Sixteenth Ordinary

Mark 6: 34

When Jesus arrived, he saw a huge crowd. At the sight of them, his heart broke – like sheep with no shepherd. He went right to work teaching them.

There is a tyranny of technology that we all are facing. The very inventions that were created to save time, make life easier, and assist us at the workplace have instead turned on us and make our lives more complex by making us more accessible.

Mobile phones allow us to be just a call away from an emergency message. Beepers can locate us when all else fails. Email and voicemail communicate important messages instantly. Caller I.D. lets us know who has been trying to reach us. And all this is good.

But it also means that we can never get away from our work. We can never leave our responsibilities behind unless we turn off every device. And when we do that, we have to make an excuse for doing so. People expect us to be available.

Jesus attempts to get away with his disciples to rest. But it does not work. The people keep coming to him. Jesus responds as a shepherd would. A shepherd can never take time off. If he did it could endanger the sheep.

In this story we are to identify with Jesus. We are to bring Christ’s healing and love wherever and whenever it is needed. We cannot turn on or turn off being Christian. When the need is there, we’re expected to respond. It is no easy task to always be the Christian we’re called to be. But there is no other way to respond once we hear the call.