The unifying image in todays readings is that of the caring shepherd. "I will raise up shepherds and look after them and pasture them" Jeremiah prophesies in the first reading. The psalmist sings: "The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want..." According to Mark's gospel, when Jesus saw the large crowd, the first image that came to his mind was "sheep without a shepherd". The image of the shepherd is one of the more powerful and prevalent through the scriptures, in both the Old and the New Testaments.
This is so, precisely because the shepherd was central to the world from which the scriptures emerged. Jesus was a wandering preacher. He traveled through the hills and the valleys of his native Palestine. Meeting shepherds herding their sheep would have been an everyday experience for him. However, the shepherding of sheep was a far more demanding task in the world in which Jesus grew up. The shepherd stayed in the field with his sheep all day, protecting them from wolves and such wild animals. At night-time, he herded them into the sheepfold or the pen. There they are more easily protected. In the morning he will lead them off to new pastures.
And, he will lead them, not drive them, walking ahead of the sheep and calling each by name. If one gets lost, he will leave the ninety nine there and go off in search of the lost one. The 99 could look after each other. From this, it will be obvious how promising an image the shepherd is for a pastoral people. The reasons for its popularity with all the scriptural writers are obvious. The shepherd is a figure of care and compassion; he is a protector and a leader. If the shepherd is a good shepherd, he will, if necessary, lay down his life for his sheep. The life and the death of Jesus was to conform perfectly to the image of the Good Shepherd.
In our first reading today from the prophet Jeremiah, the leaders of Israel have not been good shepherds. "Doom to the shepherds who allowed the flock to be destroyed and scattered." In the eyes of the prophets this was the greatest failure of all: to allow the flock to be scattered. Because a scattered flock can no longer be guided, protected or sustained. Political organisation had collapsed in the Israel of Jeremiah's day. Half of its people had been carried into exile. The same fate would soon befall the other half.
Jeremiah attributes the dispersal of the population of Israel to the failure of the shepherds. But his condemnation ends on a note of hope: "I will raise up shepherds and look after them and pasture them. I will raise up a virtuous branch fro David who will reign as true king and be wise." Here Jeremiah is faithfully fulfilling his role as a true prophet: while exposing faults and failures, he is also putting new heart into his people.
Last Sunday's gospel recounted the sending out of the twelve on their mission of preaching and healing. There is a great urgency and a frenetic activity associated with the sending out of those first disciples. In today's extract they have returned from that mission and are reporting on their on their labour. For a man who was so single-minded in his mission, Jesus reacts in a surprising manner: He behaves as a true shepherd to his flock. He says to them: "What you need now is not work but rest. Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest for a while." The true shepherd will discern the needs of the moment.
Frenetic activity is one factor that divides us within ourselves. Frenetic activity is counter productive. It is not healthy and it is not necessary. When we lose ourselves in action, we lose perspective. Life moves at such an accelerating pace today that distance and occasional withdrawal are more necessary than ever. The pastoral setting in which the gospel came to birth is far removed from the concrete jungles in which 21st century people live out their lives.
As I pointed out earlier, the most powerful images of scripture are pastoral and are at odds with an urban, concrete culture. Images such as the Good Shepherd, the Vinedresser, the Lord of the Harvest, the hen gathering her chicks under her wings, will not find an immediate response in an urban setting.
The reality of this was brought home to me two Summers ago. I went into a pub, the Bunch of Grapes, in Knightsbridge in London one Sunday night. I recognised this young fellow from UCG drinking on his own. I went over to him and asked him how he was getting on. He was working as a sweeper on the London underground for the Summer. While the pay was good, he was not very happy with his lifestyle. He rose every morning at 6.00. It took him an hour and a half on the underground to get to his place of work. He worked in this particular tunnel all day and then climbed into the underground for another hour and a half journey home. He summed up his dilemma like this: "This is not natural. I am living my life underground like a bloody rabbit. The only time I see the light is when I have to come up for food. or drink."
The human being was never designed to live life at this pace or in these circumstances. There is a more ready recognition of this aspect of life today. Despite the preponderance of so many labour-saving devices, mankind was never so subject to stress as is the case today. Stress and burnout are widely recognised features of modern life.
This need for rest and for finding time to be with the Lord and our families is the wisdom behind keeping the Lord's Day holy. Sunday enables us to recover, to withdraw from frenetic activity, to regain a sense of what is important in lihfe, to return to work on Monday morning refreshed from having come apart to a lonely place. But, I fear, the wisdom of the Good Shepherd has been lost on many of us.
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