A Look of Mercy, A Glance That Cares

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time July 19, 2009 (Mk 6:30-34)

The Apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

In the Gospel today, we see Jesus give value to rest. He wanted His Apostles to rest as they have just returned from their missionary journeys. As disciples of Christ who bring His Word to others, we also need to rest. We need to pray and reflect. We need to have time alone with God to check our relationship with Him.

Jesus, in the Gospel, seeing the people who were like sheep without a shepherd (Mk 6:34), sacrificed His private time and the time of His Apostles in order to teach the great crowd. He knew how much the people were thirsting for God's Word. He had pity on them and He quenched their thirst for the nourishing Word.

As followers of Christ, we also ought to have great concern for our neighbor, especially for those who are in need, physically or spiritually. In these days, we usually look at people, especially those in need, as if they were just "other people". We don't see them as people we need to help, as people who, like us, are in need of God and of His life-giving Word.

This is the problem of our generation - indifference. As long as someone has no direct effect in our lives, as long as we don't need that someone for anything at all, we don't care about him. Jesus, on the other hand, looks upon people with a look of mercy, a glance that cares.

As Christians, we need to cast upon others this look of mercy, this glance that cares. We need to imitate Christ who cares for others, who does not consider the crowd as a great bother, but nourishes them and gives them what they need. We should also imitate the early Christians who sold their possessions in order to help those who are in want (Acts 4:32-35).

This is the mark of true Christians - love and concern for others. This is how we are to show Christ to others - by our love.