The Good and Tired Shepherd (Mark 6:30-44)

All Jesus wanted was a quiet place to rest. He’d just been rejected by his hometown. He’d just received the news that his cousin John was beheaded. Both of these were painful reminders of the burden of his vocation: to be rejected by the very people he came to save, and to suffer on their behalf. He needed some time for solitude and prayer.

Besides this, here were his faithful disciples, returning from their first ministry trip of teaching and healing. They too would need time to rest and relax. But this place was too crowded. Everyone wanted their attention. They didn’t even have a chance to eat.

“Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while,” he said to them. So they got into a boat and found a quiet place to relax. But when they arrived, a huge crowd was waiting for them.

This was the setting for one of Jesus’ most famous miracles: the feeding of the 5000. Among the many things which could be said about it, there are two which I find especially striking.

I am impressed by the compassion that Jesus showed them
What was Jesus’ response to the multitude of people who wanted his attention? We don’t have to wonder:

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, 

and he had compassion on them,

because they were like sheep without a shepherd

(Mark 6:34)

Jesus had an unlimited reservoir of compassion. Despite his emotional fatigue and physical exhaustion, his instinctive response to the people was one of compassion.

What was it that moved Jesus? He saw them as lost sheep without a shepherd, and it broke his heart. He was the Good Shepherd who had come to give his life for his sheep.

That day would come soon enough; for now, he would “teach them many things,” for sheep are helpless without shepherds who lead them and feed them. Which leads us to the second striking feature of this story:

I am impressed by the meal that Jesus gave them
The details of the story are well known, but there is a feature which is sometimes overlooked. The words Mark used to describe what Jesus did with the loaves are virtually the same as those he used when Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples. Take a look:

And taking the five loaves and the two fish, 

he looked up to heaven and said a blessing 

and broke the loaves 

and gave them to the disciples 

to set before the people 

(Mark 6:41)

And as they were eating, 

he took bread, 

and after blessing it 

broke it and gave it to them, and said, 

“Take; this is my body” 

(Mark 14:22)

The implication is clear. The feeding of the 5000 prefigured the eucharistic meal he would share with his disciples on the night he was betrayed. It wasn’t just a physical meal that Jesus gave them; it was a spiritual meal in anticipation of the giving of himself on the cross.

Jesus was the Good Shepherd who would lay down his life for these shepherd-less sheep. He did it for them, he did it for us, he did it for all humanity.

And every time we gather at the Lord’s Table, we receive that meal in solidarity with millions of people around the world and throughout history who, like us, give thanks for our compassionate shepherd who gave his life to rescue his beloved sheep.