Welcome to Good Shepherd Sunday!
Welcome to Good Shepherd Sunday! All fourth Sundays of Easter are Good Shepherd Sunday. This tradition is a significant theme in scripture and in John’s gospel. Kenneth Bailey[1] proposes this tradition begins with 23rd Psalm. The writer uses the ordinary work of a shepherd to describe how God seeks out the lost sheep, brings them home, protects them, and provides all they need to flourish. Bailey describes how this basic tradition is then reinterpreted again and again through threats, exile and beyond. And now by Jesus in today’s reading from John 10.
This is not just Jesus’ reinterpretation. It is also John’s. He sets his version within the story of the man born blind who was healed, was then cast out by the Jewish leaders, and then became a disciple and was included in Jesus own community of followers. Everything Jesus says relates back to those very concrete acts. And we hear echoes of this as Lazarus and Mary hear the shepherd’s voice and respond. Jesus becomes the shepherd who lies across the gate at night and risks his own life to protect the sheep, and is the door who welcomes in all who seek to join this flock as disciples. Jesus says “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”[2] Life, eternal life, life in abundance is the central theme in John. The Acts reading offers a glimpse of how that first very diverse group of followers responded to this abundant life.
We are given abundant life now. And we are invited to become shepherds for others. What does abundant life look like for us and how do we act as shepherds for others? What other groups do we see in our communities offering abundant life to those who are struggling; and are we able to join that work in some way as part of our response?
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