Fourth Sunday of Easter

Jan 30 2025

Wanted . . . Good Shepherds

Peter is a wonderful example of someone growing into the role of a good shepherd. His calling was evident from the beginning, when Jesus summoned him and his brother Andrew while they were casting their nets into the sea: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of [people]” (Mark 1:17).

We know Peter as the first to confess Jesus as Messiah, but also as someone who did not understand what this would mean both for Jesus and his followers: the cross. We know Peter was not afraid to ask questions along the lines of “What are we going to get out of being disciples?” or even say the wrong thing (“You shall never wash my feet!”). And, perhaps most importantly, we know Peter folded when the chips were down, denying he ever knew Jesus.

This same Peter boldly preaches Jesus as raised by God for the salvation of all who believe. He preaches not only outside the upper room on Pentecost, but in the synagogue soon after, then twice before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem), and finally in the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius.

What explains this transformation from denying follower to charismatic leader? Paul tells us in one of his letters (1 Corinthians 15:5) that the risen Lord appeared to Kephas (the Aramaic name for Peter). And Luke records the descent of the Spirit upon those in the upper room (Acts 2:4). All of this reminds us that God’s power at work in us is the key to having and being a good shepherd.

Consider/Discuss

From the beginning, Jesus the Good Shepherd has called others to shepherd in his name. Have you known any good shepherds in your life?
Do you pray for those called to shepherd God’s people?

Responding to the Word

Loving Jesus, you have called many people to shepherd your faithful. We pray for them today, most especially our Holy Father, and all of our bishops, the bishop of this diocese, and all men and women in positions of leadership. Grant them wisdom and give them the gifts needed to guide your people.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

Peter responds to the leaders of the Jewish community in Jerusalem who challenged the healing of a crippled man. He claims that it was in the power of Jesus’ name that the man was healed, and it will be in the power of this same name that all will be saved. Peter speaks out against the leaders of the people, not because they are Jewish but because they have rejected Jesus. For the crippled man, salvation took the form of healing; for others, it can take the form of spiritual transformation. The name of Jesus is the one and only source of salvation, hence no one can afford to reject it.

The love of which the author of the second reading speaks is generative, transforming; it makes believers children of God. Everything that happens in the lives of believers is a consequence of their having been recreated as God’s children. As children of God, they are a new reality and hence not accepted by the world, the old reality. The “now but not yet” of Christian eschatology is clearly stated. Believers have already been reborn as children of God. However, their transformation has not yet been completed. That is dependent on a future manifestation. Promised an even fuller identification with God, believers will see God as God is.

As shepherd, Jesus is committed to the well-being of the sheep. He is willing to protect his flock even to the point of risking his own life for them. He has a mutual, intimate relationship with them based on the mutual, intimate relationship that he has with God. This is true even of sheep that are not now his. The high Christology can be seen in the control that he has not only over his death but also over his resurrection. He has the power to take up his life again. He received this power from God. The universally saving death of Jesus is the work of the Father through the Son.

Jan 27 2025

How Much Are You Worth?

Think about this: somebody offers you a hundred dollars to watch over a dozen sheep for one night. Then a wolf slinks by. He intends to devour you. Would you keep that hundred dollars or would you abandon the cash and run away and not get eaten? Would you chance it for two hundred dollars? How about a thousand? How much are you worth? How much are those sheep worth to you?

I cooked two lamb chops for dinner. On the label, they cost $8.51. They had a lot of fat, which I gave to the dog. Heike doesn’t exactly look like a wolf, but he’s got the focused crouch of a border collie that says “Don’t mess with me” after I put meat in his dish. How much is my right hand worth?

In the midst of sautéing and determining the monetary value of sheep and feeding the dog, I wonder about the surprising turn in today’s Gospel. Jesus first describes the hired help who abandon the sheep. Then he suddenly switches to laying down his life. Where did that thought come from? Were there Jewish folk tales about the heroic love of the lone shepherd on the hillside who died defending his sheep from a pack of hungry wolves? If so, how much were those sheep worth?

The Gospel account seems to assume that we know those background stories, for Jesus presses on to talk about voluntarily laying down his own life for us, as that brave shepherd would lay down his life for his sheep. Why? He knows us. He looks at us as more than lamb chops. He cares for our welfare. Like the hero on the hillside, he is the Good Shepherd, willing to die—for us. If that is the case, then how much are we worth?

Consider/Discuss

Sometimes we place a monetary value on people: how much return on investment do you get from gaining a dozen more paying customers; what is the corporate value of an increased retention of employees; how can we alter the message to gain more voters . . . the list goes on. This monetization is needed to gauge effectiveness in each of those respective disciplines. But how can we avoid the temptation to look at people as numbers? What worth does God put on a human life?
The bond between sheep and shepherd can feel a little distant to those unfamiliar with herding. What if we altered the story to speak of one’s small children or little nieces and nephews? How much money could someone pay you to save their lives? Would you run away when they were in danger? How much are they worth?

Living and Praying with the Word

Jesus, Good Shepherd, we think that we are worth something. We may even boast of our importance. But we have no idea of the inestimable value that you place on us. Our wildest imaginings of our own worth are only a drop of water compared to the ocean of what you see that we are worth. Can this be? Do we matter so much? Do we matter so much to you? Do we matter so much to you that you would die to defend us? All we can do, Lord, is fall to our knees in amazement. Thank you!

Jan 27 2025

Scripture Study for

This week’s first reading continues from last week. After Peter has declared that the lame man was healed through the power of Jesus, the religious leaders have Peter and John arrested for teaching and proclaiming resurrection of the dead in Jesus (4:1–3). Now they question Peter, who responds by ironically wondering aloud that he and John have been dragged before the authorities for doing a good deed, a point that highlights the parallel between the apostles and Jesus himself, who was also interrogated after doing good deeds. Peter then repeats that it was in the name of Jesus that the man was healed. All salvation (healing, forgiveness, well-being, deliverance) comes only through Jesus.

In his First Letter, John has been exhorting his audience to follow God’s commandments. He has also assured them that if they do sin, yet “abide in Christ,” they will be saved because in Christ believers have been made children of God. The world, that is, that aspect of human society that is opposed to God, does not recognize this great dignity in Christians, and Christians themselves may have difficulty recognizing their own status as God’s children. Just as a human child is like the parents and also the siblings, so children of God are growing into the likeness of God and of Christ. This reality is still obscure, but one day this perception will become clear, and then Christians will see more clearly who they themselves are, as children of God and siblings of Christ.

The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd has deep roots in the story of Israel. The metaphor of shepherd was standard for kings and religious leaders, who were expected to guide Israel in the ways of God, and thus protect them from spiritual and social harm. In Ezekiel, God accuses the shepherds not only of leaving the people at the mercy of the wolves, but of ravaging them themselves. In response, God promises to shepherd the people himself (34:1–31). Jesus, then, is taking up this divine role, to the point of even laying down his life for the sheep, rather than allow them to stray or suffer. Jesus also alludes to the fact that God’s flock is not confined to Israel, and that one of Jesus’ tasks is to unite all of God’s flock into one under his (Jesus’) care.

Jan 14 2025

Following the Shepherd

At the end of the day, shepherds would bring their sheep to a common sheep fold, leading them through a gate that was guarded during the night. Shepherds would give names to their sheep and call to them when daylight came, leading them back out to pasture. Because the sheep recognized the shepherd’s voice there was no mix-up with sheep that belonged to others.

The idea that shepherds had a name for each of their sheep brings home the difference between a good shepherd and a stranger. The good shepherd was concerned not only for the flock but for each sheep in it. He knew them and they knew him. “They will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers” (John 10:5).

There are two words in Greek for “good”—agathos and kalos. Agathos refers to moral goodness, as in being a “good person.” Kalos refers to being “good at” something. Certainly Jesus is the Good Shepherd in both senses, but the word used here is kalos, emphasizing his being “good at” shepherding.

Jesus knows his sheep by name, leads them to safety when darkness falls, and returns them to pasture. He was willing to lay down his life for them. Most comforting of all, he came then and comes now so we might have life and have it more abundantly. This image challenges all who have been called to be shepherds in today’s church, to be good shepherds and to be good at shepherding.

Consider/Discuss

What does the image of Jesus as the good shepherd say to you in your life?
What does the promise of “abundant life” mean for you?
Have you come to know the difference between the voice of the good shepherd and the voice of “a stranger”?

Responding to the Word

Jesus, our shepherd, not only cares and searches us out, but he “bore our sins in his body upon the cross so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). We praise the Father for giving us Jesus as “the shepherd and guardian of our souls” and we pray for all who have taken up ministering to God’s people.