July 23, 2006
Proper 11 - B
Book of Common Prayer Lectionary
Isaiah 57:14b-21
Psalm 22:22-30
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-44

Revised Common Lectionary
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm 23
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Reflection and Response
Prayer Starter

Today's readings remind us of the care that God constantly exerts on our behalf. Isaiah (BCP) proclaims peace to those who repent of wickedness and the psalmist praises God's constant care (BCP). Jeremiah (RCL) uses the image of God as a shepherd to describe how God will gather the people. The psalmist (RCL) also praises God as a faithful Shepherd. Paul explains the reconciling work of Christ, who is the peace between Gentiles and Jews. Jesus has compassion on the crowds of people, who remind him of sheep without a shepherd (RCL), so he feeds 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish (BCP).

First Reading: Isaiah 57:14b-21 (BCP)
Today's reading comes from the third part, chapters 56-66, of the book of Isaiah. The various hymns and prophecies in this section were likely set down by a group of disciples who continued the work of Isaiah. The historical setting indicates that the Israelite community is now restored to its homeland, the temple has been rebuilt, and the sacrificial system has been re-instituted (56:7, 60:7). Disillusionment at the difficulties of resettlement has, however, set in and there has been a breakdown of justice (56:9-57:2) and a return to idolatry (57:3-13).

Today's reading is a poem of consolation for those who repent. God is both "the high and lofty One" (v. 15) and the one who is near to every penitent, whether in Jerusalem or still exiled in Babylon. The comfort of the restoration of the people in their homeland (40:1) has become the comfort of sin forgiven.

Isaiah 57:14b-21
"Build up, build up, prepare the way,
remove every obstruction from my people's way."
For thus says the high and lofty one
who inhabits eternity,
whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
For I will not continually accuse,
nor will I always be angry;
for then the spirits would grow faint before me,
even the souls that I have made.
Because of their wicked covetousness I was angry;
I struck them, I hid and was angry;
but they kept turning back to their own ways.
I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;
I will lead them and repay them with comfort,
creating for their mourners the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the LORD;
and I will heal them.
But the wicked are like the tossing sea that cannot keep still;
its waters toss up mire and mud.
There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.

First Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6 (RCL)
Jeremiah's prophetic ministry to Judah began about 627 B.C. and ended about 580 B.C. His career thus spanned the period of political turmoil that culminated in Judah's final defeat by the Babylonians, the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the temple, and the exile of the major part of the population.

Today's reading is preceded by oracles against the three immediately previous kings of Judah (22:11, 18, 24). But as Jeremiah comes to Zedekiah, the weak-willed reigning monarch whose treachery brought about the final downfall of Jerusalem (chaps. 37-39), he does not name him directly. Instead he gives the Lord's judgment on all the "shepherds," the leaders of Judah (Ezekiel 34).

God will raise up for them a king who will fulfill all the promises of the covenant with David (2 Samuel 7:5-16; Psalm 89:3-4, 19-37, 132:11-18). The "Branch" (v. 5) became a technical term associated with the expected Messiah (Zechariah 3:8, 6:12). Jeremiah makes a play on Zedekiah's name (which means "the Lord is righteous"). Instead of the unjust Zedekiah, one will come who will accomplish the Lord's righteousness.

Jeremiah 23:1-6
Woe to the shepherds
who destroy and scatter
the sheep of my pasture!
says the LORD.
Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people:
It is you who have scattered my flock,
and have driven them away,
and you have not attended to them.
So I will attend to you for your evil doings,
says the LORD.
Then 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.
The days are surely coming,
says the LORD,
when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
and he shall reign as king and deal wisely,
and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
And this is the name by which he will be called:
"The LORD is our righteousness."

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22: 22-30 (BCP)
Psalm 22 consists of a lament and a thanksgiving. The psalmist describes the distress he is suffering and his trust in God. The Lord has always been faithful to Israel and to him. But now he is tormented by enemies, whom he likens to savage beasts.

Psalm 22: 22-30
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him,
all you offspring of Israel!
For he did not despise
or abhor the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,
but heard when I cried to him.
From you comes my praise
in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay
before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the LORD.
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth
shall remember and turn to the LORD;
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.
For dominion belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.
To him, indeed, shall all
who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all
who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 23 (RCL)
This psalm is probably the most familiar and popular psalm of all. It celebrates God's loving care for us under the guise of a good shepherd who provides food, security and protection from all dangers. God guides us on our journey through life so that we might "dwell in the house of the Lord."

Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff-they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
my whole life long.

Second Reading: Ephesians 2:11-22
Today's reading explains the consequences of Christ's saving work. The division between Gentile and Jew is as now obsolete and the distinguishing characteristic of circumcision abolished.

The Gentiles are reminded of their former state of separation from God and from Israel. They had no part in the hope of the Messiah or in the promises made to the covenant people. But they have now been "brought near" (v. 13)-a term used by the rabbis for Gentile proselytes-when Jesus freely surrendered his life and sealed the new covenant as a universal possibility for both Jew and Gentile.

Verses 14-18 are a hymn to the peace of Christ, who has broken down the wall of the law that kept Jew and Gentile apart. In the temple at Jerusalem there was an actual stone wall, dividing the outer and the inner courts of the temple, beyond which Gentiles could not go. This is symbolic of the whole system of separation that divided peoples now united in Christ.

Jesus has brought together those "far off...and near" (Isaiah 57:19). In Christ, "one new humanity...in one body" (vv. 15-16) is created-the Church. In the Church the divided groups of humankind are reconciled to one another and together are reconciled to God. Then the image shifts from body to household. The Gentiles are "no longer strangers...but citizens with the saints" (v. 19) built up into the same "dwelling place for God" (v. 22; see 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Peter 2:4), whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus (Isaiah 28:16; Matthew. 21:42).

Ephesians 2:11-22
So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth,
called "the uncircumcision"
by those who are called "the circumcision"-
a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands-
remember that you were at that time without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers to the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off
have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace;
in his flesh he has made both groups into one
and has broken down the dividing wall,
that is, the hostility between us.
He has abolished the law
with its commandments and ordinances,
that he might create in himself
one new humanity in place of the two,
thus making peace,
and might reconcile both groups to God
in one body through the cross,
thus putting to death that hostility through it.
So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off
and peace to those who were near;
for through him both of us
have access in one Spirit to the Father.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,
but you are citizens with the saints
and also members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
In him the whole structure is joined together
and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
in whom you also are built together spiritually
into a dwelling place for God.

Gospel: Mark 6:30-44, 53-56
Today's gospel covers the return of the disciples to Jesus and then the feeding of the five thousand. Mark here uses the term "apostle" for the only time. It is not the official title that it becomes in Luke and Acts, but a simple reference to those sent out on mission (6:7).

The theme of rest recalls the entry into the promised land (Deuteronomy 3:20, 12:10, 25:19; Joshua 1:13) and is associated with the image of God as the shepherd of Israel (Ezekiel 34:15; Psalm 23:1-2). This image of the throng like "sheep without a shepherd" (v. 34) also echoes the Old Testament (Numbers 27:17; 2 Chronicles 18:16; Ezekiel 34:5).

The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels. The themes of wilderness, eating and bread recall God's provision of manna for God's people (Exodus 16; Numbers 11). Elisha also, like Moses, provided food for many (2 Kings 4:42-44). Such abundance was expected at the coming of the Messiah who would gather God's people to the banquet table (Isaiah 25:6-8, 49:10, 55:1-2). Thus Jesus was fulfilling both the law and the prophets. The absence of the usual report of the crowd's response to Jesus' act makes clear that the emphasis lies not upon its miraculous nature but upon its revelation of Jesus' true significance.

In the early Church, the Eucharistic significance of the feeding made it one of the central memories of Jesus' ministry. The actions described-taking, blessing, breaking, giving-and their order-are the same as for the institution narrative of the last supper (14:22a). The word for "broken pieces" (v. 43) is used in the Didache, an early second-century Church manual, for the bread broken at the eucharist and at the agape meal. The feeding thus foreshadows the last supper and the anticipated messianic banquet in the kingdom of God (14:25).

Mark 6:30-44, 53-56
The apostles gathered around Jesus,
and told him all that they had done and taught.
He said to them,
"Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."
For many were coming and going,
and they had no leisure even to eat.
And they went away in the boat
to a deserted place by themselves.
Now many saw them going and recognized them,
and they hurried there on foot from all the towns
and arrived ahead of them.
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.
When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said,
"This is a deserted place,
and the hour is now very late;
send them away so that
they may go into the surrounding country and villages
and buy something for themselves to eat."
But he answered them,
"You give them something to eat."
They said to him,
"Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread,
and give it to them to eat?"
And he said to them,
"How many loaves have you? Go and see."
When they had found out, they said,
"Five, and two fish."
Then he ordered them to get all the people
to sit down in groups on the green grass.
So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish,
he looked up to heaven,
and blessed and broke the loaves,
and gave them to his disciples
to set before the people;
and he divided the two fish among them all.
And all ate and were filled;
and they took up twelve baskets
full of broken pieces and of the fish.
Those who had eaten the loaves
numbered five thousand men.
When they had crossed over,
they came to land at Gennesaret
and moored the boat.
When they got out of the boat,
people at once recognized him,
and rushed about that whole region
and began to bring the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.
And wherever he went,
into villages or cities or farms,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces,
and begged him
that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak;
and all who touched it were healed.

Reflection and Response
Anyone who suffers from "ministry fatigue" will welcome today's gospel. The disciples who did not even have time to eat sound familiar-we all know people in ministry who barely have time to go to the bathroom! Jesus recognizes their need to be alone and rest, just as he would understand our need to unplug the phone and put up our feet at the end of a long day. At this point in Mark's gospel, Jesus wants to be alone with his closest friends and teach them privately.

Yet the crowd will not allow him that chance. It is noteworthy that Jesus, despite his longing for solitude, is not irritated with the people, but responds to their earnestness. (So teachers, dreading another day in the classroom, can imagine one or two particular faces, and for their sakes, return to their task with energy.)
Jesus recognizes that the people's most pressing hunger is spiritual; therefore, he teaches them before he multiplies the bread to feed them (the subject of next week's reading). Those who are active in ministry today might also see the multitude "like sheep without a shepherd."

While church leadership often seems concerned with trivia, desperate people starve. To those who pursue their own power under the guise of ministry, Jeremiah sounds a dire warning: "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!"
Just as Jesus taught people many things, so we must follow his model, asking, what good news does this person need now? How can I touch him or her with the warm healing of Jesus? How can I best communicate his concern for each individual? Understanding both the individual's particular situation and the rich Christian tradition, how can I bring the two together?

When people are depressed, guilt-ridden, or confused, we can extend to them the assurance offered the Ephesians: "you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace."

Having tried to accept the multiple challenges of ministry, and acted with God's grace, we can then, in conscience and comfort, kick off our shoes and rest a while.

Quietly consider: What challenges am I most experiencing in my ministry now?

Prayer Starter
God our Provider, help me to give what others need, especially ...