Br. Geoffrey Tristram

Jeremiah 23:1-6  

In the year 1919, the poet W B Yeats wrote a poem called ‘The Second Coming’. There is a famous line in that poem which has resonated through the decades. He wrote, ‘Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.’  The first world war had just ended, and it felt like chaos had descended on the world, with the breakdown of order, of stability, and of the traditional sources of authority. ‘Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.’ For many, those words well describe our world and our nation today: The recent shocking attempt at an assassination, a deeply polarized and divided nation, a world filled with violence in the Ukraine, Gaza, and frightening weather patterns signaling a planet in crisis. ‘Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.’

Yet these same words could also have been used to describe the land where Jesus walked. Not only was their land occupied by Romans, but worse, there as a breakdown of moral guidance and spiritual guidance from those who were meant to be their leaders, their ‘shepherds’.  In our first reading today from the Book of Jeremiah, the prophet excoriates the religious leaders of Judah, ‘woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture. You have driven them away and not cared for them.’ But Jeremiah then goes on to give to the people a prophesy of hope. ‘The day is coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up a shepherd who will shepherd my people. I will raise up for David a righteous branch and he shall reign as king and execute righteousness in the land.’  That day finally came, when Jesus was born.

And our Gospel reading today is one of the most marvelous descriptions of Jesus the good shepherd in action! It is only a very short gospel reading, but it is so visual, almost cinematic. The disciples have returned from a mission, and they are excitedly telling Jesus all about it. But they are tired and hungry, so Jesus says to them, let’s get in the boat and sail across the lake to a quiet place where we can rest and recover.  But as they crossed the lake they are spotted. ‘Jesus is coming!’ and the word spread like wildfire. And before long, crowds and crowds of people, hundreds and thousands of them, were running, hurrying, racing on foot from the towns and villages to meet the boat on the other side. I imagine those tired and hungry disciples must have groaned, ‘Oh no.’ Just when we thought we could get some peace and quiet…’ Perhaps they even asked Jesus to send them away. But Jesus, we read, ‘had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.’  But in Jesus, the crowds recognized the Good Shepherd promised by the prophet Jeremiah, the one who will exercise justice and righteousness in the land. So the crowds kept coming, and they gathered around Jesus, and Mark tells us that ‘he began tot each them many things.’ For although they were likely tired and hungry, what they hungered for above all was a word of life, a word of hope, a word of salvation for their hungry souls.

In Mark’s account, we get this incredible description of all these people scattered all over the countryside, running from every direction, racing to be with Jesus. If you have ever seen Pasolini’s ‘Gospel according to Matthew’, there is a wonderful scene of hundreds of people running, jumping over rocks, like scattered sheep, racing to be with Jesus. It must have been quite chaotic! But after Jesus had finished teaching them something changed. The disciples, whose tummies were probably rumbling by now, reminded Jesus that the crowds were hungry. So, Jesus takes five loaves and two fish and feeds them all, five thousand of them.  But actually, Jesus had already fed their souls with his words of teaching – and now they are changed. This disorderly and scattered crowd of people running here and there, like ‘sheep without a shepherd’, are transformed.  And Mark describes the scene very carefully and in precise language. Everything is now calm and still. They are sitting ‘on the green grass in groups of hundreds and of fifties.’ Out of chaos Jesus had brought calm and order. With their souls fed, and now their bodies as well, they are sitting in safety and security and in peace, in ‘shalom’. For they had found their shepherd. Or rather, their shepherd had found them.

As I was praying with this Gospel reading, I imagined being there with these crowds and with Jesus. I felt within myself that deep peace which those people must have felt, sitting with Jesus their shepherd. I believe that Jesus wants to give that same peace, that same rest, to each one of us. In a world which seems sometimes to be falling apart, with a center which cannot hold, Jesus the Good Shepherd comes to us and says, ‘Come to me all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’  In our monastic life, in this community, the most precious part of the day happens each morning, immediately after Morning Prayer. Each brother goes into his cell for an hour of prayer and meditation.  We simply sit there with Jesus our Good Shepherd, and allow him to still and feed our souls, and prepare us for the day ahead. I do commend this practice to all of you. It doesn’t have to be an hour – ten minutes, or as long as you can manage. Find a place where you can be quiet and still, and then maybe have a picture or an icon to help center you; perhaps a picture of the Good Shepherd, and allow him to gently restore your soul. Most recently I have been praying with that most beautiful of psalms, psalm 23, which we have just sung together: ‘The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, and leads me beside still waters. He revives my soul, and guides me along right pathways for his Name’s sake.’ You might find it inviting to do the same. Read the verses slowly, and imagine that you are there, beside the lake, sitting on the green grass, with the one who knows you and loves you.

For we have found our shepherd. Or perhaps rather, he has found us! Every day he comes looking for us, to save us, and when our earthly days are over, to bring us safely home. ‘For surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.’