SHEEP AND COMPASSION

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.  Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by your selves to a quiet place and get some rest.”  So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.  But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  So he began teaching them many things.                 

                                                                                    Mark 6:30-34

 

This is the well-known passage that precedes the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.  It is the “set-up” for the gathering of the great crowds out in the wilderness.  But there are a number of things that give me pause before we get to that famous miracle.  Just a few reflections…

Jesus had sent the disciples out two by two and he had given them authority to heal the sick and cast out demons and proclaim the good news.  Their mission accomplished, the Twelve returned to Jesus to report on what had happened.  They were surely weary.  I know what it is like to be on a mission and being “on duty” all day, day after day.  And there isn’t even anything mentioned about the spiritual wear and tear of the mission.  Surely the Enemy had not left them alone as they went about proclaiming the Kingdom and planting the seeds that would eventually destroy Satan’s own kingdom.

So the disciples are trying to debrief Jesus but there is so much hustle and bustle around Jesus that they couldn’t even sit down to have a meal while they talked.  Jesus saw this and obviously was concerned for the welfare of his guys.  He could have said, “Buck up!  It’s like this for me every day!”  Jesus thought about the needs of the disciples and decided to take them off to a quiet place where they could retreat and rest.  Isn’t that what a shepherd does?  Doesn’t he lead his sheep into quiet pastures and beside still waters?

Off they went in their famous boat…off into the wilderness where they could be alone.  But people on the shore recognized them, or their boat, and spread the word that Jesus and his men were on the move.  Mark reports that people from all the villages hustled and ran ahead to the place Jesus was going.  The people got there first and were waiting for Jesus’ boat to land.

I try to put myself into that boat when it is still a couple of hundred yards from shore.  The size of the crowd is apparent.  There are thousands of people waiting!  There will be no rest here!  No retreat for the weary disciples.  I would have been thinking, “Jesus, give the order to sail on!  Let’s find another place!  Please!”

When Jesus saw the crowd he did not heave a deep sigh of frustration.  He did not consider sailing on.  He saw the people and had compassion on them!  Why?  Because they were like sheep without a shepherd!  Here is the shepherd heart of Jesus again!  How did the people resemble sheep without a shepherd?  What does a flock of sheep do without a shepherd?  They wander without direction.  They become hungry and thirsty because they cannot find food and water by themselves.  They are in constant danger from predators because they cannot protect themselves.  If there is hope of food they all run together to the source of that hope.  And so the people of the villages around the Sea of Galilee were like sheep without a shepherd.

The Great Shepherd is brought into contact with a shepherd-less flock.  He must shepherd them.  That is what he does.  How does he shepherd this flock?  He “began teaching them many things.”  The most important nutrition is teaching the truth of God.  That comes before anything else.  The very teaching is shepherding.  The still pastures and quiet waters would come later when the bread and fish were passed among them.  Jesus taught the sheep who had no shepherd!

A message for me and all other pastors/teachers and under-shepherds of the Lord.  Compassion might well include giving people food and drink.  But the Good Shepherd first taught the sheep and showed them they had a shepherd who was willing to set aside everything else to show them the way to the truth.