The Lamb Will Shepherd Them: Reflections on the Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle C

Acts 13:14, 43-52
Psalm 100
Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
John 10:27-30

Habemas Papam! Pray for Pope Leo XIV, the Church’s new shepherd on earth.

Every year the Alleluia verse for the fourth Sunday of Easter is: “I am the good shepherd, says the Lord; I know my sheep, and mine know me.” The fourth Sunday of Easter is Good Shepherd Sunday. The gospel readings are all from chapter 10 of John’s gospel. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Good Shepherd ought to be the model and ‘form’ of the bishop’s pastoral office.” (896)

Good Shepherd Sunday is especially appropriate this year (2025) as the conclave to determine the Church’s next earthly shepherd which began this week has elected a new pope. It is an especially interesting “coincidence” that the readings from last week dealt with the commissioning of Peter to “feed my [Jesus’] lambs,” and now, between these two excerpts from the gospel of John, we have the “new” Peter.

St. Paul is often referred to as the “Apostle to the Gentiles.” Consequently, few realize (especially those who don’t read Acts of the Apostles) that whenever Paul visited a city he went first to the synagogue. We see this in today’s reading from Acts. In a similar way when Jesus sent the twelve on their first mission He told them, “Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” specifically excluding the Gentiles and Samaritans (Matthew 10:5-6).

Paul’s preaching had obviously already garnered great interest in Antioch as on the second sabbath after their arrival “almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.” As with the narrations in the gospels, when the writer refers to “the Jews,” he generally means the Jewish leadership, especially the scribes and the pharisees. And here we see their jealousy aroused, not because someone else is bringing the people closer to God, but because someone else is garnering more attention than they and threatening their position and control over them.

Paul and Barnabas note that it was their duty to speak first to the Jews, as Jesus did when He said His primary task was to the “lost sheep of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). But as the Jews rejected them, Paul announces that they will turn to the Gentiles as the Lord had indicated (Isaiah 49:6, Luke 2:32). This should not be unexpected as throughout Scripture the indication is that God is God of the whole world. The Jews might be the “chosen” people, but that does not rule out God’s salvation for the rest of the world. (E.g., Psalm 65, “O God our savior, The hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far off across the sea.”)

And so Paul summarizes Isaiah, “I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 42:1, 49:6) While this pleased the Gentiles, it upset the Jews so that a persecution was stirred up against Paul and Barnabas and, shaking the dust from their feet, (see Matthew 10:14), they went on to Iconium, “filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.”

The theme of sheep and shepherd is brought out in the responsorial. Of course many would expect the 23rdpsalm for Good Shepherd Sunday (that’s in the A cycle). However, God as the shepherd of His people, which He delegated to the leaders, is a recurring theme even in the Old Testament (e.g., Ezekiel 34). And so psalm 100 proudly announces that we are sheep, the flock He tends. Note that in 2 Samuel 5:2, God anointed David, a shepherd and precursor to Jesus, “to shepherd [His] people Israel.” And in Ezekiel, God says, clearly pointing to Jesus, the “Son of David,” I will appoint one shepherd over them to pasture them, my servant David; he shall pasture them and be their shepherd.” (Ezekiel 34:23)

In the reading from Revelation, we have the dichotomy of the Lamb as the Shepherd. Here the Lamb, who is in the center of the throne, is the Shepherd of the sheep, those “wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.” They have been whitewashed in the redeeming blood of the Lamb, who was slain, but now lives forever. They will no longer suffer, nor will they hunger or thirst. The Lamb will protect them, leading them to life-giving water. Recall Jesus telling the Samaritan woman at the well, that He would provide “living water.” (John 4:14) “... the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The short gospel excerpt from John chapter 10 not only connects Jesus with His followers, but also with the Father. We read “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Then Jesus concludes with, “The Father and I are one.”

This interaction between Jesus and the “Jews” (read Scribes and Pharisees) takes place in the temple during winter. They ask Him if He is the Messiah to which He replies that “The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me.” But they are unbelievers: “But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep.” It is then that Jesus explains His relationship with His sheep, and that they hear His voice. Are we listening to Jesus? Do you hear His voice? Jesus speaks to us through Scripture, through the Church and sometimes even through fellow believers.

Sometimes we have to listen very carefully because while He is blunt and to the point (as in “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” – Matthew 4:17) we tend not to pay attention. Jesus knows that witness means more than words when dealing with people and so He calls attention to His actions, His works. He did the same when the followers of John the Baptist asked the same question (Luke 7:20-22). But still there are many who refuse to believe. Recall Jesus’ words to the Apostle Thomas from the gospel for Divine Mercy Sunday, “Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” (John 20:29)

It appears that the Jews understood His answer although they didn’t like it as the next line after the selected reading notes, “The Jews again picked up rocks to stone him.” (John 10:31) Not hearing the Word is one thing, hearing and denying the Truth is worse as it closes you off from repentance and redemption.

“The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.” (John 5:36)