The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:

First Reading: Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 23:1-6
Second Reading: I John 3:16-24
Gospel Reading: John 10:11-18

The liturgical color for the day is: White

This is Good Shepherd Sunday.  Every 4^th Sunday of Easter the Gospel lesson comes from the 10^th Chapter of John’s Gospel where we hear, “I am the Good Shepherd.”

Most animals you push along and prod—you herd them.  Not sheep.  Sheep are led.  Sheep are oriented in a different way. The shepherd goes before the sheep.  The shepherd does not come from behind pushing them along.  No, the shepherd goes before the sheep calling back to the sheep to come after him.  And the sheep follow.

So, when Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd,” the dynamic is that Jesus goes before us.  He takes the lead.  And he does all those things that a shepherd does for the sheep.

A shepherd cares for the sheep, a shepherd feeds the sheep, a shepherd keeps the sheep safe, and a shepherd leads the sheep.  Those tasks—cares, feeds, leads—that is what a shepherd does.

Notice here in John 10 that Jesus adds to that list of what a shepherd does.  Jesus says that there is something that other shepherds, the hired hands, do not do.  Jesus says that the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

We are supposed to hear in these incredible words of Jesus the cross and the empty tomb.  When Jesus says that the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep and that he will take it up again—oh, you had bet we are supposed to be translating that into crucifixion and resurrection.

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Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk