Sixteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time
The first reading is taken from the oracles of the Prophet Jeremiah. His ministry in Jerusalem lasted from approximately 626 to 580 B.C. The time of this oracle is shortly after the first deportation of king and people of the Kingdom of Judah into exile in Babylon (today Iraq) in 597. In the arrangement of Jeremiah’s oracles by editors, the prophet had just proclaimed devastating oracles against three kings of the Kingdom of Judah, two of them dead, the third in exile in Babylon. Now on the throne of Judah by the will of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was King Zedekiah – the last king of the line of David. At this point, we might expect an oracle against King Zedekiah, but one suspects that Jeremiah was hoping that Zedekiah would turn out better than his three immediate predecessors. So instead of an oracle at this point against Zedekiah, we get an oracle against wicked shepherds (rulers), with a hope of better things to come at the end. This constitutes our first reading for this Sunday.
Jeremiah begins with a solemn denunciation, “Woe (doom) to the shepherds who allow the flock of my pasture to be destroyed and scattered – it is the Lord God of Israel who speaks. You have driven them away. You have not cared for them.” What lies in store for the neglectful shepherds? “I will take care to punish your evil deeds.” Things got to the point that the Lord God decides to clean house. “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock…, and bring them back to their meadows.” Here think Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd…. He makes me lie down in green pastures….” The Lord’s management of the flock will be only temporary until he can find “shepherds for them who will shepherd them, so that they need no longer fear and tremble, and none shall be missing.” There is hope, says Jeremiah. The Lord “will raise up a righteous Branch (Shoot) to David.” This will be the ideal king who “shall reign and govern wisely.” His name will be “the Lord is our justice.” In the language (Hebrew) of Jeremiah, this phrase-name is a play on the name of King Zedekiah, which means “The Lord is my justice.” Did Zedekiah turn out to be the “righteous Branch”? No! He too was a failure. The fulfillment of Jeremiah’s oracle, according to Christian interpretation, would not come until a half millennium later in Jesus. Thus the genealogies of Jesus, “Son of David,” in Matthew and Luke.
As might be expected, the commission responsible for the assembling of the new Lectionary chose Psalm 23 as the Responsorial Psalm to respond to the first reading. In this ancient psalm, there is no mention of wicked shepherds, since the Lord God himself shepherds the Psalmist and those who pray this Psalm. A younger contemporary of Jeremiah, the priest/prophet Ezekiel, in exile in Babylon with his fellow exiles from the Kingdom of Judah, must have used Jeremiah’s oracle against wicked shepherds and Psalm 23 and background material and language for his own denunciation of wicked rulers in Ezekiel 34. In a trajectory from Old to New Testament, the author(s) of the Gospel of John, or Jesus himself, used Jeremiah 23, Ezekiel 34, and Psalm 23 as foundational material for the Parable of the Good Shepherd in John 10:11-16.
The second reading continues a series of second readings from the Letter to the Ephesians. One purpose of this letter was to tear down the wall of prejudice between Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles. The means of healing that division, according to the author, is the blood of Christ, for “He is our peace, who made both one…, and broke down the wall….” Instead of having two bodies (two churches), Jesus in his flesh reconciled both sides to God “in one body through the cross.” His death put that division to death.
Last Sunday’s gospel reading consisted of the first mission of the Apostles and the missionary instructions given them by Jesus. In this Sunday’s gospel reading the Apostles return from the mission. “The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.” What had Jesus authorized them to do? What was their job description? “Authority over demons.” In the language of the time, this meant curing the sick. Every disease was thought to have some connection with demonic power. Anointing with olive oil was part of the ritual of exorcism. The apostles were not always successful against these “sickening” demons. A case of their inability is given in Mark 9:14-29. In that incident, Jesus responded to their failure, “How long must I put up with you?” Second job description: proclaiming repentance. Mission accomplished, they report back to Jesus. Their wise coach leads them by boat to a country retreat. No escape possible! People kept coming to them from all directions. Some must have had inside information, because “they arrived at the place before Jesus and the Apostles could get there.”
Jesus & Co. were en route by boat. Mark writes, “When he disembarked….” Jesus’ emotional response is the point in Mark’s catechesis, “When he saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with compassion for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.” This recalls today’s first reading and Ezekiel 34, where the Lord God rejects the wicked shepherds and he himself becomes the shepherd of the sheep. Here Mark teaches by implication that Jesus is God, which had stated openly in the opening sentence of his gospel, “The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Another important Old Testament background is found in Numbers 27:16-17; 1 Kings 22:17. How does Mark end the story? “…and he began to teach them many things.” Again the Old Testament kicks in. Deuteronomy 8:3, “Humankind does not live by bread alone but by everything that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” What has this story to do with bread? This story is Mark’s prelude to the feeding of five thousand in the wilderness. But the Lectionary at this point will shift to John 6, the Bread of Life discourse, for the next five Sundays.
