Good Shepherd Sunday – 4th Sunday of Easter
Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18
I AM is code word for Yahweh’s presence. The divine shepherd who promised restoration and abundant life for those who believe is here to lay down his life for the people (John 10:15). The good shepherd discourse in the gospel of John comes to us on this 4th Sunday of resurrection bracketed by the healing hope of the man born blind at the pool of Shiloan (chapter 9) and the suspicion of the local leaders who reject the man and his newfound faith in Christ, and the rejection of Jesus himself who scapes an angry crowd ready to stone him for insisting in the proclamation that God was at work in him (10:22-32). Well, God was indeed at work. Interfering in our existence for the benefit of humanity.
In Acts, the apostles go through a similar situation after bearing witness to the power of Christ. Peter and John, upon healing a person born crippled and proclaiming salvation in Jesus name (Chapter 3), find themselves imprisoned and questioned by the same authorities who handed him to be killed. In this moment of courage, their proclamation does not change (4:8-11).
In 1 John 3, we find the echoes of Ephesians 2:8-10. There, the gift of salvation by grace through faith recreates the believer to live a life of discipleship. Here, the abundant and life-giving generosity of Jesus is to be embodied by his followers and given to those in distress (16) as an expression of the love commanded to us by Christ (23).
The psalmist sings:
“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
(Psalm 23:1-4; NRSVue)
Bridging Faith 