They were like sheep without a shepherd.
“The apostles returned to Jesus
and reported to him everything they
had done and taught.” As well
as reporting to him what they themselves
had done and taught, they told him
what had befallen John the Baptist
while they were teaching. And he
said to them: “Come away to some
place where you can be alone by yourselves
and rest awhile.”
The following words show what real need there was to give the disciples some
rest: “For many were coming and going and they had no time even to eat.” The great happiness of those days can be seen from the hard work of those who
taught and the enthusiasm of those who learned.
If only in our time such a concourse
of faithful listeners would again press round the ministers of the word, not
allowing them time to attend to their physical needs!
For those denied the time
needed to look after their bodies will have still less opportunity to heed the
soul’s or the body’s temptations.
Rather, people of whom the word of faith and
the saving ministry is demanded in season and out of season have an incentive
to meditate upon heavenly things so as not to contradict what they teach by what
they do.
“ And they got into the boat and went away by themselves to
a deserted
spot.” The disciples did not get into the boat
alone, but took the Lord with them, as the evangelist Matthew
makes clear.
“Many people saw them set out and recognized them, and from
all the towns they hastened to the place on foot and reached
it before them.” The fact that people on foot are said to
have reached the place first shows that the disciples did not
go with our Lord to the opposite bank of the sea or the Jordan,
but crossed some stream or inlet to reach a nearby spot in
the same region, within walking distance for the local people.
“Thus when Jesus landed he saw a large crowd He took pity
on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd: and
he began to teach them many things.”
Matthew relates more fully how he took pity on them. He says: “And he took
pity on them and cured their sick.” This is what it means really to take pity
on the poor, and on those who have no one to guide them: to open the way of truth
to them by teaching, to heal their physical infirmities, and to make them want
to praise the divine generosity by feeding them when they are hungry as Jesus
did according to the following verses.
Jesus tested the crowd’s faith, and having done so he gave it a fitting reward.
He sought out a lonely place to see if they would take the trouble to follow
him.
For their part, they showed how concerned they were for their salvation
by the effort they made in going along the deserted road not on donkeys or in
carts of various kinds, but on foot.
In return Jesus welcomed those weary, ignorant,
sick, and hungry people, instructing, healing, and feeding them as a kindly savior
and physician, and so letting them know how pleased he is by believers’ devotion
to him.
(Commentary
on Mark’s Gospel: CCL 120, 510-11)
Bede (c.
673-735), who received the title of Venerable less than a
century after his death, was placed at the age of seven in
the monastery of Wearmouth, then ruled by Saint Beret Biscop.
From there he was sent to Jarrow, probably at the time of
it s foundation in about 681. At the age of thirty he was
ordained priest.
His whole life was devoted to the study of Scripture,
to teaching, writing, and the prayer of the Divine Office.
He was famous for his learning, although he never went beyond
the bounds of his native Northumbria. Bede is best known
for his historical works, which earned him the title “Father
of English History.”
His Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Angloruni is a primary source for early English history,
especially valuable because of the care he took to give his
authorities, and to separate historical fact from hearsay
and tradition. In 1899 Bede was proclaimed a doctor of the
Church.
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