Let me start today with a question, what does a well-deserved Rest, Beatlemania, and The Good Shepard all have in common?? Bet you never thought you’d hear those three things lumped together, especially in a homily! What these three seemingly divergent items have in common is that an element of each of these things is found within in our Gospel reading today. The real question however, is what actions, if any, do these three things potentially call us to do? And on that note, let’s dig in…

While I know you’re most likely dying to hear how in the world I’m pulling Beatlemania out of the Gospel, you’ll have to hold tight just a bit on that one. Let’s first unpack the aforementioned Well Deserved Rest…

Our Gospel begins by picking up on what occurred earlier in the same chapter of Mark, which was in fact last weeks Gospel, when Jesus sent the twelve Apostles, two by two, on a mission.  What we learn from Mark in terms of what they were to do on this mission were three things: First the Gospel tell is that they are given authority over unclean spirits. Secondly, we are told that they were to go and preach repentance, just as John the Baptist had done before them…something that cost him his life. And lastly, they were given the power to heal the sick
In today’s Gospel the apostles have just returned from that mission and they are all gathered with Jesus and are reporting all that they had done and taught.  Knowing they had undergone a lot during their mission, physically and mentally, Jesus kindly suggests that they find a deserted place where they could all be by themselves, together with him, and rest.

But rest was hard to come by for Jesus and the Apostles, and this is where my seemingly obscure Beatlemania reference enters into our conversation.  Technically, I lived through Beatlemania, although for the record I would have been just 9 years old when the Beatles broke up. But all the same most of us have an awareness of the craziness of Beatlemania. (how many of you remember it first hand?  How many have heard about it through history?…has anyone here ever seen the Beatles perform?...if you have, your my new hero and we need to talk!)   As we know from personal recollection and or from history, those four boys from a seaport English town were mobbed anywhere and everywhere they appeared. They had legions of fans who would follow them where ever they went, and who would do just about anything to get a glimpse at them.

But way before Beatlemania, there was Jesus, and dare I say, “Jesus mania”.  And if four boy making good music caused the reaction that they did, I believe that for Jesus the “Mania”, the desire to see, hear, and be near him, would have dwarfed any reception the Beatles might have ever received.  But don’t take my word for it, it’s literally the “Gospel Truth!” as Mark and other Gospel writers go on to express.

Keep in mind, in addition to all the preaching and healing that Jesus had done, which caused his fame, this “mania”, the 12 apostles had just returned from their mission, healing in the name of Jesus, preaching repentance, and no doubt spreading the word about all they had themselves witnessed from being at the side of Jesus.  So the mania, that desire for people to be near Jesus, was now at an all time high.

What that meant was on that day, the rest, that “R & R” that Jesus had just advocated for, simply wasn’t in the cards.  The Gospel tells us that people were coming in great numbers to them…so much so that they didn’t even have time to eat (Think about that!)  Jesus and the apostles then try to do a fast get away and climb in a boat to sail off and find their desired “deserted place”, kind of like the Beatles in the movie “Help”.  But when they hit the shore all those people that had saw them leave, and others from the surrounding towns, actually beat them to their destination.  So yes, Jesus and his ability to draw a crowd defiantly was a case of Beatlemania on steroids.

So returning to the scene in the boat, I can just imagine the moans and groans of the apostles as they looked at the nearing shoreline and saw upon it at least a thousand people.  Can you imagine the disappointment they felt at not being able to spend time with Jesus and to rest with him? Now it could have been very easy for Jesus to have the apostle disperse the crowds, to tell them that he needed a rest, to come back tomorrow.  But no, that’s not what Jesus does.  Instead, Mark tells us that he looks into the faces of those gathered and that his heart was moved with pity for them for they were like sheep without a shepherd. 

So instead of seeking the very rest he had suggested, he begins then and there to teach the large crowd.  If we were to read further on in this Chapter of Mark, we learn that he spent so much time teaching that crowd, tired as he and the 12 were, that he and his apostles needed to feed the five thousand men gathered, likely ten thousand total people when you count the women and children present.  And of course this is where and when the miracle of the loaves and fishes takes place.  In his compassion, in his looking into the eyes of those gathered and seeing their need, one very tired Jesus, proves himself the Good Shepard that he is.

So then, what are we to learn from this three-fold combination of Jesus calling for rest for his disciples, the raging Jesus-mania that prevailed in the area, and being a Good Shepard, all from these 4 short versus from Mark?

Starting with Jesus direction for rest, in our Gospel today Jesus recognizes that after an intense period of apostolic labors, that the twelve Apostles needed to be refreshed again, not just through physical rest, but much more importantly,  through being back in the presence of Jesus, and secondarily, in the fellowship of one another.  And so it is with us today.  As we take off each week to our jobs, our families, our friends, and various other activities, we have a duty, within all of this, to be serving Jesus and his Kingdom in the world. 

While it may not as be as dramatic as the apostles traveling two by two to distant lands to preach repentance and casting out demons, none the less if we are truly doing our part in sharing our faith where ever it is that we step, then we too need a spiritual charging of our batteries.  A recharging that can only take place by being with the person of Jesus and by being surrounded by like-minded people, who find themselves on that very same mission.

You see, to “be with him” remains a requirement of fruitful discipleship, one that must be continually renewed.  Going to Mass, being present at this Mass, is our rest, the rest Jesus spoke about in today’s Gospel.  It is our time to be as close and as intimate, as fully in the presence of Jesus as possible, and of course, in the fellowship of like-minded people, like-minded disciples.

I had mentioned Beatlemania because it is something that most of us can relate to.  And as we read this short passage today, and in other Gospels, we realize that an even greater frenzy to see, listen to, and touch Jesus existed long before the Mop Tops ever sang “I Want To Hold Your Hand”.  It is a desire that is so strong that it forces one into action.  Nothing, but nothing is going to stop the followers of Jesus from getting near him. 
The take away for us here is that each of us, through the deepening of our knowledge and relationship with Christ, that we too develop an “at all cost”, heightened desire to follow him, to proclaim him, to align ourselves to him.

And yet the reality is that every day, 350,000 times a day in fact, Jesus makes an appearance on the altar of his Catholic Churches and then into the very bodies of his believers. What beauty there is to joining into this deepest reality, a time where we are invited not only to see the living Jesus, to hear his Words, but to actually have him dwell inside each of us!

If I haven’t over done the Beatlemania analogy to much yet, allow me but one more… While most Beatle fans would have been content to get an up-close glimpse at one of the Lads from Liverpool, each and every one of us at Mass, metaphorically speaking, is not only allowed a mere glimpse of the Lord, but are invited as well back stage, as it were, to a personal encounter with Jesus himself.

And finally we have left from our trilogy of take aways, the Good Shepard. And this reality of who the Good Shepard is, and in our need for his guidance, follows very nicely on the heels of possessing such a great desire to encounter him, that’s the Jesus-Mania we talked about, and in our need to take our rest in him. 

You see when he have such a desire, and when we begin to take our rest in him, it is than that we are willingly able to forfeit our will to sail our own ships.  It’s then that we see ourselves as the sheep we truly are, that we are in fact sheep in need of shepherd.  And as we surrender ourselves, our pride-fullness, as we ask the Good Shepard to lead us through this life and into the next, that’s when we find an ultimate peace, and ultimate period of restfulness in Him.

In conclusion, may our prayer today be that we see and follow the need to rest in the Lord, in his Mass, and in the fellowship and support of our fellow Catholic brothers and sisters.  And within the reality of that rest, that our desire to deepen our relationship with Jesus, to be with him and him with us, intensify day by day.  And within that burning desire that we realize the wisdom of surrendering our will to the all loving Good Shepherd, the one who knows more than we ever will be able to, what’s best for us.