21 July 2024 Mark 6: 30-34

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Please read the passage before the homily.

My sisters and brothers,

Jesus saw a vast crowd moving like sheep without a shepherd.  In the Hebrew Bible, kings were called shepherds.  A people without a shepherd was a people without a king.  Jesus went among his people as a shepherd-king, much like King David of old.

There was another king in those day, Herod by name.  King Heros used to celebrate his birthday, feeding his guess with the dead of John the Baptist.  On the other hand, Jesus, the shepherd and king, used to celebrate his people, teaching them and healing them.  Herod’s banquet was a banquet of death, Jesus’ always gives life to his people.

We call our priests shepherds, pastors. Parents are shepherds for their children.  Our leaders are shepherds for our communities.  We do not have kings in our country, but we do have a president whom we can call a shepherd.

The shepherd’s task is to feed and guide the people.  We have shepherds for the wellbeing of the family, of the community and of the nation.  No shepherd should be feeding oneself or enriching oneself.  The shepherd, like the Good Shepherd, has not come be served, but to serve and give his life for all.

Parents are shepherds, teachers are shepherds, bosses are shepherds, priests are shepherds, governors and the president are shepherds.  All of us are shepherds and all of us have to feed the rest and be their servants especially for the poor.

We do not choose our parents.  Neither can we control others.  We can, however, control ourselves.  We have to serve others not ourselves.  Those with the obligation of serving ought not feed themselves, but rather all the others.

Jesus is our Good Shepherd, that is, our king, who so served us as to give his life as a random for all.

God has made us the presence of Jesus in our world.  We ought to be imitating the example of Christ, our shepherd and king.  We must likewise give our lives, like that of the Good Shepherd, in the service of others.