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His Heart Was Moved with Pity





His Heart Was Moved with Pity
Mk 6: 30 – 34
 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel, Mark narrates to us the return of the twelve disciples whom Jesus had just sent on a mission. Wishing that they could take some rest after the work they’ve done, Jesus takes them off to a quiet place only to find themselves once more with the crowd they’ve left behind.
Our reading begins with the apostles returning from the mission and reporting to Jesus all they have done and taught.  Jesus must have heard all the stories and all the experiences they had and must have realized soon enough how tired his apostles were. So he invites them to take some rest, telling them: “come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. “
But as Jesus was saying this, people just kept coming and going in great numbers. And as people came, Jesus and his apostles found themselves doing the usual work of ministering to the crowd. This kept Jesus and the apostles busy; so busy in fact, that the gospel tells us that they did not have time to eat.
Jesus must have noticed that his tired apostles could not get the rest they needed. So he decided to take his apostles off to a boat so they can be by themselves and leave the crowd.
The crowd, however, seeing Jesus and his apostles leave on a boat, hastened on foot to the place where Jesus was heading. So when Jesus disembarked from the boat, he saw the huge crowd waiting for him. Jesus was moved when he saw the crowd. His heart was moved with pity for they were like sheep without a shepherd.
This reading is perhaps Mark’s own version of the good shepherd who is caring and is concerned for the needs of his flock. Here we see Jesus concerned with two groups – one, with the apostles; the other, with the crowd. Each group had its own particular need.
On one hand, the apostles who just came from the mission were very tired. Jesus saw this and wanted them to take a rest in a quiet place.  But when he saw how his apostles had so much work and no longer had time to eat, he  himself took them off to a boat so they could have the needed break.
On the other hand, the crowd was there to see Jesus. Jesus was there for them, teaching, healing and comforting them. The crowd must have sensed and felt so much love and concern from Jesus that they wanted to have more time with him. This is perhaps why they hastened on foot to follow Jesus.
There were two different groups with varying needs. Yet both groups really just needed just one thing: Jesus. The apostles needed rest, but a rest together with Jesus. At the end of an exhausting mission, the apostles just needed to take time out with him.
The crowd too, with their need of healing and consolation just needed one thing: Jesus. They couldn’t get enough of Jesus, so they had to run around the lake just to be with Jesus.
When life becomes too busy and hectic; when life becomes filled with so many cares and concerns; when all we need is some healing and consolation, there is just one person who really knows what we need. He is Jesus.
It is Jesus who can still our minds and bodies so we can truly have the rest that he offers. In the same way that he invited the apostles to rest, Jesus invites us to take some time from our quick and hurried life so we can be alone with him. In him we find rest for our tired and weary souls.
When our life seems to go nowhere, not knowing what to do, where to go or how to go about our own lives, we must take the instincts of the crowd that hastened on foot to be where Jesus was; to go where Jesus has gone; to run, if need be, to where Jesus can be found.
And when Jesus sees how determined we are to be with him, his heart will surely be moved to pity, seeing how desperate and how lost we are without him as the shepherd of our life.
Be not afraid to be with Jesus in a quiet and deserted place. Be not afraid to run after him so you can always be with him now and always. Amen.



“ As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”   - Psalm 42: 1-2

















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