YOU’RE ONE OF US

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON JULY 23, 2006

Mark 6:34

"He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd."

In my previous parish in Australia we ran a drop-in day center for street people in the parish hall Monday to Friday. It was not plain sailing. There were problems. Over the 18 years in my time in that parish there was always gulf between what happened in the hall Monday to Friday and what happened in church on Sunday. Occasionally a few people might come to Mass during the week or on a Sunday - but those who came for assistance at the community center did not worship with us on Sunday. This was a frustration - how to breech the gulf? We used to get a 100 people a day in that center. They came for counseling, meals and food and there were sporting teams for football, cricket and pool.

In my time in that parish I met many interesting and odd people, some of them psychologically disadvantaged or mentally incompetent, some just down on luck. Many would come for a week, and then we would never see them again. Others were there every day, waiting in the morning for the center to open so they could spend their whole day.

As I was reflecting on my text today, I remember a young man called Joseph. Joseph commented to me one day that he used to see me jogging through the local park. I didn't look like the local Rector as I went jogging! In that park also there was a group of people who gathered every day for smoking & drinking. And he would tell them that I was a priest - and they wouldn't believe him.

I asked him how his week was, and he said: 'I've been in jail, Father.' Then he said to me: ”you are one of us aren't you?” I was perplexed as to what he could mean. Then he said: “Because Jesus forgives our sins, doesn't he.” I was in awe and humbled at the simple and true faith of that young man. He really understood it. All of us, priest or young man in trouble, are forgiven our sins by Jesus. That moment I knew how Jesus felt in the gospel today - because I had great compassion for that young man. And I felt that he, like the people that Jesus saw, was lost without a shepherd. Jesus had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And Jesus forgives our sins indeed, because he has the same compassion for us.

Most of us, unfortunately, are not very good at following Jesus' example of compassion. It is easier for us to judge, or condemn, or just gossip about people rather than have compassion. And yet we know in our hearts that for Christians there is no option to compassion. And for us Jesus' compassion is linked with Jesus' passion. Notice how the word passion appears both in the love that Jesus has for people and in his suffering on the cross - because the two are intricately linked. The cross is at the heart of it, and that young man Joseph knew that.

In a way Joseph was symbolic of many people who are lost, like sheep without a shepherd. In fact our society is going that way. Sometimes our society as a whole is like sheep without a shepherd.

In the context of the gospel today I see a link to what I said last week. The theme I raised last week of evangelism is surely linked with what we hear today.

The gospel needs to be preached and Jesus needs to be made known because so many people today are like sheep without a shepherd. And they need to come back to the shepherd and pastor of our souls, the great shepherd of the sheep, Jesus himself.

Today's gospel continues from last week’s with its theme of evangelism. Last week the twelve apostles were commissioned by Jesus to go out to preach, to teach, to heal, etc. Today the twelve return from their mission, and they tell Jesus about their successes, their failures, and their excitement. So Jesus takes them to a lonely place for rest and quiet. But the people would not leave them alone. They are anxious to see Jesus. So when the apostles start moving off the people beat them to it around the Sea of Galilee, and are waiting for them when they arrive.

And when Jesus sees this great crowd he has compassion for them. After some teaching we then have the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. All these events seem to be unrelated: the twelve coming back from their mission, the opportunity to go away and have some quiet, the crowd pressing around, Jesus’ compassion for them, and the feeding of the 5,000 - all contained in a very short gospel reading. And yet they are related.

The feeding of the 5,000 has always been considered as an image of the Eucharist. That is as Our Blessed Lord fed that crowd with the miraculous bread, so today in Holy Communion he feeds us with miraculous bread. He feeds our needs spiritually and in every other way.

To take today's gospel as a whole we see that evangelism involves

• Proclaiming the gospel
• Reflecting and response
• Meeting needs of people
• Eucharist

The feeding of the 5,000 tells us that when we preach the gospel, and when we meet people's needs, it is not so that we have done our duty, followed our Lord's command, or even feeling good about doing something as Christians. But preaching and doing must lead a person into the community of Jesus - which is what the Eucharist is about. The Eucharist is also not only the way people are incorporated into the community of Jesus - it is the way into the life of Jesus himself.

The whole point of evangelism is that men, women and children might come into the life of Jesus. Christians who think that evangelism is only about preaching or doing good work have missed the point. It is about those things and more.

By coincidence in today's Epistle, St. Paul also addressed the image of the sheep without a shepherd. In Ephesians 2 he is addressing the divisions within the church at Ephesus, which I mentioned last week. The division in Ephesus seems to be between the Jewish Christians and the gentile Christians. In the beginning of the church the gentiles who came into the church were required to enact the Jewish Law in their lives, because Christianity was still a part of the Jewish faith. St. Paul's mission was not only to bring the gentiles into the Church, but to lead the Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to see that the observance of the Jewish Law was no longer obligatory. This was a great debate in the early life of the church, which led to the first council of the Church in Jerusalem, as recorded in Acts 11.

The divisions in the church in Ephesus were not just about Jews vs gentiles. It was also because of false teachers and heresy. Hence we have this in 2:19-20: "You are members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone."

Their faith was built upon what the apostles have taught them. This line in verses 19 and 20 comes after St. Paul's declaration about the cross of Christ uniting them and bringing peace. Uniting them and bringing peace. In a divided world which lacks peace this is surely good news from St. Paul. The cross of Christ unites people and brings peace.

At the heart of Ephesians 2 St. Paul is talking about the cross bringing peace and uniting humanity. It is through the cross that we are restored to God. It is through the passion of Christ that Jesus conveys his compassion. So the cross of Christ is the means of peace and unity, and leads people into his Eucharistic community of love and faith.

All preaching and the gospel must surely lead to this - not only to the cross, but to the community of Jesus in the Eucharist.

In Ephesians, St. Paul reminds us that the cross is central to the Christian faith because it is God's reconciliation with the world acted out by Jesus - acted out by Jesus lifted up on the cross.

On that Good Friday the cross changed things forever. The problem is that the world still needs to be changed.

The cross renews humanity's relationship with God and draws all of this together into this new people of Jesus.

That is our message and our mission.