The apostles re-joined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat.
So they went off in a boat to a lonely place so they could be by themselves. But people saw them going and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length. (Mark 6:30-34)
Introductory notes
Parallels may be found in Matthew 14:13-21, Luke 9:10=17 and John 6:1-13.
In the Book of Exodus – and other places in the Jewish Scriptures – there is a special Hebrew word, which is derived from the word for “womb” or more generally that part of a woman’s body which nurtures new lifeinto being – her depths or bowels. The Hebrew word is racham. It is translated by various English words, such as “mercy,” “tenderness,”
“gracious” and, of course, “compassion.”
This Hebrew word is used twice, for example, in Exodus 33:19: “And he said: ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, “The Lord”; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” (NRSV)
The same Hebrew word is used again in Exodus 34:6 to describe the making of the Covenant: “The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (hesed) and faithfulness.'” (NRSV)
In Isaiah 49:15 we read: “‘Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you’.” (NRSV)
In order to get an even deeper sense of what is being described in this word, however, we should turn to the story in 1Kings 3:16-28. Solomon is asked to adjudicate between two women claiming the one infant. One of those women had accidentally rolled on her baby and smothered it in the night. She then claimed the other baby. How does Solomon sort this matter out? He threatens to cut the living baby in two! On the face of it, this is an awfully brutal and feelingless thing to even suggest. In fact, in the story it is used to demonstrate a deep sensibility in Solomon. The language of the KJV conveys the impact of what is going on here: “Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, ‘O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it’. But the other said, ‘Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it’.” (1 Kings 3:26)
An equivalent of the Hebrew word racham is found in the Greek word splagchnizesthai. (See William Barclay, New Testament Words, SCM Press, 1955/64, 276-280.) The noun splagchna which means the noble viscera – the heart, lungs, liver and intestines – is also used metaphorically in classical Greek to name the inner parts of the person, the seat of the emotions. Thus the Greek word splagchnizesthai means to be moved with compassion. It implies a movement of emotion in the depths of the person’s being. It is the strongest
word in Greek for the feeling of compassion.
In the Christian Scriptures, this Greek word never appears outside the Synoptic Gospels, and except for three occurrences in the parables it is always used directly of Jesus himself. The word (esplagchnisthē) is used here in Matthew 6:34 and is translated as “he took pity on them”. Some translations use the word “compassion. No English translation comes near conveying the richness and power of the thought behind the word.
Reflection
When thedisciples return from their mission Jesus says to them “you must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while”. The “lonely place” echoes the desert and the founding experience of the Exodus. It is too easy to forget what it is all about when you are excessively busy. Busyness prompts us to focus on the product and in so doing miss the process.
Life can pass us by when we are excessively busy – perhaps especially so when our busyness seems to be so “successful”.
Jesus manifests the disposition of God as the people rush to this “lonely place” to gather around him: “he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd”. The Greek expression, here translated as “he took pity on them”, takes us back to the Covenant forged with Moses in the desert of old: “The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (hesed) and faithfulness.'” (Exodus 34:6)
The religious authorities of Jesus’ day dealt with the people on the basis of law. Jesus deals with them on the basis of Covenant, an affection and intimacy that no law could ever account for. According to Jesus, the religious authorities are not good “shepherds”. They have in fact abandoned the “sheep”. Jesus is the good shepherd, he will never abandon the people.
We could sum it up from our side: There is nothing we can do that will make God love us more or less. God’s love is infinite, everlasting. So the challenge and the gift is to let the truth find its way into our bones. Once we have tasted that love, all else will look after itself.