Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 26, 2026
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
"Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified."
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,
and they asked Peter and the other apostles,
"What are we to do, my brothers?"
Peter said to them,
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is made to you and to your children
and to all those far off,
whomever the Lord our God will call."
He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,
"Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."
Those who accepted his message were baptized,
and about three thousand persons were added that day.
R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or: R. Alleluia.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
Beloved:
If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good,
this is a grace before God.
For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.
He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.
When he was insulted, he returned no insult;
when he suffered, he did not threaten;
instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross,
so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.
For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep." (NIV)
*****
Usually the image of the good shepherd comes across as warm and comforting, but perhaps that does not do justice to John's intention here. Following on in continuation of the argument in chapter 9, when the Pharisees questioned the source of his power to give sight to a man born blind, in chapter 10 Jesus suddenly raises the stakes. Addressing the Pharisees directly he makes the observation that anyone who gets into the sheepfold over the wall instead of through the gate is a thief and a robber. But "the one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice."
And a little later on, "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep... I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture."
We need to remember that the Pharisees were not bad people, but they had fallen into the trap of taking pride in their own faithful observance of the Law to the extent that they felt it was their job to correct others, even to determine the standards for everyone.
We might wonder that John places this image of Jesus as the genuine shepherd not in the rural setting of Galilee where it would sit naturally, but in Jerusalem where it could only reinforce the idea that this upstart country fellow imagined he could teach the scholars in the city.
But John has more in mind. There is a theme running throughout the scriptures to the effect that the true Shepherd of Israel is Jahweh himself. So strong is this idea that the Pharisees could not have failed to see that, when Jesus said "I am the good shepherd", he was laying claim to a very special standing. For John, I think, it is a clear statement of divine nature.
The passage read in church ends with Jesus setting himself in direct opposition to self-serving frauds with this declaration: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." I have included the next few lines because they are of the essence of his claim: “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep." So the Good Shepherd metaphor is featured in the post-resurrection period not so much for us to relate to him in trust as to the best of pastors, but to school us in believing. He is the one who did lay down his life in witness to this truth that he is indeed the Son of God who has come into this world to free us from the bind of sin.
"I am the resurrection and the life," he will say to Martha at her brother's tomb, and there is no Yes, No or Maybe about it. "The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Do you believe this? Do I? Reflecting of John's teaching of faith and the way Jesus required the sheep of his flock to believe in him as the Son of God Most High, it might be best for each one to read through these chapters of John's gospel, and simply stay with them, allowing the Spirit to teach us what it means to believe in Jesus.