Fourth Sunday of Easter
“I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd”
Summary
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and we hear, John 10:11-18, Jesus telling us that he is the good shepherd, the one who lays down his life for his sheep. More than this, he knows the sheep, they belong to him. To whom we belong is also at the heart of Acts 4:5-12. Here the disciples are being questioned by the authorities about healing the man born lame. They appear less interested in the fact that the man is healed than by “what power and what name” he was healed. To whom do the disciples owe allegiance? Are they one of “us” or are they one of “them”. Jesus does not only look after the sheep of this fold, he must gather all the sheep, so that there may be one flock. For him there is no “us” and “them”, we are all one. When we belong to Jesus we also belong to this great flock and they belong to us. If Jesus is out there, finding, gathering and protecting them, we should be alongside him.
FIRST READING
Acts 4:5-12
The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is
“the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
it has become the cornerstone.”
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’
GOSPEL
John 10.11-18
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.’
