This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder two sets of verses in Mark 6. The first set is verses 30-34. It’s part of a passage which the English Standard Version titles “Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand.” I title the set “Jesus and the sheep without a shepherd.”[1] I’ll only speak about this set.
It’s about the return of the Twelve, the inner circle, Jesus’ hand-picked disciples. They were closest to Jesus. But were slowest to see who he was. Despite their repeated failure to “see” as clearly as so many others, Jesus sent them out to heal, to cast out spirits, and to teach.
As I pointed out last week, they returned very pleased. They had been very successful.
Jesus now tells them they need to take a break.
They set off to a remote place. A desolate place. A place where there’ll be no one demanding their help, their attention. They set off in a boat.
When they arrive at their destination, they’re met by thousands of people. Poor, sick, indebted, depressed people. A subject people. Subject to the Roman occupiers and to the local elites who were in cahoots with the Romans.
The occupiers and the elites ruled using heavy taxation and brute force. People were heavily indebted. In 66 A.D., they rebelled. Violently. One of their first acts was to burn the debt records in the public archives. So that debt collectors couldn’t use state power to collect their outstanding debts.
It’s important to use the lenses of poverty, sickness, and abuse of state powers when reading verse 34, in which Mark tells us:
When [Jesus] went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
Why did Jesus “have compassion” on them? Answer: Because they were sick, hungry, homeless. In a land of plenty. Because there was so much injustice and so little mercy.
Why did Jesus say they were like sheep without a shepherd? Answer: Because sheep cannot look after themselves. They need a shepherd to find and lead them to lands to feed on and still waters to drink from. And to bind their wounds and protect them from wolves and thieves.
Why did Jesus take time to teach them? Let’s first notice that Jesus probably took several hours to teach them. And now for the answer: Because words impart strength, hope and direction.
What might be the “many things” which Jesus taught them? Answer: It couldn’t have been “confess your sins, believe the blood of Jesus washes away sin, commit to following Jesus, be saved.” Because that would be a post-resurrection answer. It couldn’t have been “pray, wait, accept injustices.” Because they were already doing that. And because Jesus was already demonstrating what kingdom life was like.
It’s more likely that Mark thought it unsafe to record what Jesus taught.
What kinds of things might be unsafe to record in a book meant for public circulation during a time of persecution?
Could it be that Jesus predicted the fall of the Romans and their cronies? Could it be that Jesus voiced a prophetic warning that the government would be overthrown because it didn’t practice justice and mercy? I think so.
We need also to ask another set of questions.
Who should have been the shepherds?
What should they have done?
Why didn’t they do it?
Surely the answer has to be the king and his counsellors. More accurately, the Tetrarchs, their counsellors, officers, generals and administrators.
The warning of the prophets – whether Moses or Isaiah or Jeremiah or Amos or Micah – is consistent and clear: God measures the performance of rulers by looking at widows, orphans and strangers. Their wellbeing is the measure of how much justice and mercy is present in the land.
In first century Judah and Israel, Jewish leaders, those who should have been prophetic voices, speaking truth to power, became collaborators with the oppressors. Or chose to be silent.
The shepherds didn’t campaign for the sheep. Didn’t criticize wrongdoings in society. Didn’t demand change. Surely this is what Jesus would’ve said to the 5,000 that day!
But we have to ask more questions.
Who are the sheep today?
Who are their shepherds?
Are the shepherds performing like they should?
Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann reminds us that King Herod the Great, as soon as he spoke with the wise men from the East, understood that Jesus was a threat to his kingship. He then reminds us that Jesus began his public ministry by saying he’d come to announce the Kingdom,[2] and to proclaim freedom from oppression.[3] Brueggemann continues:
“[Jesus] ministry carried out the threat implicit in these two fundamental announcements. The ministry of Jesus is … criticism that leads to radical dismantling. And … the guardians and profiteers of the present stability are acutely sensitive to any change that may question or challenge the present arrangement. Very early [in his ministry] Jesus is correctly [recognized] as a clear and present danger to that order, and this is the problem with the promissory newness of the gospel: it never promises without threatening, it never begins without ending something, it never gives gifts without also assessing harsh costs.” [4]
What socio-political arrangements or practices should our shepherds call on the authorities to dismantle? What should they question? What should they build? Whom should they threaten? How?
Or do we think our shepherds should stay out of the fray? If so, why?
What might Jesus say to our shepherds?[5]
It’s ironic but true. Faithful pastoral work almost always causes divisions in society.
Peace be with you.
[1] The second set is verses 53-56. The ESV supplies it the heading “Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret.”
[2] Mark 1:15 … the kingdom of God is at hand ….
[3] Luke 4:18-19 … to set at liberty those who are oppressed …
[4] Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, 40th Anniversary Edition (2018), Fortress Press, Minneapolis, page 84.
[5] You may want to read my post “Jesus caused division. How about us?” In it, I discuss Jesus’ claim to be the Good Shepherd. It’s one of several posts in which I’ve discussed shepherds, pastors.
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Maybe He preached the KOG is here and it is lived differently. Go the extra mile! Blessed are the poor! Rejoice when persecuted. Freedom begins within then moves without no matter what the circumstance because we live in the now but not yet. Fight with love (not in a sentimental sense) and radical living.
I agree. I would add that the extra mile means asking what I should do when my neighbour is persecuted – by systems which are stacked against her. Pastor Raymond Koh asked. And he acted. And he suffered the consequences. At the hands of the state.
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