At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus desired the crowds to feel the peace and the sense of belonging that characterized sheep able to trust absolutely in their shepherd. The problem was not simply an absence of shepherds. Rather, those who were meant to shepherd the people were not shepherding rightly.
Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? (see Ezekiel 34:2).
There were leaders who were meant to be shepherds but who were taking advantage of the position for themselves rather than for the sheep. The result, the Lord said, was that "My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them" (see Ezekiel 34:5-6). But the Lord's heart of mercy for his sheep would not leave them in this condition. Nor would he be content to shepherd only the ninety-nine, but would seek out even the last of the lost and wandering souls. God himself had promised to take up the task at which the appointed leaders had failed.
I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God (see Ezekiel 34:15).
This presence of the Good Shepherd was the essential element necessary to bring to fulfillment the prophecy in today's first reading from Isaiah. Israel needed leaders who were responsive to their tears, who were gracious when they cried out. To be strong and healthy they needed their leaders to give them the bread they needed and the water for which they thirsted. They needed especially the availability of their Teacher when they longed to see him and the sound of his voice to guide them.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
Jesus himself was the model and paradigm of the Good Shepherd. He came to earth so that we ourselves could see our Teacher and hear his voice. When we wept and cried out he offered forgiveness and mercy. He provided the life-giving water of the Holy Spirit and even gave his own flesh as the bread of eternal life. Yet the incarnation of Jesus in some sense constrained him such that he was not visibly present to all people in all places. Because of this he desired others who shared his heart of mercy for the sheep who could bring his presence to them.
And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding (see Jeremiah 3:15).
Jesus called his disciples and gave them his own authority to do the very things he had done, preaching the Kingdom, casting out unclean spirits, and curing every disease and illness. But it was clear from the context that this authority was always meant to be in the service of hearts of mercy, hearts conformed to the merciful heart of the Good Shepherd himself. When this was true the world would experience times of renewal such as Isaiah described. When this reality was less present or absent entirely it was still possible for the old problems with leadership to resurface in the new context of his Church.
Jesus never said that this need of the sheep for shepherds would be met automatically without any involvement on the part of his followers. Rather, he made it contingent on our prayers.
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
There are an abundance of men and women qualified to engage in the work of evangelization, an abundance of hearts made to thrive in priestly and religious vocations. But for this to take place such hearts need to first experience what Jesus himself felt. They must be "moved with pity" for those sheep who are now neglected. If we care about the vocations crisis, if we care about the seemingly impotent state of the Church that has resulted from the need for her efforts to be more and more reduced due to lack of committed laborers, we must pray that the Lord himself awakens in the hearts of many the desire to assist him in shepherding his sheep. We must also pray that those who serve the Lord presently do so with the Lord's own compassion for the flock. It is often in seeing models of shepherding like this that potential new shepherds will more readily receive the call. Finally, in praying, we must not excuse ourselves from our own appropriate level of involvement in the task itself. He asked his disciples to pray for laborers to be sent and then they themselves were the ones sent out. It may well be that as we pray for vocations we find ourselves given new and surprising missions for the harvest.
As we pray for laborers for the vineyard we are meant to be open to experience the Lord's own heart of pity for his sheep. This is not, nor is it meant to be, an easy thing to experience. Hearts troubled and abandoned are easier to ignore. It is more pleasant for us to simply look the other way and cross over to the other side of the street without assisting. But when they are not ignored they can be a powerful motivating force in our lives. We can take with us the assurance that the Lord will not ask of us anything which he himself does not empower. He himself will give us, unworthy though we are, the authority to proclaim his Kingdom, both in word and in deed.
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