Weekly Bible Notes
Ordinary 16 - Year B
Liturgical Colour - Green
Introduction
When we see the way that Jesus treated people, one thing is clear. He liked them. He had compassion on them and cared for them. There were some people he had problems with, but only because they were religious hypocrites and thought better of themselves than everybody else.
Jesus gave people time and effort and energy, even when they interrupted his plans for a holiday, as happened in the reading from Mark this week.
Now how would we feel if everybody came after us when we had decided to go off somewhere nice and quiet on a boat?
May you, in company with all God’s people, be strong to grasp what is the
breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love.
(Ephesians 3, 18-19)
Collect Prayer for the Day
Merciful God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as pass our understanding: pour into our hearts such love toward you that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Common Worship
Creator God, you made us all in your image: may we discern you in all we see, and serve you in all that we do; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Common Worship Shorter Collect
Eternal God, in Christ you make yourself our guest. Amid all our cares and concerns make us attentive to your presence, that we may prize your word above all else; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Methodist Worship
Grant us Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those things which last for ever. Amen. Methodist Worship
First Bible Reading Jeremiah Chapter 23:1-6
"Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done," declares the LORD. "I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the LORD. "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.
Second Reading Ephesians 2:11 - 22
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-- remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Gospel ReadingMark 6:30-34,53-56
The apostles gathered round 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 yourselves 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 recognised 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.
Later, when Jesus and his disciples had crossed over the lake again, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognised Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went - into villages, towns or countryside - they placed the sick in the market-places. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.
Post Communion Sentence
God of our pilgrimage, you have led us to the living water: refresh and sustain us as we go forward on our journey, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Commentary
Jesus and the disciples would have had have reason to be
annoyed in our reading today. Jesus had sent the disciples out (6:7) to
preach, teach and heal. The disciples had just got back from this exhausting
ministry and understandably they would have wanted to speak with Jesus about
what had happened. They would also be more than ready for a well deserved
rest and something to eat. However, it was so busy with people all around,
that Jesus decided to take them somewhere quiet. Jesus has compassion for
these weary disciples who have toiled as "apostles"--"ones sent." Jesus
knows that for them to keep their perspective, enthusiasm for mission,
energy to preach, teach and heal, they must, do as he says and "Come away by
yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile." If we need one, then that
must be an excuse for all of us to have a break from time to time, we all
need time for renewal.
So they rowed to a quiet place and when they get there the crowd has already
seen where they are going and forms a welcome party. Mark doesn't tell us
how the disciples respond, we can perhaps guess how we would have felt, but
Jesus has compassion on the crowd, because he said that they were "like
sheep without a shepherd" (v. 34). Jesus was not a soft touch for everyone,
but for people in need he always had time and compassion.
In Numbers 27:15-18 we read
Moses said to the LORD, "May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd." So the LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him.
Surely these words in Mark’s Gospel "sheep without a
shepherd" would have reminded people of Moses' request for God to appoint
someone to succeed him as leader of the people. God chose Joshua, the name
means ‘YHWH (God) is Salvation.’ The Greek form of that name, ‘Iesous’, is
known to us as Jesus. All of this would not be lost on the reader of Mark’s
Gospel. The words, "sheep without a shepherd" clearly form a rebuke on the
religious leaders of Jesus' day, who have failed in their shepherd role. It
was because of this failure that a special shepherd was needed, one who
cared for the sheep more than simply thinking of his own needs, that
shepherd was Jesus.
Our reading from Jeremiah sees God’s promise "...I will raise up a righteous
shoot to David." God promises not to abandon his people and those promises
are fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus is the fulfilment of all the expectations of
the people and all the promises of God, for a shepherd who was worthy of the
name. Indeed, in Jesus, God provided the ultimate in the caring shepherd,
one who would be willing to lay down his life for the sheep.
Charles Royden
Meditation
"God promises his people that he will give them shepherds that will truly guide them in the ways of peace, justice and liberty. And although we usually divide up the roles, making some pastors and others sheep, We must admit that we must all be loving pastors of all. Do I recognize my responsibility for the fate of my brothers and sisters? Do I feel responsible for their lives, their peace, their happiness, or do I always leave the welfare of others to someone else?"
“Open wide the window of our spirits, O Lord, and fill us full of light; open wide the door of our hearts, that we may receive and entertain you with all our powers of adoration and love.” Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), English poet
Hymns
- I rejoiced to hear them say (On notices) Tune; St Georges Windsor
- Who took fish and bread Junior Praise 286 (On notices)
- In Christ there is no east or west (Kilmarnock) 758 Hymns and Psalms
- I heard the voice of Jesus say (Kingsfold) 136 Hymns and Psalms
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead
Prayer is a plant, the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian,
if it is well cultivated and nourished it will produce fruit, but if it is neglected,
it will wither and die
Lord, be merciful to your people. Fill us with your gifts and make us always eager to serve you in faith, hope, and love. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
O God, you are the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you; help us so to know you that we may truly love you, so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. --Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified: hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people, that in their vocation and ministry they may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory of your name; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Common Worship
Additional Material
Collect prayer for the day
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified: hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people, that in their vocation and ministry they may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory of your name; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Commentary - Jeremiah
Jeremiah preached his message to Judah from 626 until about 589-587 B.C. He spent his lifetime criticising the rulers who were slowly selling out his country and his people to the powers of the Babylonian Empire. Jeremiah himself experienced a period of forced exile at the hands of some of his own panicked neighbours.It's no wonder that Jeremiah had little regard for the monarchs under whom Judah had suffered for the last 50 years.
Immediately preceding this week's Old Testament text, in Jeremiah 22:11-23, the prophet itemises his grievances against specific rulers and the particular wrongs each of them had committed. Jehoiakim's sins merited Jeremiah's special attention, leading the prophet to conclude in 22:24-30 that the despicable monarch had received his just reward from Yahweh in his degrading exile into a foreign land.The passage this week serves as a kind of final commentary on this sad history of sinful, selfish and servile kings Jeremiah has listed. It records Jeremiah's explanation for the cause of the exile. Jeremiah 23:1-4 does not bother to list any specific ruler or once again cite the particular crimes that may have resulted in the sentence of exile - the wicked, lawless kings are summarily lumped together. It is the grand total of their sinful actions that has resulted in the just nature of Yahweh's sentence of exile.
The text begins by using the ancient symbol of a shepherd for a king or ruler. These shepherds, Jeremiah makes clear, are evil - for they have intentionally destroyed and scattered the sheep entrusted to them. The prophetic writer chooses his vocabulary very carefully here, for he makes the same verb identify both the shepherds' actions toward their sheep and Yahweh's actions toward these worthless shepherds. Just as they have "scattered" or "not attended" their sheep, so the divine shepherd Yahweh will "scatter" or "attend to" the untrustworthy shepherds. The punishment meted out by Yahweh precisely matches the crime which these shepherd-kings have committed. The ones responsible for the scattering of the flocks into unknown parts have themselves been scattered out into the wilderness.
To care for these restored ones, Yahweh promises to establish new shepherds who will show the proper care for their tender charges. The author's literary skills are once again displayed in the close of verse 4 when he insists that none shall be "missing." What is translated here as "missing" is none other than that same Hebrew verb that had been used to designate the "inadequate supervision" of the original shepherds and the judgment Yahweh had "visited" upon them. The author, then, is not simply stating that no one sheep will be missing, so much as he is testifying that Yahweh will never again judgementally "attend to" or "visit" the flock and its new shepherds as he had done before.
Prayers for Sunday
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those things which last for ever; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Eternal God, in Christ you make yourself our guest. Amid all our cares and concerns make us attentive to your voice and alert to your presence, that we may prize your word above all else; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O God, you are the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you; help us so to know you that we may truly love you, so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
Hymns for this Sunday (Hymns for Today Church)
- Morning has broken
- Jubilate
- Father hear the prayer
- I rejoiced to hear them say
- Guide me, O thou great Jehovah
Meditation
“Open wide the window of our spirits, O Lord, and fill us full of light; open wide the door of our hearts, that we may receive and entertain you with all our powers of adoration and love.” Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), English poet.