16th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)
Sunday 21 July 2024
Mk 6:30-34
“As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things”.
(Mk 6:34)
Even if we are used to seeing different images of Jesus in our churches, He is not a statue, indifferent and inanimate. In this verse in Mark’s Gospel, we see Jesus emerge as particularly attentive to the reality around Him. We can note the verb ‘to see’: “he saw”. Jesus doesn’t turn and look the other. He doesn’t pretend to not have seen. He looks attentively and, despite seeing the crowd of people waiting for Him, He grasps the individuality of each single person present. He sees the person in need, wandering without direction, and who can’t even imagine that a destination exists! “Having compassion” is the verb that follows, as a consequence of His looking carefully). The root of this verb in Greek recalls the inner depths or bowels: it is therefore a visceral, intimate compassion, something marked by its depth. We find the same verb in the Parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’, a parable that should rightly be called the Parable of the ‘Merciful Father’ (Lk 15:20). The father (after the figure of our Heavenly Father) suffers viscerally from the absence of the son and is shaken to his core when he sees him appear over the horizon. To summarise, as Blessed John Paul I says: “God is our Father… God is our Mother”. This is our God. He is moved by you and for you. He is not indifferent, even if He may sometimes seem. The truth is that it isn’t you waiting for Him, but He who is waiting for you on the seashore!
Fr. Giuseppe
