Hi everyone, welcome back to our podcast, where we take a look at
the Gospel reading from today's mass, and we are going to
provide an exegesis of the literal sense.
What did the original author try to convey to his original
audience? That's always the best way to
start when we're trying to interpret the The the gospels
and that's the method. The Catholic Church tells us
that we need to use we always need to start with the literal
sense of the text. So today we're looking at Mark
chapter 6, verse 32, 34 that's the Gospel reading.
You'll hear today at Mass the apostles rejoined, Jesus and
told him all they had done and taught.
Then he said to them, you must come away to some lonely place,
or by yourselves and rest for a while.
For there were so many coming and going that the apostles had
no time even to eat. So they went off in a boat to a
lonely place where they could be by themselves.
But people saw them going and many could guess where, and from
every town, they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it
before them. So, as he stepped ashore, he saw
a large crowd and he took pity on them because they were like
sheep without a shepherd and he set himself to teach them at
some length. So this begins a new section in
the gospel of Mark, which a lot of Scholars would say is about
bread and nourishment. And we'll see that over the next
couple of chapters that theme of bread and nourishment comes up a
lot. So verse 30, the apostles,
rejoin Jesus. So if you remember what's
happened just before, this is Jesus, sent the apostles out
two, by two to go and do Mission, and their possibly away
for a few weeks. And now they come back and
report, back to Jesus and they tell him all they had.
Done and taught. So they give Jesus a mission
report of how it went. It's interesting that they
mention the word taught because Jesus instructions to them
didn't Indy, he didn't tell them to go and teach you just told
him to heal and cast out demons. So they'll supposed to preach
but not teach and that tells us that it doesn't have to be
mentioned, really. It's an essential part of
preaching. The gospel is, there's going to
be teaching in there as well. And as we will Discover, it
seems like their Ministry was quite successful, because now
there's a huge crowd following them.
So, Jesus says, to them after they've just returned from this,
from their trip, you must come away to some lonely, place, all
by yourselves, and rest awhile. So they've just returned from a
very significant trip and they were preaching the kingdom in
poverty. Remember they weren't allowed to
take money or extra clothes so they've been living in poverty
for a while. It's probably quite exhausting.
Very significant trip for the apostles that went out two by
two. So Jesus says, let's just go and
rest awhile, just us, let's have some us time, and which makes
sense. Because you remember one of the
things, one of the things Mark lists as the purpose of an
apostle, one of them is to go out and preach which they've
done, but the other one is to be with Jesus.
So now they're having time to be with Jesus again, and this
highlights, Jesus concern to give comfort and rest to those
who serve him and, you know, a lot of Scholars, talk your
about. If you're in Ministry, there's a
big need for a balance between time with Jesus.
As in rest time, intimacy with Jesus in prayer and reflection
and balancing that with active Ministry work.
And then Mark adds this comment for those so many coming and
going that the apostles had no time to eat.
So there's thousands of people coming, this crowd is massive.
They're all coming to Jesus for healing and the apostles are
trying to control the crowd. The their Ministry has been so
successful that the, its booming, the crowd is huge and
the trying to control the crowd and the humming even got time to
eat anymore. So Jesus says, let's go.
Let's have some quiet time verse 32.
So they went off in a boat to a lonely.
A place. So, they've been Jesus has been
on the edge of the Sea of Galilee teaching and now they
actually get into a boat and go across the Sea of Galilee to
another side of the lake, which was probably expected to be
uninhabited, a quiet place on the edge of the lake.
Verse 33 but many could guess where they were going or another
translation says many new them. So they saw them leaving in the
boat at the Sea of Galilee is quite small.
We need to cap the never keep that in mind.
So the crowd saw the direction, the boat was leaving and they
figured out while there's only a few places in that direction.
They could go and they start to go around and meet them there.
And mock ads there from every town.
So at this stage, people are streaming to Jesus from all over
Israel and they hurried to the place on foot.
So they probably running. They're probably running to beat
the boat that. If they walk, they might not
beat it. But if they run, they might be
able to beat the boat there. So since the lake was quite
small. And they know where Jesus is
going, it's probably true that. If they hurry there, they can
beat the boat there. Remember, this is people from
all over Israel. Clamoring to see Jesus and they
don't want to miss their opportunity.
So verse 34 is Jesus stepped ashore.
So they've been expecting it to be a quiet abandoned place but
the crowds are waiting for them. They're waiting for Jesus when
he steps ashore. And at this point mark says it's
a large crowd but as we learn very soon after this passage,
there's probably around 15,000 people here.
So, by this point Jesus has become very well known all
across Israel as a Healer and a teacher and Mark says he took
pity on them so he could have been annoyed.
If you think about it, he could have been annoyed because he
wanted some private time with the disciples.
And now, the crowd has ruined that but he chose has to
chooses, to show compassion and the word here for compassion is
a verb that connotes a deeply felt passion in the gut as
though his very heart is moving. So deeply felt passion, These
feeling for the crowd. And Mark says, he feels this way
because they are like sheep without a shepherd.
And so Mark, he gives us an analogy in what way of the
people like a sheep without a Shepherd.
Well, it seems to be that just as sheep literal.
Sheep need a shepherd. And if they don't have one there
lost, then these Jewish people have no spiritual guide at the
moment, and so they're spiritually lost.
To remedy this. Jesus begins to teach at some
length as we're about to hear his.
He goes on to teach. And so, Mark here is hinting and
often in the Old Testament, it talks about God being The
Shepherd of his, if his people. And so Marky and might be
hinting that Jesus is, is that Divine shepherd?
He Is God, shepherding, his people Now, the very next,
that's the end of our passage today, but the very next thing
that happens something quite significant happens with this
massive crowd, but you'll need to tune in again tomorrow to
find out the next thing that happens on this side of the lake
with the big crowd, okay? Bit of a shorter podcast today,
there's no catechism references. That relates directly to this
passage so hopefully you tune in again tomorrow.