16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 21, 2024

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Jesus’ compassion for those who need his help; balancing personal rest with the needs of others

Mark 6:30–34

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Music Meditations

Opening Prayer

Lord, there are times when I want to get away from the crowds, when I feel oppressed by company. There are other times when I just wish that somebody knew that I exist; those days, I can have too much of aloneness. If I can reach you in prayer, and know that you are more central to me than my own thoughts, I feel at peace, as the apostles must have felt.

Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions” 2018, a service of the Southern Dominican Province

When you read, or hear, in Mark’s gospel that Jesus is planning a quiet retreat for himself or his disciples, you can be sure their rest is going to be interrupted by the needs of the people. Mark is a busy gospel and that’s what happens in today’s passage. The apostles return from the preaching and healing ministry Jesus had sent them on -- remember last week’s gospel (6: 7-13)? Today we are told that they, “gathered together with Jesus,” the way sheep gather with their shepherd, and that they made a report of their preaching mission. Jesus invites them to come apart with him to “a deserted place and rest awhile.” But Mark’s is not a gospel for resting, there is much to do; there are many needy people. It sounds like it was written yesterday, a modern gospel for modern disciples who have too many pressing needs, too limited energies, too many distractions, too much confusion about what’s really important and what’s just busy work that distracts us from our calling. Yes, “calling,” whether we are full time paid ministers, church volunteers, or people leading very busy and demanding lives -- the kind Jesus and his disciples lead in Mark’s gospel. If any of the above describes your life, then Mark is the gospel for you.

Jesus had sent the apostles out to do the very things he was doing, teaching, healing and driving out demons. In this action-filled gospel one event follows quickly upon another. We can sense the rush of activity and can understand the need Jesus and his apostles have for rest and regrouping. I wonder if Jesus not only wanted to give his disciples a chance to rest, but also to remind them about all that discipleship would entail – not just enthusiastic acceptance by the multitudes, but the cross, pain and sacrifice of true discipleship. If the disciples don’t include the cross in their understanding of ministry they will fail as Jesus’ followers. At first, that’s what happens, because when Jesus meets his cross, they scatter. Mark was writing for a community that was facing the cross of persecution and his gospel is trying to show that early church and us, should not measure ourselves by worldly standards of success and failure. Maybe that is why Jesus is trying to pull his disciples away from the popularity spotlight -- to instruct them more fully on discipleship.

Maybe we too have to go against the tides of rush and busyness to evaluate our call to follow Jesus and the consequences it has on our lives. Even those of us who are already involved in church, or public service, must ask ourselves if there are people we are neglecting and other needs to address. Are there people or services we must attend to that might not be as noticed, or as lauded as what we are now doing -- but might be where we are being called to live out our discipleship? There are those of us who sense we are ministering in the right places and should continue doing so, whether at home, the public market place, or at our church. Nevertheless, Jesus is the shepherd who tends to the needs of disciples and calls us, now and then, to rest. He takes his flock to a “deserted place,” where they won’t be distracted and will be able to focus on the food he wants to give them – his presence and his word. As he is doing for us at every Eucharist. He sees that we need to gather around our Shepherd. He wants to give us what we must have to continue as his disciples. For some we may need more time to focus, reflect and be nourished. Surely our parish offers periods of retreat, renewal and input. And for those who can manage to get away, there are retreat houses and spirituality centers. There are various modern “deserted places,” where Jesus would be with us to help us gather our scattered spirits. Jesus sees the needy “vast crowd” and, as their shepherd, he decides to feed them. First, he will teach them, because their spirits need the food he has for them. Then he will give them food for their bodies. He immediately spots their more severe hungers for, “they were like sheep without a shepherd and he began to teach them many things.” Mark is showing us that Jesus is more than sufficient for us. You can sense the chaos and “lostness” of the people, they are a crowd – a leaderless and directionless crowd. They need a shepherd who can teach and direct them; bring order and vision to their lives. Jesus’ compassion is frequently stirred by a person’s physical condition, because they are blind, deaf, crippled, etc. But this crowd needs something even more important than a physical cure; they need to know and be with Jesus. Have you ever been with someone seriously ill and been moved by their calm faith? I wonder how they can seem so trusting in such dire straits? It is obvious their faith has another source, other than themselves. You sense that Jesus has taken notice of them, the way he did the crowd, “his heart was moved with pity for them....” You realize the sick person has been taught by Christ himself, given food in a “deserted place” that no one else could provide under the circumstances.

Jesus sees the vast and needy crowd and his first reaction isn’t annoyance at having the quiet break he planned for himself and his disciples interrupted. Instead, Mark tells us, when Jesus sees the crowd, “his heart was moved with pity for them.” Usually we don’t like the world “pity.” It sounds so condescending. When we really are annoyed with someone, a way of telling them how disgusted and disappointed we are is to say, “I pity you.” But we know, from Jesus’ subsequent care for the people, that his pity isn’t condescending. It is more a deep feeling of concern, like the kind that moves us to act on another’s behalf. We see or hear of another’s pain and we feel pity or compassion and decide to do something for them. This exchange between someone’s need and our response transcends the usual barriers that often separate humans: race, gender, nationality, economics, etc. When we feel pity for another, we are united with God whose compassion goes out to all God has created -- humans and the very earth itself.

Throughout Mark’s gospel those following Jesus are usually called “disciples.” But in today’s passage they are called “apostles.” It is the only time in the gospel that Mark uses this title. It’s a new name for them and suggests a new relationship with Jesus. The Shepherd is preparing “apostles,” then and now, those to be sent in his name to teach and act as he did.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • How do we create some more human and quiet spaces in our lives in the midst of the “din” we inhabit?
    Has this “din” gotten worse over the years?
  • Does our reliance on gadgets to keep us connected to the larger world at all times ever inhibit our connection with those closest to us?
  • What do we do about too many pressing needs, too many distractions, too little time, and sometimes too little energy?
  • Why do we need to regroup our energies now and then?
    What do we do to get rest and nourishment for ourselves?
    What interferes with that?
  • What is the role of prayer in providing you and me a respite or a rest?
    When I look at the people I encounter, are there any that “move me to compassion”?
  • In the list of priorities, where do my needs fit in with the needs of others—and where do the needs of family members or work obligations interfere with the needs of the larger community?
    How important is it to me to attend to those who are not my family or friends, but who need some help?
    When do I feel I might have the time to do this?
    What are some of the “costs” of following Jesus?
    Do we think Jesus understands how difficult it sometimes is?
    What in this gospel reveals that?
  • Mark 6:35ff. follows this passage with the story of the feeding of the five thousand (the loaves and fishes story). Where did that leave Jesus and the disciples in their quest for rest and relaxation?
    Where does that leave us as disciples of Jesus?
  • What group or groups of people in our current day are like “sheep without a shepherd”?
    What would Jesus try to do for them?
    What do we try to do?
    What comes first: spiritual care or temporal care?
  • Can we list the places and circumstances where ours is a “shepherding” role?
  • There is a difference between being a disciple of Jesus and an apostle—disciple is one who engages in learning at the feet of the master; apostle means one who is sent out. Which are you?
  • Which wisdom guides our most important decisions: the world’s or Jesus’?
  • To what sources does the search for wisdom and guidance take me?
  • If Jesus’ actions were motivated by love and love alone, what are my actions motivated by?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Adapted from Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

This is a gospel story for people busy caring for others. Jesus’ peace and quiet was disturbed by the crowds who needed him, but there were times when he just had to get away…

This is an image of many parents and people in helping profession, or those caring for a family member at home. We need rest and time to recharge the energy and love of the heart. But at times the needs of others take over. What we sometimes forget is that if we do not take care of ourselves, we lose the capacity for patience, the energy for interaction and a healthy perspective about just what we are doing and need to do. We lose our joy. Have I ever felt that time for myself was undeserved, and had to be reserved for a time when no one needed me? When I went too long without a respite, some down time, what was the result? Where does prayer fit into the equation?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Prayer time is an answer to Jesus’ invitation to come away and rest. Jesus invites me to come away from the distractions and busyness of my life and go into a quiet space where I can be with him. Jesus always listens to me and wants me to share my hopes, my disappointments, my successes, my failures, my dreams and my broken dreams… Try to journal for about 15 minutes each day this week, speaking from your heart, and letting Jesus just be with you. Rest in him.

Poetic Reflection:

In this poem, the late Denise Levertov captures how difficult it is for us to calm ourselves and to be in presence of the peace, quiet and comfort that is God:

“Flickering Mind”

Lord, not you
it is I who am absent.
At first
belief was a joy I kept in secret,
stealing alone
into sacred places:
a quick glance, and away—and back,
circling.
I have long since uttered your name
but now
I elude your presence.
I stop
to think about you, and my mind
at once
like a minnow darts away,
darts
into the shadows, into gleams that fret
unceasing over
the river’s purling and passing.
Not for one second
will my self hold still, but wanders
anywhere,
everywhere it can turn. Not you,
it is I am absent.
You are the stream, the fish, the light,
the pulsing shadow.
You the unchanging presence, in whom all
moves and changes.
How can I focus my flickering, perceive
at the fountain’s heart
the sapphire I know is there?

Closing Prayer

Lord, there are so many in my life who are needy and wanting my care and concern. [Take time to think of particular people.] Help me to be patient; help me to be attentive to those around me. But at other times, Jesus, help me to discipline myself to go to a quiet space in my heart where I may find you waiting. Help me to drop the mask, reflect on my life, and reflect on your love and concern for me, because you love me.