Like sheep without a shepherd - or like orphaned children: Sunday Readings 16B (Y-not question the Sunday Readings)

Thanks, CathyT, for a very clear and inspiring view of the gospel passage. I like your the approach to the way of Jesus: He is frequently shown responding “on demand” to people who bring their needs to him. I had a similar idea but on a slightly different track - for what it's worth.

Like sheep without a shepherd: one of the most common metaphors in the bible. These are not mountain goats or feral sheep capable of looking after themselves: the image is of domestic sheep, tamed to a point of total dependency on people for food and safe shelter. Without good care they will be getting lost in rugged hill country, attacked by wild dogs or wolves, stolen and fleeced by criminals; they will get confused and end up milling round in a circle of blind panic when fear grips the mob. These sheep without a shepherd are vulnerable.

Check out a key reference in the book of Numbers 27:17 "May the Lord God... set over the community someone who will be their leader..., that the Lord's community may not be like sheep without a shepherd."

And the whole of Ezechiel, chapter 34.

His heart was moved with pity for them: In Jesus, God feels compassion for the vast crowd whom we neglect to guide, nourish and protect.

And he began to teach them many things: this is unexpected. No healings today: later there will be food provided, but the first priority is teaching. No practical programs to organise self-help groups, resistance groups to plot against the occupying forces of Rome, or unions to fight for better wages; not even ways to better moral conduct.

Is Mark saying that teaching is the primary response when sheep are found without shepherds?

Many things: Throughout his gospel account Mark does not tell us much about what Jesus taught, though he insists that Jesus was seen as a teacher. It is Matthew who gives us samples of his teaching in aphorisms and parables. We are left to wonder what he chose to talk about here by the lakeside that afternoon when they had been trying to get away for a quiet time by themselves. Did he give a series of lectures as a professor might? Did he teach them how to pray - or how to think?

Could it be that the thing people need most from a 'shepherd' is help towards understanding. With understanding we can see things for ourselves. We learn to use our own thinking power to sort through our options, prioritise our needs from day to day. As we gain confidence in our own thinking and our own judgement we can make choices for ourselves. We are no longer slaves to law or custom - or to peer group pressure, and hence less likely to be enslaved by the powerful who would own even our inner selves if they could. Education leads us out from our confining state of enslavement to make us self-motivating and free.

We often hear it said that the 'gospel' as proclaimed in the christian community does just this: it sets us free. So it is valid to ask this question: Is there a teaching of Jesus that is for you a key to understanding "your" life?

It is said that Jesus saved the world by or through the sacrifice of himself on the cross, and it is the sacrifice of calvary perpetuated in the Mass that is our 'salvation'. That sounds like remote theology compared to the practical reality that salvation is essentially a matter of liberating people from the enslavement of their minds?

I wonder is it going too far to suggest that Jesus might be a 'model' teacher? CathyT has pointed out that he responded to the needs of people who came to him, much as a parent responds to a child. Teaching in the home happens in real life situations, an answer to a question in the immediate here and how, a response to a pressing need. It seems Jesus was often exhausted from responding: did he actually listen to each person and offer them a word that pointed to a solution, at once educating and liberating?

As a program for anyone who would be a shepherd this seems a likely starting point: to give of your self in taking care to listen well for that will already educate/lead-out the person trapped in some bind.

For every follower of Jesus it could be a practical starting point: just in a natural way, to listen to each one you meet and show the acceptance and love that enables confidence to freely grow.

Tony Lawless

'TonyL
"A post is a free gift, and it will go where it pleases."'

Thanks Cathy, I think any abusers hearing this reading ought shake in the shoes if they seriously take in the words and message of the 1st Reading.

Were terrible things already happening way back when that 1st reading was written?

Sandra

Another challenging gospel and some wonderful commentary.

Thank you Cathy ,Tony,Sandra,Francis,Gemstones Helen.In many ways this gospel is so much like life - we start of doing one thing but end up doing something completely different.

The first reading - "they drove them away ", " they didn't care for them".

-Is this passage really railing against the idea of a "smaller purer church" ?Some of the hierarchy seem not to care about the 87% who have left the pews and those others who still care enough to hang in there.

- and yet there is also challenge in this passage for all of us - in our families and our communities.

Going to a lonely place - what an important option.

Jesus has been travelling around healing people ,casting out the occasional evil and his disciples have just returned from their first stint at ministry.

Most of this takes place in small villages of one or two hundred people.No chance of much privacy there ( Although privacy is probably a modern western concept)

I have often wondered how much this took out of Jesus and his disciples.They were always two way encounters.( Pagola uses the phrase'fusion')

And so Jesus is doing what he does elsewhere in the Gospels going off to a lonely place (desert,mountain tops,lakesides) either by himself or with a few of his disciples.

In modern society where our approach to "leisure" is almost as obsessive as our approach to work ( and where silence and solitude are almost considered odd ) we need to respect the sabbatical dimensions of life.

And yet Jesus who hasn't even had time to eat,simply changes tack and starts teaching when confronted with the large crowds who had gathered.( I used the word teaching quite specifically - it strikes me as far more suggestive of a transforming ,creative encounter than the word
preaching )

We are told by the Gopsel that he is driven by compassion ( in Greek I understand this is a real gut word )
However I wonder if there are other clues in the Pagola commentary that Francis posted about Jesus being calm.Was there something that Jesus first encountered in the desert which by and large we ( westerners at least ) are not in touch with in our busy hurried lives.

What sort of sheep are we ? -
Tony writes about different types of sheep - domesticated ones who are quitte dependent and vulnerable and feral ones who are more self sufficient.

Some in the church would like us to be all quite domesticated.

However I suspect many of us have gone a bit feral over the years.We are living on the trail food of the Gospels and the shared experiences of other ferals.We are probably learning lots ( at least on Catholica) from the butting of the occasional (agnostic ) wild goat.

The ferals are also the lost sheep but I suspect some in the church don't care.

Maitland

Thank you Cathy, especially for “Jesus is not depicted as someone who sets out with a timetable of good deeds he will do or topics he will preach on; instead, he is frequently shown responding “on demand” to people who bring their needs to him.”
What an excellent point that directs us to always check what our priorities ought to be.

Thank you also Tony. I agree that the most effective teacher is one who leads by example.
Jesus surely did that!
He is shown to feel for the people and does so to such an extent that He eventually gives his life for them.

I often have my doubts about being part of a herd of sheep following a shepherd.
After all sheep seem pretty stupid!
I would rather be a goat!
They seem to be smarter and have a greater ability to survive.
There is also such a thing as ‘blind faith’.

But I sense that the gospel reading isn’t so much about the dumb and docile sheep showing ‘blind faith’, but rather the skills, the actions and the attitude of the shepherd.
It is the quality of the compassion and care that is provided by the shepherd that is being highlighted.

As Christians we model ourselves on the ‘good shepherd’ to take good care of others, especially those in need.
The challenge we face is that we have to make decisions in the here and now, like Jesus did then.
We have to make personal decisions whenever we face situations that require our compassion and initiative to care for and support others.
We have to do it for ourselves and that is not a matter of ‘blind faith’, but rather a matter of conscience.
Of course we follow the rules and take on board advice before we decide on doing what is best.

We are invited in the gospels to promote values that care for and respect all peoples, especially those who are poor or struggling with any special need.
If our social, political and economic systems ignore the needs of people and fail to promote a more just society then all of us are part of that failure.
If we fail to speak up, then as Edmund Burke has suggested, evil will triumph.
We must not look on and do nothing.
It seems that there are more than enough issues facing us today that suggest ‘good shepherds’ are very much absent!
Are we suffering from ‘blind faith’ symptoms when we look on and do nothing in the face of so much inhumanity in today’s world, both here and elsewhere around the world?
Can we see evidence of ‘good shepherding’ or leadership in our Australian society or in our church?
I would love to read a long list of examples, especially at our local community level.

In the parish bulletin I read a story that went something like this:
A family went for dinner at a restaurant.
The waitress took the orders of each person, the last one being the seven-year-old son.
“What will you have,” she asked.
The boy looked around the table timidly and said, “A hot dog, please.”
Before the waitress could write down the order, one of the parents interrupted. ”No hot dogs! Get him a steak with mashed potatoes and carrots.”
The waitress asked the boy, “Do you want ketchup or mustard on your hot dog?”
“Ketchup, please.”
“Coming up in a minute,” said the waitress as she left for the kitchen.
While the rest of the family sat there in astonished dismay at the cheek of the waitress the boy looked around the table and said, “You know what? She thinks I'm real!”

Cathy, I found your reflection very profound and full of practical wisdom.  When you say,

"All too often we have been encouraged to see “Christian love” as being all about “duty”, and about caring for others out of a sense that “we oughta”! It can be more about alleviating feelings of guilt than about being genuinely motivated by love! "

you have put into words something I too have thought, and as a consequence have often felt guilty and puzzled about my lack of 'Christian love', but now you have given me some clarity about this.

Every now and then over the years I have gone to various organizations Catholic and otherwise, and volunteered help, making and standing by serious commitments of small, regular amounts of time.  Mostly this has not worked out satisfactorily.  Though I stood by these commitments, rarely did I feel I was making a useful contribution, so was always relieved when the commitment reached its end.  Finally I gave up doing that - obviously I was not 'called' to a life of good works.

As for all those other times when help is given to family, friends, neighbours and strangers - that did not seem to count as 'compassion'. That was just what happened as needs arose, rarely felt as duty or the sacrifice of valuable time, but even if it was, knowing that it was something the other valued got my willing help.  And now you have redefined that response as compassion, Cathy, so now I can finally give up my guilt about my lack of 'Christian love'.  

Even better, you have brought me to realize that this 'natural' response to others' needs is the way Jesus himself lived, when you say,

"Another thing which stands out for me in this story - and which I've noticed throughout the Gospels - is that Jesus is not depicted as someone who sets out with a timetable of good deeds he will do or topics he will preach on; instead, he is frequently shown responding “on demand” to people who bring their needs to him."

Thanks for this, Cathy.

Sue

So many contributions, and here's another.

A couple of days ago I received an email from Journeyman. He included a comment written by Fr Roger Karban, a scripture scholar from Illinois, USA, explaining that a new approach to the gospels was adopted midway through last century: from examining how each passage developed in the oral tradition to the point where it was recorded in writing, scholars began to look at how the different gospel writers built up their work, arranging and modifying the individual items to form a unified whole. Each gospel has a different purpose, in fact a different 'theology', a different explanation of the mission and purpose of Jesus the Christ.

Once scholars of our four gospels began to employ this methodology – called “redaction” criticism – a whole new biblical world opened. They started to appreciate the theology each evangelist was sharing with his community. The four were more than just collectors of early Christian traditions. Each molded Jesus’ sayings and narratives into a unique pattern. Today students of Scripture rarely use the phrases “Jesus said this or did that.” It’s been replaced with “Mark’s Jesus or John’s Jesus said this or did that.” Each evangelist provides us with a different theological picture of Jesus.

Roger points to something else that really needs explanation: how next Sunday we will suddenly switch in mid-stream from Mark's gospel to John's, result of the compilers of the lectionary not being au fait with redaction criticism.

Every three years [...] we suddenly shift from Mark’s narrative of the miraculous feeding to John’s account – a biblical “No! No!” Though both seem to narrate the same event, they employ different theologies in their narratives.

Then a brief comment on today's readings:

Like many of our sacred authors, Mark is concerned with the qualities of a good leader. As we hear in our Jeremiah reading, leadership in faith communities has always been a problem, in this case [causing] the prophet to look to the indefinite future for the arrival of a perfect leader. Mark, on the other hand, looks to the here and now. In his mind, the perfect leader, Jesus, has already arrived. What aspects of his leadership should Christian leaders be imitating? Jesus’ communities should never be like “sheep without a shepherd.”

Roger sees this passage of Mark as 'an intro to his first bread miracle':

In Mark’s theology – clearly demonstrated in his first bread miracle – a faith leader should be a catalyst, creating situations in which Christians can meet the needs of others, even though they initially think they’re powerless to meet those needs. In Mark’s account, unlike John’s, Jesus doesn’t feed the people, his disciples – after much protest – carry out that work. He is simply the instigator, pointing out an ability they didn’t realize they had until they actually did it.

Thank you, Joe, for this commentary of Fr Roger Karban.

Next week Sue will do the lead commentary, and with this background we will be prepared for the different theology, and the different feel of the narrative.

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed this week. It has been very enriching, and there may be more still to come.

tony

'TonyL
"A post is a free gift, and it will go where it pleases."'

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread and thus helped to make it such an inspiring, stimulating and varied conversation. It's a while since I did the lead reflection, and it's the first one I've done since Brian "promoted" (is that the right word for it?!) the "Y-not question..." thread to being a lead commentary. I'd been feeling a bit nervous, so I was glad to get such a good response.

I think Tony mentioned that Sue will be doing the lead reflection next week. I always love her contributions, so I'm greatly looking forward to it.

Oh, and this is not to say that the discussion is now closed. More contributions will be very welcome!

Cathy Taggart

I splash in my poetry puddle
and try to keep God amused. - James Broughton