Hard work? Yes, but Oh, the Blessings!
So that we have the strength, wisdom and desire to "do his will"
Faith is a divine gift, and no human being can earn his salvation. Faith requires our free-will response shown through good works. The Church rejects the notion of predestination without free will, while affirming that God desires all to be saved.
Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle
Romans 10:9-18
Matthew 4:18-22
Hard work? Yes, but Oh the Blessings!
Since January 13th, the epistle or first reading at daily Mass has mainly been from the book of Hebrews. Today's verses are from the final chapter in Hebrews and the Epilogue containing an exhortation and a blessing. The exhortation addresses a threat of apostasy from the new Christian faith, which is a fulfillment of the Jewish Faith as prophesied throughout the Old Testament.
The author of Hebrews is unknown, but if it wasn't St. Paul, it was someone who was close to St. Paul and may have been one of his assistants. It is very likely that the "Hebrews" to whom this epistle was addressed were the first Christians of Jewish background. They were very familiar with the Hebrew culture and Mosaic worship, and with time, like their ancestors, were reverting to their old ways.
To better understand today's verses let's back up to verse 9 in Chapter 13, "Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings" which is followed by verse 11 and 12, "For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood." The Israelites of old were redeemed by the blood of lambs, but we have been redeemed by The Lamb of God. Jesus has replaced animal sacrifices and sin offerings, once and for all. That brings us up to today's verse 15, "Through Jesus, let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise" and 16b, "God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind."
This instruction to the "Brothers and sisters, through Jesus let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, fruit of the lips," sounds much like St Paul's letter to the Thessalonians "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing" And instead of the Old Testament animal sacrifices, we are to sacrifice our time and treasure by doing good and sharing with others. Next, the writer instructs us to "Obey your leaders and defer to them.” I would add that we should pray for them, as we will see in today's Gospel reading, being a disciple is not always easy and often involves hard work.
The writer offers his blessing in verses 21-22: "May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, furnish you with all that is good, that you may do his will. May he carry out in you what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Every time we pray, every time we receive Communion, we are filled with grace, as the writer stated, "furnished with all that is good," so that we have the strength, wisdom and desire to "do his will" and to "carry out what is pleasing to him".
A reflection in the Navarre Bible adds this, "In these verses ‘the God of peace' is invoked; he is the only one who can give true peace, decreeing that men should be reconciled to him through the action of Christ; and Jesus is described as the ‘great shepherd': once more there is this paralleling of the Exodus/Old Covenant with entry into heaven. Just as Moses brought the people of Israel into the promised land the way a shepherd leads his sheep, so Jesus Christ, the shepherd par excellence, leads his sheep into the glory of heaven."
Moving on, we have all heard and prayed the 23rd Psalm a thousand times, maybe 10,000 times. It fits perfectly with the blessing in this first reading. "The Lord is my Shepherd", "Beside restful waters he leads me", "He guides me in right paths", "You are at my side", "You give me courage", "And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come", Heaven! These verses show David's love for God, his devotion, praise and his Faith in the Lord the Good Shepherd.
The Gospel reading addresses the pity of the Good Shepherd, 34b "(Jesus) had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Again, we must find out what is happening before this Gospel reading to gain a better understanding. Chapter 6 starts out with the story: "No prophet is honored in his own country." Jesus and his disciples are in Nazareth, his hometown, teaching where people knew him. They ask, "Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary? ... And they took offense at him."
The people who knew him rejected him, and he knew the disciples would face some of the same rejection he faced, so he warned them as he instructed them. In the next story, "Jesus sending out the Apostles two by two to teach,” "He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick---no food, no sack, no money in their belts." but with the caveat, "Whatever place does not welcome you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them." The final story right before our Gospel reading is the "Beheading of John the Baptist." In verse 29, we read, "When the disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb."
The disciples had been through a lot. No doubt there were many highs and lows, the teaching of hungry souls, the healing of many that suffered from various ailments, and the casting out of demons had to be rewarding, even exhilarating! But the rejection from others and then the death of John the Baptist had to be a depressing low, draining them to the point of exhaustion. That gives meaning to why Jesus gathered the Apostles together, to share their experiences and invited them to a deserted place to, "rest a while"! So now they get in a boat and head to this "deserted place,” and what do they find when they get there — a crowd of Jesus' followers already arrived at the place before them! "Jesus sees the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them."
This shows the people and his disciples that he is the faithful shepherd. He teaches them many things. Going along with our first reading, the writer of Hebrews is instructing the readers, “Let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise: God is pleased with sacrifices of that kind."
Before I finish this reflection, I don't want to leave the hungry disciples starving. The next story in this chapter is the "First miracle of the loaves". That action by Jesus not only satisfied their hunger, but it had to be energizing to experience such an event.
I want to finish today's reflection by repeating the blessing found in our first reading with one change — the word you to or we:
"May the God of peace who brought up from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, furnish us with all that is good, that we may do his will. May he carry out in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."
Hard work? Yes, but Oh, the Blessings!