THE members of the Lord’s flock experience the loving care of the Shepherd who looks after each one, as he guides them to pasture and protects them from harm (Psalm 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6). Jesus’ apostles extended His mercy and compassion to peoples, even as Jesus Himself pitied them for being like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:30-34).
The Lord is my shepherd
In Psalm 23, God is pictured as a shepherd who leads His flock to pasture, to water and through difficult terrain, protecting them from predators and against all dangers. To characterize the Lord as a shepherd is to express trust and confidence that He is looking after His people as a shepherd does for His flock with tender compassion, attending to all their needs. Under His care, the individual sheep (like the psalmist himself) leads a peaceful existence, provided with ample grazing and with abundant, nonturbulent water to drink from, so much so that one’s deepest being (soul, nepesh) is truly nourished and refreshed.
The shepherd’s providence is also moral: the psalmist is guided, for the sake of the Lord’s name, in the right path, in the way of the righteous. This covenant way of the Lord is His enduring loving-kindness (hesed) that follows the psalmist all the days of his life. That is why even in passing through dark valleys, he fears no evil, because he knows the Lord is at his side. Here the psalmist shifts and speaks to God directly: You are with me, and with Your shepherd’s rod and staff You ward off dangers and steady the whole flock. And You prepare such nourishment for me, it is a testimony of Your love for me in the sight of all my foes; You anoint me and I will enjoy Your favor until I dwell in Your house for all time!
Caring for His own
The disciples Jesus sent out to preach to people the good news of God’s reign are called here (for the only time in Mark) as apostles. The stress is on the relationship between Jesus as the sender and the followers sent, who were commissioned to function as Jesus’ representatives, to act with full authority from Him. That explains why upon returning, the apostles gave Jesus a report of all they have done and taught. They were accountable to Him for their use of His authority. On Sunday we saw them preaching repentance and driving out demons and curing many who were sick (Mark 6:7-13). And Jesus demanded from them single-mindedness and self-abnegation, as He enjoined them to take no food, sack or money for their mission work; they were also told not to look for more comfortable lodging or better board in the places they visit.
Jesus showed himself truly concerned with the welfare of His followers. Newly returned from their campaign and surely tired in all the excitement, Jesus invited them to withdraw with Him from the crowds and to rest and recharge. Rest is what God as shepherd would give His faithful flock (Isaiah 65:10; Ezekiel 34:15; Psalm 23:2). Rest and being by themselves was Jesus’ regular wish for His disciples (Mark 4:35-36). And he took them to a deserted place where He himself used to withdraw for periods of prayer (Mark 1:35), the desert being a place of communing with God and to return to it a time of recommitment. Jesus is here portrayed as the incarnate wisdom with whom the disciples found rest and reward after labor and toil (Sirach 6:29; 51:27).
He was moved with pity for them
The departure of the group of Jesus did not faze the crowds. They seemed to be familiar with the place the group was going to, and they arrived there even before Jesus and His disciples did. At the sight of the crowds who pursued them with such passion, Jesus was moved with pity for them. Their insistence summoned the goodness of the shepherd to the fore. Jesus then taught them many things, and He would be feeding all of them. The profound inner emotion Jesus felt for the crowds has a messianic aspect to it (cf. Mark 1:42; 8:2; 9:22). He was moved by the plight of the people who were like sheep without shepherd, looking for someone they could follow.
And Jesus took them all into his embrace, teaching them, guiding them and giving them sustenance. He could not tolerate that the people be without a shepherd, as Moses prayed that his people be not left like sheep without a shepherd (Numbers 27:17). Or as Jeremiah said, God wants the sort of shepherds for the people “so that they need no longer fear and tremble; and none shall be missing” (Jeremiah 23:4).
Alálaong bagá, even today people want to hear what Jesus and His disciples have to say. People are looking for direction, wanting to be released from the demons possessing them and to be cured from illnesses tormenting them. But they need shepherds with real compassion for them.
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