Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Tody's Mass Readings

To understand today’s readings we must understand the context within which Jeremiah prophesied. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet in the year 628 BC when Josiah was the King of Judah. Josiah began a process of reform that would rid the nation of idolatry, injustice and false religiosity. Jeremiah wholeheartedly supported Josiah’s reform. After Josiah, however, under King Zedekiah, the false prophet Hananiah began to counsel the King to revolt against the Babylonians. It was also at this time that the old idolatry and infidelity returned. On instruction from God Jeremiah opposed the King and the false prophet. As a result, Jeremiah was arrested, imprisoned, and publicly disgraced. It was in this context the Jeremiah preached the words we hear in today’s first reading. “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture…” (Jer 23:1).

But then, the hope in Jeremiah’s prophecy lies in these words: “
Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David;
as king he shall reign and govern wisely,
he shall do what is just and right in the land.
This is the name they give him:
"The LORD our justice." (Jer 23:5-6)

This prophecy is fulfilled in today’s gospel reading. Jesus, “the Lord our Justice” came to the same devastated Israel, only now, humiliated by the Romans. Israel rejected Jesus more vehemently than it did the prophet Jeremiah. In spite of this rejection, most in the world today accept the most revolutionary, the most heart changing, the most challenging, the most redeeming teachings of the man and son of God we know as Jesus. The world is not like a sheep without a shepherd anymore. The Lord our Justice is here. As God whose heart is “moved with compassion (Mk 6:34), Jesus leads us to eternity.”

Jesus communicates to us God’s will in all its radicalness. Jesus teaches us to love God beyond human imagination and to love others in the same way. He teaches us to abandon our lives into the hands of God. He teaches us not to hate our enemies but to pray for them, do good to them, and love them. He teaches us not to pick up the sword but to lay it down. He teaches us not to count the cost but to give beyond measure. He teaches us to forgive the unforgiveable, to love the sinner, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the prisoner and home the homeless.

Christ comes to us as one who is moved with compassion and love. Today, let us allow ourselves to be led by Christ. And moved with the very compassion of Christ, let us bring love, hope and salvation our world.

- Fr. Satish Joseph