Homily 16th Sunday of Year B: Fr. Michael U.
Udoekpo
Readings: Jer 23:1-6; Ps 23:1-6; Eph 2:13-18
and Mark 6:30-34
Christ, Our Peace and Shepherd of the Remnants,
As reflected in the
scriptures, today we celebrate Christ
our Peace and Shepherd of the Remnant
(CPSR). This is a theme well captured in the Psalm just chanted, Psalm 23, “the
Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall want.” A Shepherd like Moses, a
Shepherd like Joshua in the desert, in the wilderness (Num 27:17). We are the
sheep, all of us gathered, here, our families, the church; we are the remnants,
of that renewed Israel.
The “remnants” through out the Hebrew and Christian
Scriptures, the Old and the New Testaments, especially in the prophetic books
are nothing more than the poor, the anawim,
the dalim, the humble of the land,
the faithful ones (rich and poor, privileged and the less- privileged, kings
and the subjects), those who rejects idolatry, those who survives the
wilderness, the exile, those who resists the devils, those who fight back
temptations, rely on the saving and shepherding power of God at all times,
those who are obedient and strive to do what the Lord expects of them; exemplary living, and attentive to the teachings of the prophets,
like Jeremiah, in the first reading.
It is true that when Jeremiah says in the 1st reading
“I will gather the remnant of my flock and appoint shepherd for them,” he is/
or was not prophesying out of the cloud. Judah was threatened by the
warlords of Babylonian military, swept into the pains of exile, while the Kings
like Jehoiakim, Zedekiah and other appointed officials, the leaders, those who were appointed to
shepherd the people cared less, and showed not even a single good example. If they were not
looking after themselves, they were disobedient to God, who spoke to them
through the prophets. They were timid, idolatrous, negligent, and selfish.
One other
text close to the 1st reading which I would like to draw your attention to is Prophet Ezekiel 34:1-5. He says, “…woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing
themselves! Should not shepherds, rather pastures sheep? You have fed off their
milk, worn their wool, and slaughtered the fatling, but the sheep you have not
pastured. You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick nor bind up the
injured. You did not bring back the injured nor seek the lost, but you lord it
over them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered for lack of shepherds,
and became food for all the wild beasts… (cf Num 27:17).”
But if you read down verses 11-16 of the same text of
Ezekiel 34 you will see what God, the Good Shepherd will do for his sheep
personally, which Jeremiah in the first reading also insisted. God will not
only punish evil deeds of the bad shepherds of Israel, but He will look after his sheep. He will gather the
remnant of his flock from wherever they may have been scattered! Prosperity and
peace will be theirs under the guidance of the new Good and Righteous Shepherd,
from the tribe of David whom the Lord had promised eternal dynasty in 2
Samuel 7(cf. ps 132; Chro 34:23).
This new Good
Shepherd is Christ, an exemplary leader, who declared in the 4th Gospel, John 10, “I am
the Good Shepherd; a Good Shepherd laid down his life for his sheep” (v12). A
Good Shepherd has sympathy and empathy for his flock at all times. This is
quite true in the example Christ has set in today’s gospel. It does not matter
whether Christ was resting or not, Like Moses he had pity on the needy multitude,
in the wilderness, in the deserted place, in the valley of darkness. He
sheltered them with his kindness, fed them with his compassion, with love and
words of peace!
St. Paul acknowledges this and says in the
2nd reading (Eph 2:13-18), “In Jesus Christ you who once were far
off have become near…. For he is our peace, he who made both one, and broke
down the dividing wall of enmity…through the cross….”
Each of us is called to be good shepherds to our neighbors and to be exemplary leaders in our various positions of leadership: home, church, companies and in the society as whole.
We are called to imitate Christ and be our brothers and sisters keepers in
every where, and at all times, in this desert of life, as Moses and Joshua had
done in the wilderness. We are called to do this with sympathy and empathy for one
another, young and old, our seniors and particularly the poor and the sick.
This means we are called to be
agents of peace. Remember, peace here, “shalom” is all about our entire
well-being. It touches on our businesses, jobs, prosperity, good health, happy
marriages, happy friendship, and happy family circles. Happiness in our places
of jobs; peaceful and society or world without war and terrorism, perfect
leaders, kings and politicians, good economy, where everybody is insured
medically and our kids and students successful always in their exams, and no
student loans! No valley of darkness! No desert! No illness, no sickness, no
betrayal and disappointment!
We know this is not always the case. There would always be challenges, valleys of
darkness, and deserts of life, illnesses, joblessness, division and unnecessary enmity and even loss of loved ones!
But as the psalmist would put it today, even though we find ourselves in any
valley of darkness, as remnants and as leaders, let us know that Christ, our Peace and Shepherd of each of
us, the Remnant (CPSR), would always be there on our sides.
