Daily Gospel Reflection: Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Bishop Robert Barron
February 3, 2024
Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Mk 6:30-34
The Apostles gathered together with Jesus
and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them,
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
People were coming and going in great numbers,
and they had no opportunity even to eat.
So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.
People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.
They hastened there on foot from all the towns
and arrived at the place before them.
When Jesus 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.
*United States Conference of Catholic
Bishop Robert Barron
Friends, today’s Gospel is a prelude to the feeding of the five thousand.
There is a darkness at the beginning of this famous account. We hear that John the Baptist has just been murdered and that Jesus has withdrawn into a remote and deserted place, fearing probably that the same fate might be his. His charisma and reputation are such that thousands come seeking him out, even in this out-of-the-way and dangerous locale.
There are many overtones and undertones for the biblically minded reader. We see the terrible fate of the one who speaks for God—hunted down, forced into exile, not at home in this world. And in some ways, this is the permanent condition of life in our conflictual and fallen world. This world here below is a deserted place, where the prophets of God are in danger and where we long for every word that comes from the mouth of God.
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