Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
16th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle B)
Readings:
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm 23:1-6
Ephesians 2:13-18
Mark 6:30-34
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), RSVCE (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The words LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments; therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that our Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: Like a Shepherd Tends His Flock
During the last several Sundays, the readings focused on the
authority and mission of God's representatives, the "voice" of God to the
people. Using the familiar Biblical imagery of a shepherd and his flock, the
readings continue to reflect on the authority and mission of the Church with
emphasis on the need for righteous "shepherds," the bishops and priests God
calls to lead the "flock" of His Church. "The Good Shepherd ought to be the
model and 'form' of the bishop's pastoral office. Conscious of his own weaknesses,
'the bishop ... can have compassion for those who are ignorant and erring. He
should not refuse to listen to his subjects whose welfare he promotes as of his
very own children ... The faithful ... should be closely attached to the bishop as
the Church is to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is to the Father'..."
(CCC 896; quoting from Lumen Gentium, 27).
In the First Reading, the 6th-century BC prophet Jeremiah calls a covenant lawsuit against the failed religious leaders of the Israelites/Jews of the Sinai Covenant. In response to their failures and the harm they have done to the people, Yahweh promises that He will come Himself to call them to account and to shepherd the "flock" of His people. He will bring them back to a covenant relationship with Him, rescuing them from where they were scattered and physically and spiritually lost.
In the Responsorial Psalm, we read a beautiful toda/todah Psalm of King David, Israel's shepherd-king. In Hebrew, the word toda means "thanksgiving." A toda psalm typically begins with the psalmist crying out to the Lord God from the depth of his sufferings but ends in a hymn of praise to God who is always faithful and has not abandoned His servant.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul writes about the Gospel of salvation that God worked in Christ Jesus for all people. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus's New Covenant Kingdom brought Jews and Gentiles into a unity of one "flock" in one faith family that worships the same God and Father.
In the Gospel Reading, the men Jesus chose to shepherd His New Covenant Kingdom return from their first missionary journey, where they preached the coming of the promised Messianic Kingdom. Jesus sees the crowds of people gathered to hear Him preach and has compassion for them because they are like "sheep without a shepherd. He is the fulfillment of the prophecies of Jeremiah in the First Reading. Jesus is both God Himself (Jer 23:3) and the Messianic Good Shepherd from the house of David (Jer 23:5) who has come to rescue His people and to lead them to salvation through worship in "the house of the Lord" (Ps 23:6).
The First Reading Jeremiah 23:1-6 ~ The False and True
Shepherds
1 Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock
of my pasture, says the LORD. 2 Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of
Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my
sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will take care
to punish your evil deeds. 3 I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from
all the lands to which I have driven them and bring them back to their meadow;
there they shall increase and multiply. 4 I will appoint shepherds for them who
will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble, and none shall
be missing, says the LORD. 5 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I
will raise up a righteous shoot to David; as king, he shall reign and govern
wisely, he shall do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days, Judah
shall be saved, Israel shall dwell in security. This is the name they give him:
"The LORD our justice,"
In the pattern of a covenant lawsuit (a riv in Hebrew), the LORD (Yahweh) pronounces judgment on the failed "shepherds" who are the religious hierarchy of the Church of Israel, bound to Him under the terms of the Sinai Covenant (Ex 24:6-7). Because they failed in obedience and the exercise of God-ordained worship, resulting in the people's apostasy, God punished them by allowing their "scattering" into exile into Gentile lands (verses 1-2). However, God did not abandon them but promised to come Himself, as their Divine Shepherd, to offer forgiveness and restore a faithful remnant of His covenant people (verse 3). Furthermore, He promised to give them a messianic King who would arise from the line of the great King David to rule over Judah and Israel with justice (verses 5-6).
Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and son of David (Mt 1:1), fulfills Jeremiah's prophecy. He is the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11, 14) who will gather to Himself a faithful remnant of the old Israel in His Apostles and disciples. They are the "shepherds" the Messiah will appoint to govern His Kingdom of the Church (Jer 23:4; Mt 18:18; Jn 20:22-23). Jesus came to gather the scattered and abandoned flock of Israel that He said was like "sheep without a shepherd" (Mt 9:36) and to call to account the failed shepherds of His people (see the "woe judgments" of Jesus's covenant lawsuit in Mt 23:13-36). However, the salvation that Jesus, the Davidic Messiah, brings will not be the temporal salvation promised under obedience to the old Sinai Covenant. Instead, Jesus came to establish an eternal New Covenant that promises everlasting salvation and a share in His divine life, with gifts of grace not possible under the old order but promised by God through His prophets (Jer 31:31-34; 32:40; 50:5; Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24, 26-28; also see Lk 22:20; Heb 8:6-7, 13; 12:24).
Responsorial Psalm 23:1-6 ~ The Lord is the Great
Shepherd
The response is: "The Lord is my shepherd; there is
nothing I shall want."
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 In verdant
pastures, he gives me repose; beside restful waters, he leads me; he refreshes
my soul.
Response:
3 He guides me in right paths for his name's sake. 4 Even
though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil; for you are at my side with
your rod and your staff that give me courage.
Response:
5 You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my
life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.
Response:
The 23rd Psalm is probably the best-loved of all the 150 psalms. The title attributes it to David, God's anointed shepherd-king of Israel and the ancestor of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus Christ (Mt 1:1-16, 19-20; Lk 1:30-33). This psalm expresses a personal reflection of the relationship between the psalmist and the nearness of his God. Two metaphors frame the psalm:
In the Bible and the ancient Near East, the role of a shepherd was often a metaphor for the king (2 Sam 5:2; Is 44:28; etc.). The same metaphor expressed the role of God as the Divine King and the protector and judge of His covenant people (Ps 28:9; Is 40:11; Ezek 34:11-16).
Describing the aspects of shepherding, perhaps from David's perspective as a shepherd in his youth (1 Sam 16:1, 11-13), the inspired writer provides a picture of his relationship with God as he seeks to live a life of holiness (verses 2-3). Under the Divine Shepherd's constant guidance, the psalmist and his people, the sheep of God's flock, are led with tenderness and compassion. The Divine Shepherd considers the fears and weaknesses of His people, leading them not by the fearful, raging rivers but by the quiet waters (sheep fear drowning and will only drink from still waters). His tender care gives the psalmist confidence that with God's shepherding, he will reach the green pastures of God's heavenly kingdom (1 Pt 5:4; Rev 7:17). Even amid trials and sufferings, the psalmist feels a sense of security as he trusts God to lead and protect him. Despite the threats of his enemies, God the Divine Host has prepared a table and sacred meal for him when it is time for him to enter into God's eternal rest. The psalmist feels overwhelmed by the abundance of God's mercy and covenant love.
For Christians, this psalm takes on its fullness of meaning in Jesus's statement, "I am the Good Shepherd" (Jn 10:11, 14; Heb 13:20) and in the Eucharistic ("Thanksgiving" in Greek and Toda in Hebrew) banquet at every Catholic altar. The host metaphor of the psalm first found fulfillment at the table of the Last Supper, where Jesus, the host of the sacred meal, offered His disciples the Eucharistic banquet for the first time. He continues to provide the Eucharistic banquet for His faithful on the altar table at every celebration of the Mass. This banquet looks back to the Last Supper and forward to the heavenly banquet in God's eternal kingdom when the righteous enter His eternal rest (Rev 19:5-9). All who accept Christ as Lord and Savior hope to sit in the presence of the saints and the faithful David at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb and His Bride, the Church (Rev 19:9).
The Second Reading Ephesians 2:13-18 ~ The Church's Unity
as One Flock in Christ
13 In Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have become
near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, he who made both one and
broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, 15 abolishing the
law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one
new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile
both with God, in one body through the cross, putting that enmity to death by
it. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those
who were near, 18 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the
Father.
St. Paul wrote to the predominately Gentile congregation of the Ephesian Christians about the Gospel of salvation that God worked in Christ for all peoples. The Gentiles, "those who were once far off" (verses 13 and 17), did not have the Messianic expectations of the Jews, "those who were near" (verse 17). The Gentiles lacked knowledge of the One, true God. Their worship of false gods gave them no hope of eternal salvation at the end of their earthly lives. Through Christ Jesus, all these barriers between Jew and Gentile are transcended (verses 13-14) by Jesus's fulfillment of the Mosaic Old Covenant Law (verse 15a). Now, in the Messianic Age of Christ's Kingdom of the Church, Jews and Gentiles have been united into a single religious community (verses 15b-16), and imbued with the same Holy Spirit, they worship the same God and Father (verse 18).
The Gospel of Mark 6:30-34 ~ Jesus's Compassion for the
People who are like Sheep without a Shepherd
30 The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported
all they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a
deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great
numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. 32 So they went off in the
boat by themselves to a deserted place. 33 People saw them leaving, and many
came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and
arrived at the place before them. 34 When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a
shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.
The Apostles have returned from their missionary journey to the towns and villages in Galilee and Judea, where they healed the sick, cast out demons, preached repentance, and announced the coming of the Messiah's Kingdom (Mk 6:7-13). Knowing that His Apostles were exhausted after their mission, Jesus invited them to come away with Him and rest physically and spiritually. St. Mark is the only Gospel writer who consistently mentions the personal sacrifice Jesus and His disciples experienced during His ministry. Mark notes that they had no opportunity to even take a meal without being interrupted by people seeking Jesus (verse 31b). To provide for the needs of His Apostles, Jesus took them by boat to a deserted place.
34 When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart
was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd, and
he began to teach them many things.
Jesus and His disciples came ashore only to discover that
the crowd had found where they were going and were already gathered in great
numbers when they disembarked. Instead of being angry that His plan to
take His Apostles on a retreat was now impossible, Jesus felt compassion for
the crowd. Compassion isn't just a human emotion but one of God's attributes
(Ex 34:6).
Jesus characterized the crowd as "sheep without a shepherd," which recalls the prophecy in Jeremiah 23:5-6 and Ezekiel 34:1-6, 11-16. Both the 6th-century BC prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel promised God Himself would come to shepherd His people because of the failures of Israel's shepherds/religious leaders (Jer 23:3; Ezek 34:1-6). And Jeremiah and Ezekiel both prophesied that God would one day send a Davidic Messiah to shepherd God's people in a new covenant of everlasting peace (Jer 23:5-6; 31:31; 32:40; 50:5; Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24-28). Jesus is the fulfillment of the eternal Davidic covenant (2 Sam 7:16; 23:5; 2 Chr 13:5; Ps 89:2-5; Sir 45:25), and He is the Messiah sent to shepherd God's covenant people. Jesus is both the Messianic Davidic shepherd prince and God Himself (Ezek 34), who came to rescue His "flock" and lead them to the "green pastures" of eternal salvation. The Church is the "sheepfold" of God's "flock that He promised He would come to shepherd, and whose sheep, even though governed by human shepherds, are unfailingly nourished and led by God the Son, the Davidic Good Shepherd and Prince of Shepherds, who gave his life for the sheep" (CCC 754).
Catechism References (* indicates Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation):
Jeremiah 23:1-6 (CCC 754)
Christ our peace (CCC 2302*, 2303*, 2304*, 2305*, 2306)
Christ's disciples in every generation are witnesses and workers for peace and justice (CCC 2437-2442)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2015; revised 2024 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.