16th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
This Sunday could as
easily be termed Good Shepherd Sunday No. 2, as distinct from Good Shepherd
Sunday No. 1, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, when we considered Who and What
Jesus is for us, in consequence of his death and resurrection: the Good
Shepherd, who knows his own, who cares for his sheep, who lays down his life
for his sheep. Only, this Sunday gives
us the historical and experiential basis for this during the life and ministry
of Jesus, in his concern for his disciples and in his care for the crowds, “He
took pity on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set
himself to teach them at some length.”
But why did they
flock to him like this? Unlike the
shepherds in the first reading, maybe he really did care for them: ordinary
people felt taken seriously, treated as if they mattered, mattered even for
God, as the sons and daughters. These
“Lost Sheep of the House of Israel”, the very people to whom he felt that he
was sent, and whom he tried to take into the reign of God, God’s own space: the
usual suspects, i.e. the poor the sick the blind the lame prostitutes tax
collectors and sinners, the lepers, the demon possessed, the mere
children. But also
lots of ordinary people, which is why he taught in parables, because he wanted
to be understood by everyone, not just the learned and the clever.
And not just such
people en mass: eventually it comes down to this leper, this tax collector Zacchaeus, this other tax collector Matthew, this woman
taken in adultery, this paralytic, this woman with the flow of blood – out of
the whole crowd touching him and pressing on him; and this Samaritan woman at
the well, from whom he asked a drink, in two seconds they are into
heart-to-heart, and before she knows it her whole life is turned around.
And so they flocked
to him in droves.
This continues
through to the end. So far, his mission
to the lost sheep has been a nuisance and a scandal, sharing table fellowship
with the wrong crowd etc. But then he
goes off to Jerusalem and does two things, expressing his two guiding passions,
his zeal for his Father and his zeal for the Lost Sheep and for taking them
into his Father’s world, the mission he has been given by his Father. Namely, he cleanses the Temple, and he
entertains the blind and lame in the Temple (see Matthew) – taking them into
his Father’s House, what he has been doing all the time, his Father’s space, a
space for all peoples.
And so the Reign of
God comes up against religio-political and economic
powers and the Son of Man’s identification across all boundaries and barriers
becomes an identification with the God-forsaken
crucified outside the walls.
And so he becomes
indeed the Good Shepherd, the Johannine Shepherd who
lays down his life for his sheep. And
not only for these, but also for ones “not of this fold. I must lead them, too, and they shall hear my
voice. There will be one flock, then,
one shepherd.” (Compare the Second
Reading this week.)
And this is still
what he is, Good Shepherd, and for the same kinds of people – not just what he
was.