Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s Gospel, Jesus sees the vast crowd that is looking for him and waiting for him, and he feels compassion for them. And he does something for them out of his compassion for them. First of all, this tells us how God feels about us, especially when we feel lost, confused, and far from Him. God feels compassion for us, and a strong desire to bring us back to Himself for our healing and well-being.
This encounter with the crowds that moves Jesus to compassion and to action on their behalf occurs several times in the Gospels. In one place, he heals their sick. In other places, he feeds them. (This feeling of compassion often is noted shortly before the recounting of one of the episodes of the multiplication of loaves.) In this particular passage from Mark, Jesus’ response is to teach them many things. So what we can see from this formulation is that all of Jesus’ ministry comes out of his compassion for us who so often feel lost. However, this episode is my personal favorite, because he teaches us. This shows us that his teachings are just as important as his healing, his feeding, and other miracles on our behalf.
Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections