In Sunday’s second reading, St. Paul speaks of Jesus breaking down the dividing wall of enmity in order to create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace. The commentaries on this reading explain that the reconciliation Paul is writing about is between the Jews and the Gentiles, that it is Jesus who is the mediator who brings together these two very different sets of people who had lived for centuries in opposition to each other.
I’ve often thought that this reading’s idea of creating one new person in place of the two can easily be about bridging the gap between me and God, the gap between the Creator and us, his creation. The dividing wall of enmity that needs to be broken down is entirely of our own making. It’s the wall we build in order to try to live according to our will rather than God’s will.
In our country, we so often celebrate the idea of rugged individualism, the idea that to be fully actualized we need to be independent, and that admitting we need the help or support of others is somehow a sign of weakness. But when you think about it, this way of thinking is ultimately a recipe for isolation. If you insist on going it alone, that’s likely where you’ll end up: Alone. The alternative St. Paul describes is the creation of one new person in the place of two, the new person who is created when I join myself to Christ.
I don’t lose my identity when I join myself to Jesus. When you look at the reading, the only thing that’s lost in this equation, the only thing that dies, is enmity. Isolation and division fall away and are replaced with unity. It makes me think of the description of spiritual mathematics: God adds and multiplies, the devil subtracts and divides.
It’s worth noting that our reading from St. Paul is three sentences long, and uses the word “peace” four times. It is that peace born of unity with Him that is God’s will for us, the place he wants to lead us as our shepherd. The first reading begins “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the Lord.” Not just my flock, but the flock of my pasture. The Lord identifies his flock with the place of peace and nourishment he wants them to be.
Pasture is from the Latin word pastura, which means grazing, and the image of sheep grazing in a meadow is certainly a peaceful image. But the sheep don’t get there on their own – they’re led there by a shepherd. Getting them there is the whole point of the shepherd’s mission. This week’s Psalm describes the shepherd’s mission in three parts: He leads, he protects, and he feeds.
The Lord is our shepherd who leads us to restful waters and guides us on right paths; he is at our side to dispel our fear as we walk through the dark valley; and he nourishes us abundantly, not with a mere meal, but with a banquet.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity when he saw the vast crowd who needed all those things that only a good shepherd could provide. It’s not just his disciples wanting to be around Jesus, it’s not a handful of his followers trailing behind him, it’s a vast crowd.
All these people could’ve acted as their own shepherds, they could’ve led themselves home, been safe within their walls, and eaten what was on hand. But they all knew that wasn’t enough, that they needed more than their day-to-day world had to offer. They were the embodiment of St. Augustine’s beautiful quote “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
And Jesus’ response to their yearning? We hear it as the Gospel reading concludes: “And he began to teach them many things.” Through his teaching, Jesus shepherds the vast crowd – which includes each of us here today – by leading us closer to Him, protecting us from falling into the sin that would separate us from him, and nourishing our souls. But it’s up to each of us to be attentive to his teaching –he won’t force us to listen.
When we do listen, when we allow ourselves to be led by our Good Shepherd, our increasing closeness to him can open our eyes to the fact that we’re not called to be only followers, we’re also called to be shepherds ourselves. By our Baptism, we are not only cleansed from original sin, we are also joined to Jesus and therefore joined to his mission as well.
The role of shepherd isn’t reserved for Pope Francis or our diocesan bishop or our parish’s pastor. Each of us has a role in leading, protecting, and nourishing the people in our lives. As a parent or a child, as a sibling or a friend or a coworker, we can lead people closer to God by simply trying to draw closer to him ourselves. When we seek to be united with Christ, we naturally become closer to the people in our lives. As we are led, we also lead.
As we heard in last week’s Gospel, which feeds into the beginning of Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus wanted the apostles to share in His mission of healing and teaching, just as he wants us to do today. With his own humanity, our Lord recognizes that this work can be draining, so He urges them to get away to a place of rest and quiet.
The deserted place they were hoping to visit was far from deserted when they arrived, so it might seem their vacation plans were a bust, but when you think about it, they actually did have a chance to unplug and find peace in the presence of Jesus during their boat ride across the lake.
Sometimes we think that the daily demands on our time prevent us from fully engaging with God, but if we think about it, we probably have a bunch of those boat ride opportunities every day, chances to look up from what we’re doing and mindfully put ourselves in the presence of God, to listen to His voice and enter into His rest even if only for a moment.
The demands will always be there, so we can’t let an idealized version of what prayer should look like prevent us from simply praying. A short book I’ve read a few times is Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence of God, which at its core is a reminder that God is always with us, always beside us, even in the most mundane moments, and that we flourish when we make ourselves present and attentive to Him.
With prayer, we can move from simply knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus, resting with Him for a while and coming to know Him as a person who is a part of our life and wants only for us to be a part of his eternal life. In Him we will find the shepherd who leads us to himself, who protects our souls with his forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and who feeds us with his very Body and Blood in the Eucharist we are about to receive.
We don’t need to go it alone. We were made for unity, unity with God and unity with each other. Let us then resolve to follow our Shepherd who leads us to that unity and to the peace and rest that are its fruits.
Image: By Henry Ossawa Tanner – https://collection.crystalbridges.org/objects/9621/, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122766604 (public domain)
Deacon Steve O’Neill was ordained for service to the Archdiocese of Washington in June 2013 and serves at St. Andrew Apostle in suburban Maryland. After four years in the Marine Corps and three years at the University of Maryland (where met Traci, now his wife of 30+ years, and earned a degree in English), he has worked as an analyst with the Federal government. Deacon Steve and Traci have two sons and two daughters and three grandchildren.
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