I myself will shepherd them!

Homily for the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time B
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center
19 July 2009
Year for Priests
JMJ +m AMDG

By the time of the prophet Jeremiah, Israel had a long sordid history of selfish, lazy and immoral kings and prophets. Jeremiah is called by God to point out that such shepherds only scatter sheep. Unless shepherds are connected to the one who alone can provide lasting peace and security, they are incapable of shepherding, they are capable only of scattering. The same question emerges for us today as we listen to the words of the prophet. Are our leaders gathering or scattering us? Who are we to trust? How do we discern who is caring for us and who is caring only for themselves? How do we sort through the endless cacophony of empty promises? The present debate on health care, for example, comes down ultimately to the question of who we can trust to deliver quality health care to the most people? Whose plan will gather? Whose plan will scatter? Who can we trust to shepherd us rightly?

Jeremiah announces the intention of the Lord to shepherd the people himself. The Lord's plan for shepherding his people, his plan for bringing them a security and peace that will last, is a plan to continually replace shepherds who only trust in themselves with shepherds who realize that the task of shepherding is too big to accomplish without faith, so the world needs shepherds who are obedient to a plan that goes far beyond their ability to know and to control. Jeremiah's prophecy is a call for shepherds who will instruct the people in the truth that God alone can give ultimate security, and it is through a friendship with Him that persons can move into an uncertain future without fear. Jeremiah's call is a call for shepherds to remind people that there is no need for fear, because God sees them, God knows them, God loves them, and God Himself will shepherd them.

The psalm for today echoes that fact that faith in God provides a hidden life with God that is so rich that it lacks nothing. Not even the most exclusive and extravagant mansion on this earth can say it lacks nothing, and yet the psalmist is confident in saying that one who is a friend of God lacks nothing, for he is one with the One through whom all things were made. St. Paul says that God himself is our peace, which means we are at peace insofar as we are one in friendship and love with Him, a friendship made possible by Jesus Christ breaking down the wall of enmity between man and God.

It is to this peace that Jesus calls his disciples in today's Gospel. Even though it appears in today's reading that the vacation of the disciples was limited to a brief boat ride across the sea, giving them finally a brief chance to relate stories and grab a bite to eat, the short time of rest was important, a chance for the disciples to realize their identity as those chosen by Christ to be instruments of his reconciliation and peace. The disciples had just returned from their first missionary journeys, being sent out and instructed not to take anything with them, but to trust fully in God. They have returned to tell the stories of how things were going, but the new disciples kept hounding them. They didn't even have a chance to eat. But Jesus did not tell his disciples to keep working, to keep making hay while the sun was shining, to put it as much overtime as possible. No, Jesus longed for a deserted place where he could remind his disciples that it was God himself who was shepherding his people through them. This preaching of the kingdom of God was not to become a new successful career for the disciples, but truly a vocation, a way of being that allowed God to accomplish the building of his eternal family through the ministry of the disciples.

Most of all, Jesus longed to remind his disciples that it was their friendship with him that made them great, that was the initial source of their success. Jesus needed disciples who were not becoming famous by what they did, but were secure in their friendship with God to the point that they would be faithful to what God wanted to accomplish through them even when the scene would change dramatically at Calvary. Jesus longed to form his disciples in such a way that they would stand by him, not only when the crowds were cheering him, but also when they were clamoring for his crucifixion. Jesus needed disciples who because of their deep friendship with God would continue loving and caring for the flock no matter what, even when the flock turns and hates the very ones caring for them. Such shepherding, of gathering even when there is every reason to scatter, is a sign that God is working through his shepherds, that through them He is reminding his people not to be afraid, but to be at peace, for He knows them, He loves them, He sees them, and He himself is shepherding them!