Vigils Reading – 16th Sunday

A KINDLY SAVIOR AND PHYSICIAN

From a commentary by Bede the Venerable1

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The apostles returned to Jesus and reported to him everything they had

done and taught. As well as reporting to him…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 the Lord to the opposite bank of 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…

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.

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – 1999 – pg 100.3