16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
You may at some point have seen those sneakers hanging on power lines or telephone wires and wondered whether they carry a secret meaning. Turns out they could mean so many different things such as the work of gangs marking the boundaries of their territory, a memorial site for a member that died, drug dealers to let their presence known in the neighborhood or simply kids doing what kids do. Perhaps it was an invented tradition with people doing it because they see others doing it. Whatever the case may be, our attentions are certainly drawn into and mystified by it.
Jesus was like that pair of sneakers hanging on the power lines that turned up one day preaching and healing the sick and all of a sudden the whole neighborhood was mystified by his presence. To some like the scribes and Pharisees, he was an eyesore and was in the wrong place. Kind of annoying for them to see. Like the pair of sneakers hanging on the power line. You just want to go up there and take it out. To others, he elicited curiosity, someone worth the discovery of what he was truly about.
Today’s gospel reading tells us it was not only Jesus who caught the people’s attention, but that they also caught his attention. We are told, “When Jesus saw the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. He was drawn to them as much as they were drawn to him. There was this mutual attraction.
In our world, many people live in the shadows and hardly anyone notices them or pays them any attention. These are often times the less fortunate and disenfranchised. I guess we could say that a pair of sneakers hanging over power lines draws more attention than the real people around us in need. If anything, I think we like to draw attention more to ourselves than pay attention to anyone else. On social media, people often boast of their travels, their workouts and body transformations, what car they drive, the fancy restaurants they go to etc. The supply of people that crave attention never runs short.
Once I visited a priest friend who was at the time assigned in the outskirts of Sacramento, he loaded his trunk with food and water and asked me to come with him to see his friends. I asked, what friends? I remember that it was raining heavily that day and we stopped by a bridge. And there I met his “friends”: homeless people living under that bridge.
Whoever threw those sneakers up on the power lines probably did it to draw the attention and curiosity of people passing by or perhaps send a hidden message. Whether they actually mean something or not, one thing for sure happened: it caught our attention. The people who walked on foot wishing to listen to our Lord caught his attention; he was moved with pity for them and began to teach them many things. Our Lord wants us to look around and also give our attention to those in need just as he did. To see people around us with his eyes, to listen to them with his ears, to touch them with his hands, to walk along with them with his feet and to love them with his heart.
And so the next time we drive around the neighborhood and see a pair of sneakers hanging on the power lines, may it serve as a reminder to us of the many people in the world who need our attention and help to provide them some comfort walking on the hard roads of life.