16th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) 21 July 2024 Lost sheep
We know from the Lost Sheep parable that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and goes looking for that one lost sheep no matter how difficult to find.
We could take the parable a little further and say that the lost sheep, if it has enough sense, will be helping the shepherd to find him, and actually looking for the shepherd anyway.
Today’s Gospel tells us that the people went looking for Jesus and went to some trouble to find Him.
They might have had different motivations for doing that. Some would have wanted physical healing, some to hear His teaching, some maybe just for the novelty of being part of the crowd.
But they went after Him and many would have been healed.
Jesus drew them to Himself. He wanted them to come. Admittedly sometimes He needed to rest, but overall He was glad to see them and to help all comers.
One thing He will ask in return is that we be His disciples. Come, follow Me.
If I am already His disciple He will expect me to be a stronger one.
It means that if I go to Jesus and ask Him to give me sight, or hearing, or even life itself, I must be prepared to ask on His terms, not my own. I must let Him decide what is best for me, and be happy with His decisions.
The sheep comes looking for direction, and guidance, and rejoices when he find his needs not only met but enlarged.
There is more happiness in being a disciple of Christ than in having good health or lots of possessions.
This is a crucial point that we may have to wrestle with.
He will heal us of our blindness, and lameness etc but He will also heal us of anything that holds us back from fuller commitment.
This is why many hold back from seeking Him. They are afraid to go inside a church for fear they might get ‘hooked’, and spend the rest of their days singing hymns! The book ‘The Cross and the Switchblade’ set in 1950s New York described the gang warfare at that time. If a youth was converted to Christian the other gang members would say he ‘got religion’, as though it were a disease. So it can still seem in our culture.
Conversion stories abound of people getting caught by some circumstance and receiving enough grace to change the course of their lives.
It happens to someone every day and we rejoice in it, but it is not easy to make it happen to order, as regards a particular person.
Some lost sheep are not ready yet, but they can learn what they need to know. A disciple is one who learns, and we are all doing that even if we have been in the Church for decades.
The day we can say that we would rather be forgiven for our sins than to be healed of some bodily ailment – on that day we can say we have learned something.
The Sheep meets the Shepherd and finds His true pasture.
So we have the psalm today: the Lord is my Shepherd. It is the most famous psalm and it covers all the main points. It is an expression of total trust that under the Lord’s guidance all must be well.
If it is not well yet it is becoming so. ‘There is nothing I shall want’ if I have the Shepherd Himself.
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