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Scripture Readings
First Acts 4:8-12
Second 1 John 3: 1-2
Gospel John 10:11-18
1. Subject Matter
• The fourth Sunday of Easter is often called "Good Shepherd" Sunday. The Gospels on this
day explore Christ's reference to himself as shepherd of his flock. Pastorally speaking, this is
also in many dioceses a day to speak about vocations to the priesthood and religious life. At
first glance, these would seem to be peculiar readings with which to discuss vocations, as
they emphasize the personal character of Christ's pastoring of the Church. However, this
living address the heart of Christ to the heart of the believer is seen powerfully manifested,
first, in the case of the consecrated religious, to whom is entrusted a prophetic and
eschatological witness based in the sacrament of Baptism, and, secondly, the vocation which
makes the personal ministry of Christ through grace personally communicated in the sign of
Holy Orders. This latter sacrament is the instrument through which Christ continues to pastor
his Church, directly and personally, through preaching, governance, and sacrament. Thus
the connection of the good Shepherd with an instruction about vocations is thus not arbitrary.
• Christ is the good Shepherd who does not desert his sheep. This is a royal, priestly, and
even divine title in the Scriptures; and points up the fact that it is Christ himself, and not the
bishops, including the Pope, who directs his church and continues to lead and direct his
people personally.
2. Exegetical Notes
• The reading from the Acts of the Apostles presents us with Peter is presentation of the life
and work of Christ risen from the dead is the cause of the healing of the lame man, which is
done in the name of Jesus. From his place in heaven, the Good Shepherd continues to heal
and herd and increase his flock by the grace which he pours out upon his church, and in a
particular way, upon the apostolic ministry represented in this text by Peter and his
companion John.
• The brief reading from the first letter of John emphasizes the crucial effect of what Christ is
accomplished in his death and resurrection, that is the gift of the Father of the Son who has
become the world's Savior. The spiritual adoption of says his children through Jesus Christ
has, as its present manifestation a life of hope in what is to come, the proof of which is seen
in the Christian' s struggle to put on Christ's virtue and life even in the present age.
• Today's Gospel selection focuses on Jesus’ personal ministry to the church, and revolves
around the metaphor of the Good Shepherd, that is, the shepherd who is willing to give his
life for the sheep. The image of the shepherd is one of great antiquity, and a commonplace
in ancient cultures referring to the office of priests and kings. In the ancient world, it is they
who guide the people safely, and mediate for them before gods, and make sure they are fed
and protected, as shepherd care for sheep. The shepherd is expected to find pasture and
water for the flock, and to protect it from the wolf, the lion and the bear. (Cf. 1 Samuel 17:
34f; Isaiah 31;4,etc.
• In the context of Israel, therefore, which originally by the plan of God is ruled through the
charisms of prophets and judges, and not, as other nations, by kings, the title of Shepherd
becomes a divine title ( Numbers 27:17), as is evidenced by the Psalms (cf. Psalms. 23, 49,
80). After the establishment of the monarchy, David's own personal history as a shepherd
called by God from the flocks to shepherd God's people as King reinforces the connection
between the sacramental quality of Israelite kingship, and the divine title of Shepherd of
Israel (2 Samuel 5:2, 7:7. In the case at hand, Jesus combines with his exposition of his own
role as the Good Shepherd the name of God revealed to Moses as it appears in Exodus 3 –
the Septuagint translating the holy name “I AM” as “Egō eimi” - and relentlessly repeats the
connection throughout the passage (vv. 7 [twice], 9, 11, 14). This instrumentality does not
preclude the setting up of human instruments through which God shall shepherd his people
himself; this is in fact a pattern well evidenced in the prophets (e.g, Ez 34:12-23).
• Jesus contrasts the mercenary service of the bad shepherds - the hirelings who have come
before him, who fleece the sheep to their own benefit but will not risk their lives for them -
with his own service as the Good Shepherd, characterized by his willingness to “lay down his
life” for the flock. This notion is contrasted at the end of the passage, and an explicit
reference to the passion and resurrection, for the Good Shepherd lays down his life precisely
“in order to take it up again” (v.17); a thing that the Son does in complete harmony with the
Father's will and a sacrifice (v. 15). In the extension of grace the whole world which comes
through the Easter event, not only are the scattered sheep of Israel to be gathered together;
but that the Gentiles to must be brought into a single fold, hearing the voice of Christ's in faith
and heeding his direction (v.16).
• Pope Benedict XVI: “If the priest is defined as being a servant of Jesus Christ, this means
that his life is substantially determined in terms of a relationship: being oriented towards his
Lord as a servant constitutes the essence of his office, which it dost extends to his very
being. He is a servant of Christ so as to be, on the basis of Christ, for his sake and along
with him, a servant of men. The fact of being oriented towards Christ is not in contradiction
to his relationship to the congregation (to the church) but is the basis of that relationship and
is what gives it all its depth. … precisely because they the priest belongs to Christ, he
belongs to men in a quite radical sense. Only in this way is he able to be so profoundly and
so unconditionally dedicated to them.”
• Pope Benedict XVI: We could say that a "character" means a belonging that is part of the
person's very existence. To that extent the image of "character" express is in its turn the
same "being related to." And, indeed this is the kind of belonging we can do nothing about:
the initiative for this comes from the proprietor-from Christ. … To that extent, then, the term
"character" describes the nature of the service of Christ that is contained in the priesthood as
having to do with our being; and at the same time it makes clear what is meant by its being
sacramental … Belonging to the Lord who became a servant is belonging for the sake of
those who are his. This means that the sermon can give, in the holy sign, what he is unable
to give from his own resources; he is dispensing the Holy Spirit; he isn't solving people from
sins; he is making present the sacrifice of Christ in himself, in his Sacred Body and Blood-all
these are privileges reserved by God, which no man can get for himself and no congregation
can delegate to him.
7. Other Considerations
• It is precisely through the sacraments of grace of the flock of Christ is fed, especially through
the gift of the Holy Eucharist, which is the sacraments around which the Church assembles
and manifests itself around its Good Shepherd each Sunday, and by which it which it
receives from the hand of Christ through the apostolic ministry the nourishment which is
Christ himself. For this reason, vocations especially to the priesthood are crucial to the life of
the Church - for if there is no priest, there can be no Mass. so that the voice of the good
Shepherd is not still, we must all pray and work for locations to the priesthood, but the voice
of the good Shepherd may be tired by the flock by sacred preaching, and the flock be fed and
guided through Savior' s sacraments.
• Vocations to the bishopric, the priesthood, and the diaconate are crucial; there are never
enough laborers, it seems, given the size of the potential harvest of souls; and should be
prayed for; however, we should not neglect as well the need to pray for those who are
already bishops, priests, and deacons, but the voice of the good Shepherd may be heard in
them, that our clergy be wholly united to his Heart, and that his goodness be seen in their
fidelity to their ministry, and with the charity and gentleness with which they show forth the
presence of the Good Shepherd.
• Religious vocations are important as well, since these persons who have heard Christ calling
them to a more narrow, albeit prophetic, way are powerful witnesses to the reality of the
activity of the risen Lord in their life. One does not enter religious life, forsaking property,
family, and even one's own will to be an "eschatological sign" of the Kingdom; one enters
consecrated life to share life of more intimate union with Jesus Christ.
• Married life is a vocation marked by a sacrament of Christ, as is holy orders. Here, the voice
of the good Shepherd someone's two people in their mutual love for manifests prophetically
the love of the good Shepherd for his flock precisely in their selfless service of one another,
and a commitment to build up the family of God through their building up of a "domestic
church" of Christians who know the Lord from the earliest years and serve him.
Recommended Resources
Benedict XVI, Pope. Benedictus: Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI. Yonkers, Copyright
Ignatius Press/ Magnificat 2006. New York: Magnificat: SAS, 2006.
Brown, Raymond E., S.S., Fitzmeyer, Joseph, S.J., and Murphy, Roland E., O. Carm. The
Jerome Biblical Commentary. Two Vols. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
1968.
Jurgens, William A. The Faith of the Early Fathers. 3 Vols. Collegeville, Minnesota: The
Liturgical Press, 1979.
Moloney, Francis J., S.D.B. The Gospel of John. Sacra Pagina Series, Vol. 4: Daniel J
Harrington, ed. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1998.
Stanforth, Maxwell, Ed. and Trans. Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers. Revised
translation, introduction and new editorial material by Andrew Louth. London: Penguin Books,
1987.
Thomas Aquinas, St. Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels Collected out of the
Works of the Fathers. St. John’s Gospel . Albany, N.Y.: Preserving Christian Publications, Inc.,
2001.
Thomas Aquinas, St. Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels Collected out of the
Works of the Fathers. St. John’s Gospel . Catechetics Online:
http://www.catecheticsonline.com/CatenaAurea-John20.php