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Shepherd and Cross (Pentecost 9, Year B)

July 21 | Pentecost 9, Year B

2 Sam. 7:1-14a or Jer. 23:1-6
Ps. 89:20-37 or Ps. 23
Eph. 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34; 53-56

Those who bear the authority of government in any capacity, in any community, are duly warned: “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture” (Jer. 23:1). Some will, of course, give full and diligent attention to the service they render to the community, seeking to serve the common good and respect the dignity of every human being. Some, corrupted by power, will destroy and scatter at will. In the end, God alone can tame the unruly will and affections of human beings, gathering them into a beloved and ordered community.

God in Christ has done this very thing. “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord” (Jer. 23:3-4). The gathering of the Jewish diaspora into one community foreshadows a yet more comprehensive gathering of the whole human community in Christ. Christ fulfills the prophetic promise that “not any shall be missing.”

Thus, Christ gathers into himself not only the Jewish people but the whole human race, which we express in creedal language by saying that he assumes our human nature. The point is that Christ is a recapitulation, gathering together, and final transformation of all humanity so that all may be one and all may be saved. Jesus sees that we are like sheep without a shepherd, so he goes into villages, cities, and farms, claiming his own (Mark 6:56). As he travels, he teaches many things and heals all who touch the fringe of his cloak (Mark 6:34, 56). His teaching and healing ministry bespeaks a yet more important work, the mystery and the scandal of the cross.

As if by a gravitational force, and yet freely, Jesus makes his way to his trial, passion, and death. Jesus dies, and we die in union with him. The hostility that infects our hearts and separates us from God and each other is put to death on the cross. All that remains is the peace of Christ and the promise that we all “have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph. 2:18). Thus, we are no longer strangers and aliens to each other or to God. We are “citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone” (Eph. 19-20).

A human family riven by hostility is put to death, and in its place arises “one new humanity in place of the two” (Eph. 2:15). Jesus Christ is the new man, the one in whom all are united as sons and daughters of God. For that very reason, St. Paul can make a well-known and astounding claim. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

Hardly a moment passes without our living in a way deficient of this very claim. We run for tribal safety. Deep down, however, we know very well that Christ Jesus is our only peace, and his peace cannot be ours unless it is for the whole world. Day by day, a hostile heart must die and give way to the emergence of a truly resurrected humanity.

Look It Up: Psalm 23

Think About It: The Lord is my shepherd and our shepherd.

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