IV SUNDAY OF EASTER – GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY - YEAR B

April 21st, 2024

Dear brothers and sisters,

The passage from the Acts of the Apostles (4:8-12) presents to us St Peter’s testimony. He
proclaims: Jesus “is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the
head of the corner”; and he added, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other
name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”. Then in the light of
Christ’s Paschal Mystery, the Apostle interprets Psalm 118: “Jesus lived this very experience;
being rejected by the leaders of his people and rehabilitated by God, placed as the
foundational stone of a new temple, of a new people that was to praise the Lord with the
fruits of justice (cf. Mt 21:42-43)” (Benedict XVI)
The Second Reading, from the First Letter of John (3:1-2), speaks to us instead of the fruit of
Christ’s Pasch: our having become children of God. In John’s words you can still hear his great
wonder at this gift; not only are we called children of God but “so we are” .
Following the gospel passage, let us consider 4 fundamental affirmations of Jesus on the good
shepherd:
-The first one, with the radical novelty of the service of the good Shepherd, says: the
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The mystery of the Cross is at the centre of Jesus'
service as a shepherd: it is the great service that he renders to all of us. Christ is the true
Good Shepherd who gave his life for his sheep, for us, sacrificing himself on the Cross.
-Second point: Jesus comes “that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).
This is Jesus’ great promise: to give life in abundance. Jesus, being the incarnate Word of God
himself, is not just the Shepherd, but also the food, the true “pasture”. He gives life by giving
himself, for he is life (Pope Benedict XVI)
-Third point: "I know my own [sheep] and my own [sheep] know me, as the Father knows
me and I know the Father" (Jn 10: 14-15). “The shepherd knows the sheep because they
belong to him, and they know him precisely because they are his. The true shepherd does not
“posses” the sheep as if they were a thing to be used and consumed; rather, they “belong” to
him, in the context of their knowing each other, and this “knowing” is an inner acceptance. It
signifies an inner belonging that goes much deeper than the possession of things: they belong
to each other precisely by accepting one another’s freedom and by supporting one another in
love and knowledge.” (Pope Benedict XVI)
-Lastly, the Lord speaks to us of the service of unity of the Good shepherd: "I have other
sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there
will be one flock, one shepherd" (Jn 10: 16). This topic appears also in the commentary of
John to the prophetic words of Caiaphas: "Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the
nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" (11: 52).