Homily for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 22; Ephesians 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34
In today’s gospel from Mark, Jesus invites the apostles to come away and rest. But the crowds follow them, so Jesus takes ‘pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.’ Jesus is the exemplary shepherd and teacher. We all yearn to be shepherded and taught by the One who has our interests and heart – the One who knows the way to the Father. That yearning is heightened whenever we feel lost and all at sea with the commotion and uncertainty in our lives and in our world. We have learnt to be cautious about those ‘shepherds who allow the flock of my pasture to be destroyed and scattered’ – those religious or civil authorities who too readily invoke God’s name in the service of their cause or in their interpretation of what’s right and true, while crushing those with least, those on the margins.
Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-21724
The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The Lord is my shepherd;
there is nothing I shall want.
Fresh and green are the pastures
where he gives me repose.
Near restful waters he leads me,
to revive my drooping spirit.
The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
It’s been a hell of a week. Even those of us with little interest in politics have had an eye to developments in the USA with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the declining health of Joe Biden, the triumphant messianic spirit of the Republican National Convention and the steady stream of Democrats abandoning Joe Biden who is isolating with COVID.
Though we are on the other side of the world with no vote in the forthcoming US presidential election, many of us had shared the hope of millions of Americans that one or other party might have been able to put up a younger, able-bodied, principled leader. Now so many of those Americans are feeling like sheep without a shepherd.
Having endured a near-death experience, Donald Trump invoked God at every turn during his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination:[1]
‘There was blood pouring everywhere, and yet in a certain way I felt very safe because I had God on my side…. I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of almighty God….[I]f the events of last Saturday make anything clear, it is that every single moment we have on Earth is a gift from God. We have to make the most of every day for the people and for the country that we love… We live in a world of miracles. None of us knows God’s plan, or where life’s adventure will take us.’
Grateful that the assassin failed, we need to be very careful about bringing God into our politics and our arguments, assuring ourselves that God is for us and therefore, implicitly or even explicitly, God is against our opponents. God is not an American. God is not a Republican; God is not a Democrat. During the Republican Convention, we heard utterances such as ‘We need God in our hearts and Donald Trump back in the White House’ and ‘With faith, hope and love, we will make America great again.’
Ever mindful that Trump was almost assassinated at the hands of a 20-year-old man using his father’s gun which was unsecured at home, the crowd at the Republican Convention cheered wildly when Senator J D Vance accepting the vice-presidential nomination told the story of his 90-year-old grandmother affectionately known as ‘mamaw’. Vance told the crowd: ‘My mamaw died shortly before I left for Iraq in 2005, and when we went through her things, we found 19 loaded handguns. The thing is, they were stashed all over her house — under her bed, in her closet, in the silverware drawer. And we wondered what was going on, and it occurred to us that towards the end of her life, mamaw couldn’t get around so well. And so this frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arm’s length of whatever she needed to protect her family. That’s who we fight for. That’s American spirit.’[2]
The crowd cheered wildly. It was sickening. Thankfully we do not live in a country where a serious contender for high elected office could boast that her grandmother kept 19 loaded handguns in her house, presumably in reach of her visiting grandchildren. And to think that such boasts can be made from the same platform where people are invoking God’s name with breath-taking regularity.
Delivering her own acceptance speech in the Australian Parliament this month, our new Governor General Sam Mostyn described how she had spent the weeks since her nomination by the prime minister travelling the country and consulting widely. She also met with her five predecessors in the office. She told the Parliament:
‘Everyone I spoke with, from former Prime Ministers to people in the street, proudly described our country as confident and successful. Yet, in 2024, it is true that contemporary challenges are placing strains on that confidence. Many Australians expressed concerns about the global political environment, and the range of conflicts around the world at this time. They ask whether young Australians will enjoy the benefits of this country in the way that older generations have.’
‘Finally, and very constructively, many people expressed their concern that we might lose our capacity to conduct robust and passionate arguments and debate with civility and respect — without resorting to rancour or violence.’
In our religious life as church and in our civil life in society, we need shepherds – shepherds with the odour of the sheep, as Pope Francis is fond of saying, shepherds who have the interests of the sheep at heart, shepherds who can be attentive to the diverse voices of all the sheep.
When leadership of church and society is absent, we the people suffer. The sheep are scattered. Sheep are not cared for.
We pray for good shepherds. We hear Yahweh’s promise to Jeremiah in today’s first reading:
‘But the remnant of my flock I myself will gather from all the countries where I have dispersed them, and will bring them back to their pastures: they shall be fruitful and increase in numbers. I will raise up shepherds to look after them and pasture them; no fear, no terror for them any more; not one shall be lost – it is the Lord who speaks!’
Let’s pray for the people of the USA in the coming months. Let’s pray for ourselves:
Surely goodness and kindness shall follow us
all the days of our lives.
In the Lord’s own house shall we dwell
for ever and ever.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/us/politics/trump-rnc-speech-transcript.html
[2] https://sg.news.yahoo.com/jd-vance-fondly-recalls-finding-124503781.html
From the start of 2024, Fr Frank Brennan SJ will serve as part of a Jesuit team of priests working within a new configuration of the Toowong, St Lucia and Indooroopilly parishes in the Archdiocese of Brisbane. Frank Brennan SJ is a former CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA). Fr Frank’s latest book is An Indigenous Voice to Parliament: Considering a Constitutional Bridge, Garratt Publishing, 2023 and his forthcoming book is ‘Lessons from Our Failure to Build a Constitutional Bridge in the 2023 Referendum’ (Connor Court, 2024).
