This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time. It is easy to imagine the groan of despair that must have gone up from the exhausted disciples, when they saw, long before they had reached the other shore, that the inevitable curious crowd had followed and the possibility of rest was fading.

34 When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

It is probable that this natural weariness accounts for the note of irritation in their question to Jesus in v.37, as well as their obvious hint in v.36 that the crowds had had more than enough teaching already: “36 Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 He said to them in reply, “Give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?”

Note that Jesus preached to the crowds himself; he did not call upon his disciples to join in the task now. Compare his anxiety to secure proper rest for them after their wearisome preaching tour, careless though he might be for himself.

But Jesus, just as weary as the disciples and seeing the same crowds as they, had compassion on them (34). The comparison of the people to “sheep without a shepherd” is an allusion to Num. 27:17 and Ezek. 34:5. It is notable that in Ezekiel, the motivation of God to promise the people a “good shepherd” is that God was moved with pity/compassion. Also noteworthy is that both Numbers and Ezekiel take place in the wilderness. In Num. 27:17 Moses prays that the Lord will appoint a leader to take his place prior to his death in the wilderness lest the people “be as sheep which have no shepherd.” It is significant that God appointed as shepherd Joshua, whose name in the Septuagint is “Jesus.” In Ezek. 34 the shepherd image is also associated with the wilderness. There is no shepherd for the sheep, but God promises the coming of a faithful shepherd, “my servant David” (Ch. 34:23), who will establish a covenant of peace, causing the people to “dwell securely in the wilderness” (Ch. 34:25). In 6:34 Mark proclaims Jesus on the background provided by these passages: he is the one appointed by God to be the leader of the people in their exodus into the wilderness; he is God’s servant David who provides rest for the people in the wilderness. These theological notes are not extraneous to Mark’s telling of the story. They provide the indispensable background for understanding the feeding narrative that follows. The multitude that pursues Jesus and the disciples are representative of Israel once more in the wilderness. There they experience the compassion of the Messiah, who teaches them “at length” concerning the Kingdom of God.

They experience all this when they rest.

Christ preaching to the Apostles, Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1381| Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena | Public Domain US