.

The other trait of Jesus noticeable in today’s gospel is his tenderness and loving solicitude towards his disciples. They just returned from their first apostolic mission to which he sent them out, in pairs. Jesus like a good papa or mama (who is benevolent towards his/her children) brought them together and patiently listened to all they had done and how they had conducted themselves in their first mission apostolate. At the end of their narration, Jesus invited them to have a quiet time of rest and peace: You must some time go away to a lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while. Jesus extends the same invitation to us today. We all need to withdraw ourselves to a lonely place to rest a while. This would mean taking some time off our daily work and seek some quiet moment and silence, otherwise we burn ourselves out and begin to act like beasts in our attitude or work like automated machines. It all means that we would lose contact with God and swerve from direction and orientation of our very lives. To maintain contact with God, we should recall the importance of Sunday rest and the sanctification of Sunday. By going to Holy Mass on Sunday and abstaining from work we sanctify the Sunday, we keep it holy. That is not all; we have further gains: we recover our physical strength, redirect our minds to spiritual things, remove our minds from mundane things and focus them on the things of heaven. Such Sunday rest will also give the parents opportunity to stay with their children and to evaluate their human, spiritual and intellectual growth and development.  Having quiet moment is not limited to Sundays alone. Indeed, we need to take time off, for some quiet moments, every day, in order to contemplate God, speak to Him, listen to Him and discuss even the problems we meet in our daily lives and duties. Jesus shows tenderness to his disciples by listening to them and offering them opportunity to rest and have some peace. Do we extend such tenderness and care to our neighbours, including those of them who are members of our families and who share our household with us?

The liturgy of today also gives us the opportunity to contemplate two aspects of the personality of Jesus. In the first place, Jesus is the true prophet and pastor (guide) of our souls. He is not the type of shepherds whom Jeremiah, in the first reading of today, condemned and denounced. This was because they scattered the sheep and did not take care of them. Jesus, as the good shepherd, rather nurtures our souls with his words and teaching, gives us his very self and life and offers himself as food and nutriment in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

The second trait of the personality of Christ is brought out in the second reading of today where Paul writes: Christ is our peace! He is our peace, first and foremost, by the fact of reconciling us with God the Father through shedding his blood. By reconciling us with God, he made us sons and daughters of God. In the second place, he has reconciled us with one another, Jews and Gentile and has made us see ourselves as brothers and sisters. In addition, he has liberated us from the slavery of Satan and from the entanglement of sin.

Thus Christ is our master, he is our peace. There is problem of lack of true peace everywhere in the world, in our own country Nigeria, our towns and villages, our families and even our parishes and ecclesiastical families. As Christ is our peace, if we can put into practice his teachings of true and sacrificial love for one another, he will send his peace that is stable and durable (not provisional). This peace will be found within us, in our families, our society, the church and the whole world.  And we, who were once far away from God but now are near, by virtue of the blood of Christ, should endeavour never to cut ourselves away from Jesus but should rather follow the path of sacrificial love which he has indicated. May we, therefore, pray in this Eucharistic celebration for the graces to follow the portraits of Jesus that are manifest in today’s liturgy: compassion, tender care of our neighbours, medium of reconciliation and source of holistic peace.  Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye