July 22, 2018: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the midst of the variety of troubles we face in this world, God has come to us in Jesus so that we are able to experience rest in Him.  He is a God Who is moved with deep compassion and greatly desires to guide us gentle in the right way to rest in Him.  This compassion contrasts with the terrible leadership in Israel as described in Jeremiah who did not do right in shepherding the people. 

(The final two verses from the Jeremiah reading actually appear in the words that appear on the screen at the beginning of The Nativity Story as a prophecy about Jesus.  Talk about a contrast between the ruthless King Herod and the gentle, humble Jesus born as a baby.)

We rejoice that God has sent us Jesus to be our Good Shepherd, which is a metaphorical image that is described so richly in Psalm 23.

And we see this theme again in the Gospel reading as Jesus gently guides His disciples to rest after their labors in missionary work, and is moved with deep compassion when He sees the crowd and recognizes they need guidance toward rest.

We indeed find rest in God because Jesus has reconciled us to God so that we can be at peace by having and growing in relationship with Him.