July 20, 2003

Jeremiah 23:1-6 + Ephesians 2:13-18 + Mark 6:30-34

They had been sent on their mission, these apostles; and it was over. They came back to report all that they had done and they were exhausted. Their rest was a boat ride, and we have no idea how long it took much less if it was enough rest. But when the ride was over, so was the rest. There are numerous ways to listen to this Gospel, and all of them have a point or two.

    There is something said about a balanced life of rest and work.

    There is something said about pity.

    There is something said about the crowds

    wanting to hear Jesus at all costs and rushing around to do so

    wanting to hear Jesus badly enough to skip a meal.

    It’s all in there.

Heard in the context of this Liturgy with Psalm 23 and Jeremiah 23,

we begin to focus upon Leadership, and that level of the Gospel text emerges in our consciousness. With it however comes a risk that could easily trip us and send us off in the wrong direction.

    That risk comes from a cultural flaw with which we live,

    and it emerges from a level of spiritual immaturity

    that poses great danger, and never more so than at the        present.

In the two Old Testament passages and the Gospel today, the  image of Shepherd is put before us in the context of leadership. It would be easy, and that’s the symptom of immaturity, to think that this reference is to someone else: in our context, about Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. What can trip us and send us in the wrong direction is to sit back and think that somehow God is speaking to us about “them” and that “they” really need to hear these readings.

There is a little element of this Gospel that is easy to miss……….

    the Apostles have been out on their mission.

    They have finished it and come home.

    In the sense of this story, they are finished. It’s over.

    Yet as the story goes on, there is still work to do.

    I believe this Gospel invites us to consider whose turn it is,

    or whose is going to do it?

    Now you know where God’s Word is leading us today.

This Gospel is not about them: the apostles or shepherds. It is not about Bishops or Priests, good, bad, successful or failures. It is about us all. The moment we stand and say: “I believe”, the moment we put out our hand and say “Amen”, the moment we say “Thanks be to God”, we cease to be sheep and become shepherds.

We are the ones who receive the Good News and its power to bring peace. We are the ones who know that forgiveness brings healing and restores love. We either use it or not. We are the ones entrusted with the little ones, the vulnerable, the poor, the ignorant, and the homeless. Parents, you are the leaders in your homes, the shepherds. If your children grow up without a knowledge of God, do not know how to pray, cannot make a moral decision, have no relationship with the church, you are their shepherds. If your chief concern is that they get an education and grow up to make a lot of money, the prophet Jeremiah would suggest trouble is coming. Yet in truth, making a lot of money is no fault. Not knowing how to use it is. Single persons living away from parental homes do not pass half a day without someone’s need gaining their attention. Stressed and depressed friends, and lonely parents facing empty homes and losing their youth are your sheep.

There is much to do, and the needs are great. In fact, they are getting greater by the day as injustice increases and an economy that favors the rich is the preference. The truth is that on this earth poverty is growing not wealth, and because there are no shepherds nothing happens. Nothing happens because too many sit back and think that someone else is the shepherd.

The Gospel is proclaimed, the Prophet speaks, and the Psalm is heard from the heart of God’s people. There is a room full of Shepherds here, more than a thousand will pass these doors today. In this church there is both enormous power and resource, courage and energy, vision and grace. What we choose to do this week and what we become is a matter of faith and spiritual maturity.

The days Jeremiah speaks of are our days. “The righteous shoot to David” has been raised up, and we are the ones who shall gather the scattered, and do what is just and right.