Lectionary Notes

Some Notes for the Fourth Sunday of Easter
15 May 2011

GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY

In the older lectionary, the Gospel of Jesus the Good Shepherd (John 10.11-16) and the passage from 1 Peter 2 ending with the words you ‘are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls’ were read on the Third Sunday of Easter (which was called the Second Sunday after Easter). In the new lectionary it is the Fourth Sunday of Easter on which we consider the theme of the Good Shepherd. This is clear not only from the readings and the Sentence that is used as the alleluia verse, but also from the Collect for the Day
In the Prayer Book, the Collect now appointed for Easter IV in the BAS was used (with appropriate variations) as one of the blessings at the Office for the Burial of the Dead in the American Prayer book of 1928 and the Canadian book of 1962 (see page 601). It is founded on the words of Hebrews 13.20-21. This is the only occasion I have found of its use as a Collect for the Day.
The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, and of the Shepherd who goes to seek the one sheep that was lost is well-loved by Christians. It is also an image deeply rooted in the hope for the Messiah, the Lord’s anointed, which itself comes from David the Shepherd and King of Israel.

The Readings
Acts 2.42–47

This passage, which follows the account of St Peter’s address on the day of Pentecost and of the crowd’s response gives us a picture of the community life of the very first Christians. It is the first of three ‘Major Summaries’ in Acts; the others are 4.32-35 and 5.11-16. There are also several minor summaries (1.14; 6.7; 9.31; 12.24; 16.5; 19.20; 28.30-31). NJBC notes that Luke’s summaries are important devices in the structure of Acts, for they sustain the point the author intends to make by telling the story. “They idealize the period of the apostles’ ministry in Jerusalem and sustain the reader’s impression of a steady growth of the Christian movement punctually plotted by the will of God”. By idealizing the earliest community Luke “surrounds that period with the glitter of a ‘golden age’.
42. In the BAS the first question asked of the candidate for Holy Baptism after the confession of faith is “Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?” These four points as the marks of membership in the community of Christians are first found in this verse. For reasons of space we will comment only on the word fellowship, since it is in danger of being used in a vague sort of way so that it means little more than coffee-hour.
Most people don’t know what the word fellow really means; through careless usage it has come to be a synonym of ‘man’, like ‘chap’ or ‘guy’. It comes from the Old English, feolaga meaning "fellow, partner," which in turn is from an Old Norse felagi, from fe which means "money" (our word fee is related to this) and verb root meaning "lay" ( as in ‘lay down your money’). So what it means is "one who puts down money with another in a joint venture". This is why the members of the corporation who constitute a college are called “fellows. It translates the Greek koinonia, which is from koinōnos, ‘a sharer’. As you can see, this is a much more serious thing than is implied by the usual “time of fellowship”.
44. The real meaning of ‘fellowship” comes throuigh clearly in the words And all who believed were together and had all things in common. Again in 4.32 we read that All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything that they had. During Jesus’ ministry he and his disciples had a common purse that was kept by Judas (Jn 12.6, 13.29); just so everything is held in common by the larger group of disciples. The narratives in the first chapters of Acts give a more detailed and nuanced picture of the community of property in the primitive church. In 4.36-37 we read that Barnabas was singled out as one who had sold a plot of land and had given the money for it to the apostles. Would It not have been necessary to report this if ‘all of them’ had done so? Again, in the story of Ananias and Sapphira (5,1-11), we read that they had been free not to sell their land. See Phil 2.1-4. Space does not permit any further discussion of this Apostolic Communism, but one might well reflect how else a real fellowship is possible.

Psalm 23

This psalm, which was recently used on the Fourth Sunday in Lent, is a profession of joyful trust in the Lord as Shepherd (vv. 1-4) and Host (vv. 5-6); both of which were commn figures for kingship in the ancient Near East. The King was seen as a shepherd because he both led and provided for his people; so much the more is the Lord God the Shepherd of his people.
2. He makes me lie down: the Hebrew verb was used of four-legged animals which “lie on their breasts with their legs gathered under them”. Still waters: see Rev 7.17: “the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life”.
5-6: God as gracious host: One of the ways an ancient King displayed authority and care for his subjects was through hospitality; this image is closely tied to that of the king as the provident shepherd of his people.
6. house of the Lord most obviously means the Temple, but it can mean the Land of Israel. for ever: literally for length of days.

Epistle: 1 Peter 2.19–25

This passage follows an exhortation to slaves to be submissive, not only to a kind and gentle master, but also to the overbearing. It is in this context that we must understand the referece to enduring unjust suffering.
In verse 19, it is a credit to you is literally “this is grace” and might be better rendered by “this is thankworthy”. In the present passage St. Peter speaks of good conduct without the slightest embarrassment as thankworthy, a glory, a favour in the eyes of God. Those who are willing to suffer innocently do what God desires and ‘find favour’. The commentator Charles Bigg suggests that in verses 19-20 the words “this is thankworthy”, “what glory is it”, and “this is thankworthy” echo our Lord’s words in Luke 6.32-34, “"For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.”
20: for doing wrong: This may refer to any type of wrongdoing or to sin properly so called; indeed the context of slaves and masters would suggest wrongdoing, but see C. Biggs: “In favour of the first view it may be argued that the master would strike the slave, not for sin against God, but for neglect of duty towards himself. On the other hand, the glory comes from God, in whose eyes the neglect of earthly duty is sin. Further, hamartatontes (for ‘wrong doing’, or ‘for sin’) is balanced against agathopoiountes ('doing well') in the following clause. Hence it should retain its usual sense here.”
22 is a quotation from Isaiah 53:9b in which the word sin is used instead of the original ‘lawlessness’
23: see Mark 15:29-32; 14:65; Luke 23:11, 36-37; John 19:1-5.
24. He .. bore our sins on the cross: literally, on the tree. See Deuteronomy 21.23, a verse which is also quoted by St Paul in Galatians 3.13 and alluded to in Acts 5.30, 10.39, and 13.29. The verb translated as ‘bore’ is commonly used in the OT of bringing a sacrifice to lay on the altar: here St Peter puts the Cross in the place of the altar.
25 Shepherd and guardian: the word translated guardian is episcopos, which we would otherwise translate as bishop. One wonders why the more literal ‘overseer’ is not used.

The Holy Gospel: John 10.1–10

The Lord’s discourse on the Good Shepherd in the tenth chapter of John’s Gospel may be divided into these sections:
10.1-10, read in Year A: Jesus the Door of the Sheep.
10.11-18, read in Year B: Jesus the Good Shepherd
10:19-21, not read in the Sunday lections: a division among the people about Jesus’ words
10.22-31, read in Year C: the Father has given the Sheep into Jesus’ hand
This discourse follows immediately after the healing of the man born blind in Chapter 9 with its concluding contrast between the healed man’s faith and the blind unbelief of the Pharisees. The RCL commentary notes that “The division between Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 is unfortunate. (Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 1208, is credited with dividing the Bible into chapters.)” Jesus’ last comment in Chapter 9 is “If you were blind, you would have no guilt: but now that you say, ‘We see,’ you guilt remains.” William Temple writes:
We must picture the Pharisees who have received that crushing blow as reduced to silence, till strange language about the laying down of life in obedience to divine commands stimulates them to further protest (10.18, 19). A man has been driven from one fold and received into another. After a solemn and awestruck silence the Lord speaks again.
1. Truly, truly I say to you: The original is ‘Amen, amen …’ This is a most remarkable word. It was transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament, then into Latin and into English and many other languages, so that it is practically a universal word. It has been called the best known word in human speech. The word is directly related -- in fact, almost identical -- to the Hebrew word for "believe" (amam), or faithful. Thus, it came to mean "sure" or "truly", an expression of absolute trust and confidence. When we answer Amen to a prayer we make the substance of what was said our own. The sheepfold: a mental picture of the sheepfold helps us to understand the verses which follow. It is a walled enclosure in front of the house and open to the sky, with a solid door, which was closely barred at night by the door-keeper, and opened by him in the morning, when the shepherds came to claim their sheep, which they had left in the fold the previous evening, in order to lead them out to pasture. Other than the door, the only way to enter would be by climbing the wall, no one will enter that way except one who has no business there, and is therefore presumably come to steal (Temple).
3. The shepherd calls his own sheep: There may be sheep from several flocks gathered for the night: each shepherd will call his own by name
5. … they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers: It is told of a Scottish traveller that, meeting under the walls of Jerusalem a shepherd bringing home his flock, he changed clothes with him, and, thus disguised, began to call the sheep. They remained motionless. Then the true shepherd raised his voice, and they all hastened towards him, in spite of his strange garments. Mackie’s Bible Manners and Customs, chap, iii notes: The shepherd depends upon the sheep to follow, and they in turn expect him never to leave them. They run after him if he appears to be escaping from them, and are terrified when he is out of sight, or any stranger appears instead of him. He calls them from time to time to let them know that he is at hand. The sheep listen and continue grazing, but if anyone else tries to produce the same peculiar cries and guttural sounds, they look around with a startled air and begin to scatter.
6-7: The hearers do not understand the figure or allegory Jesus I using, so goes on to explain it as giving a double interpretation of His mission. He is both the Door (7-10) and the Shepherd (11-16). I am the door of the sheepfold: the door through which both sheep and shepherd go in and out. The sheep must come into the fold—the Church—through the Door. They must not come in for convention or respectability or for any other reasons than trust in Christ [Temple].
8. All who came before may be understood as referring to the priests and Pharisees or to those who claimed falsely to be the Messiah. Temple supports this second interpretation by noting that came is a technical term, “as is the phrase, he that cometh—the coming one’ (Mat 11.3, Lk 7.19).”
9. go in and out: this may simply refer to living (see Deut. 28; Psalm 121.8; Jer. 37.4, but Temple notes: “Their pasture is outside, in the world.”
To come in through the door means at least three things: 1) to come to the task, and every part of it, in prayer; 2) to refer all activities to the standard of the Mind of Christ; 3) to accept what actually happens as nearer to the Will of God than our own success would have been. It means putting Christ in the forefront of thought and self, in all its forms, right out of the picture.
10. The thief comes only to steal … I came that they may have life: Jesus here institutes a comparison between the false shepherd (the thief), whose object is selfish, cruel, and destructive (cf. Jer. 23. 1,2:; Ezekiel 34.1-6; Zechariah. 11.4,5), and himself, who had come into the world to give plenitude of life to his people (cf. 6. 51 and Psalm 23).

From the CALENDAR

15 b The Fifth Sunday of Easter
Toronto Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: York Central Deanery
ACP: North Carolina - (Province IV, USA) The Rt Revd Michael Bruce Curry; Suffragan Bishop of North Carolina - (Province IV, USA) The Rt Revd James Gary Gloster; South Carolina - (Province IV, USA) The Rt Revd Mark Lawrence

16 c Feria of Easter
On this day in 1277 died Pope John XXI at Viterbo, from injuries sustained when the ceiling of his hastily built study collapsed on him. It is a curious fact that he was styled John XXI, since there had been no John XX.
DCP: Citizens for Public Justice
ACP North Central Philippines - (Philippines) The Rt Revd Joel A Pachao

17 d Feria of Easter
On this day in 1163 died Heloise, the lover of Peter Abelard, at the Paraclete Abbey, France.
DCP All Saints, Markham
ACP North Dakota - (Province VI, USA) The Rt Revd Michael Gene Smith; South Dakota - (Province VI, USA) The Rt Revd Creighton L Robertson

18 e Feria of Easter
On this day in 1703 died Charles Perrault, author of Histoires ou Contes du Temps passé, ou, Les Contes de ma Mère l'Oie (1697), in which many of the best-known fairy tales are found. Also on this day in 1843 occurred the Disruption of the Scottish Church with the founding of the Free Church of Scotland (see http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/may/18.htm
DCP Christ Church, Stouffville
ACP North Eastern Caribbean & Aruba - (West Indies) The Rt Revd Leroy Errol Brooks

19 f Commemoration of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunstan and http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/may/19.htm. Also on this day in 1536 was beheaded Anne Boleyn, queen of England.
DCP Christ Church, Woodbridge
ACP North Kerala - (South India) The Rt Revd Dr K P Kuruvila

20 g Feria of Easter
On this day in 1506 Christopher Columbus died at Valladolid.
DCP Emmanuel, Richvale
ACP North Queensland - (Queensland, Australia) The Rt Revd William J Ray; 1. Suffragan Bishop of North Queensland - (Queensland, Australia) The Rt Revd Saibo Mabo; 2. Suffragan Bishop of North Queensland - (Queensland, Australia) The Rt Revd James Randolph Leftwich

21 A Feria of Easter
On this day in 1743 was born Bryan Edwards, historian of the West Indies, at Westbury. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Edwards
DCP . Grace Church, Markham
ACP North West Australia - (Western Australia, Australia) The Rt Revd David Mulready

22 b The Sixth Sunday of Easter
DCP Anglican Appeal
ACP Suffragan Bishop of Northern Argentina - (South America) Vacant

Lectionary Notes

Some Notes for the Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C

Time rather caught up with me this week, and I have not had time to prepare the notes I would like and a sermon. For that reason, I have added the text of the sermon as the comment on the Gospel.

Good Shepherd Sunday

In the older lectionary, a passage from John 10 was read as the Gospel on the Second Sunday after Easter (that is, last week) which was for that reason known as ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’. From the Sentence, the Collect, the Gospel readings as well as the use of Psalm 23 in all three years it is aparent that that title has been shifted ahead to the Third Sunday after, or Fourth Sunday of Easter.

Acts 9.36-43
Dorcas is raised from the dead by St Peter

After the account of Paul’s conversion, Acts tells a little more about his time in Damascus and Jerusalem and then turns its attention back to Peter. For though Paul will bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, it is through Peter that this great mission is inaugurated. Two miracles are recounted before the ‘epoch-making conversion of Cornelius’ (NJBC). Today’s reading is the second of these, the story of Tabitha of Joppa, whose name in Greek is Dorcas.
In reading this passage it is instructive to compare it to Luke’s account of Jesus’ raising of the widow of Nain’s son (7.11-17) and of Jairus daughter (Lk 8.49-56). There are also models in the Old Testament (1 Kgs 17.17-24; 2 Kgs 4,32-37).
After Saul’s conversion the Church in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee was at peace and growing. In 9.32 we read that Peter has been making a tour of the communities of those who followed the way. At Lydda, about 25 miles north-west of Jersualem, he healed a man named Aeneas who had been parayzed eight years. At this many were converted to the Lord.
36. Joppa, now Jaffa, is an ancient port city about 12 miles from Lydda. For further information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa#cite_note-haaretz-0.

Tabitha, Dorcas in Greek, means gazelle. Her name is familiar to us from the many groups of Church women devoted to good wirks, in particular various kinds of needle-work (see v. 39) . The NJBC points out that the fact that her name is translated for Greek readers, along with borrowings from the ancient Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible (1 Kgs 17.17-24; 2 Kgs 4.32-37) ‘show this to be a Jewish-Christian story transmitted by hellenized Christians’.
38. desiring him that he would not delay to come to them: note that they do not say what they want Peter to do.
39. All the widows; here the widows seem to act as official mourners. There was later a recogized group or order of widows in the Church, organizing charitable works: see 1 Timothy 5:3-16. Showing tunics and other garments which Dorcas made is the reason her name is used for Church groups today.
40. Peter put them all outside. See Mk 5.40, Lk 18.51. Tabitha, rise NJBC compares Mk 5.41, Talitha, cum. She sat up: compare the story of the Widow of Nain’s son (Lk 7.15).
43. And he stayed in Joppa: The stage is set for the story of Cornelius (Chapter 10); we have a summary of this story in the first reading next Sunday (Acts 11.1-18).

Psalm 23

This is possibly the best-known and best-loved of all the psalms. The idea of the king as the shepherd who guards, leads, and provides for the people is found throughout the ancient world. Tradition attributes this psalm to David, who was a shepherd in his youth. In this psalm, then, the shepherd-king sees that the Lord God is his shepherd.
It can be divided into two parts: vv 1-4 sing of the Lord as the Good Shepherd and 5-6 as the Divine Host. Nonetheless, it is a unity, for these images are closely related. The image of the Lord as host comes from the banquets given by ancient kings, continuing the image of the shepherd-king providing for his followers.
2. He leads me beside still waters can also be rendered as waters of rest. Compare Rev 7.17 in the second reading today, where these words about the Good Shepherd are applied to the Lamb (Christ).
3. Soul here means life or vitality.
4. The valley of the shadow of death is an ancient rendering, but valley of deep darkness is more accurate. The same Hebrew word occurs in Psalm 44.19; 107.10; Job 3.5; Isa 9.2 and other places. The Judaica Press version gives the valley of darkness. Your rod and your staff: the mediaeval rabbinic commentary of Rashi understands this as ‘The pains that came upon me, and the support’: the rod is for correction and the staff support.
5. Is a little difficult. None of the commentaries I have at the moment explain the table set in the presence of those who trouble me, or more simply, of my enemies. Chris Haslam has: ‘The feast (v. 5) is even more impressive, for it is in the presence of his foes.’ C. S. Lewis was obviously troubled by this verse. ‘Worst of all … after the green pasture, the waters of comfort, the sure confidence in the valley of the shadow, we suddenly run across [this verse], or, as Dr Moffatt translates it, ‘Thou art my host, spreading a feast for me while my enemies have to look on’; Lewis comments, ‘The poet’s enjoyment of his present prosperity would not be complete unless those horrid enemies (who used to look down their noses at him) were watching it all and hating it. This may not be so diabolical as [some other passages]; but the pettiness and vulgarity of it, especially in such surroundings, are hard to endure. [Reflections on the Psalms, p 24]
6. Dwell can also mean ‘return’, which supports the suggestion in NJBC that this royal psalm was ‘reinterpreted after the exile’ . Likewise, while the house of the Lord generally refers to the Temple (compare 27.4), it can also mean the land of Israel in general.

A Reading from Revelation 7.9-17

I have no comments to offer on this passage except to note again the link between verse 17 and todays psalm and generally to note that the vision of the Lamb as Shepherd is a mystical filfilment of the Lord's words in the Gospel promising eternal life to the sheep of his fold.

The Holy Gospel according to St John 10.22-30

The only thing I would add now to the remarks which follow is the suggestion that one really ought to read all of John 10 and not simply the passage appointed for Sunday.

It was at Jerusalem, at the feast of the dedication, and it was winter; and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. John 10.22
So begins today’s Gospel as appointed in the Book of Common Prayer to be read at the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. Ever since I first read them, I have been enchanted by that little comment, it was winter. Perhaps, as the commentators say, it is there so that a reader unfamiliar with the Jewish calendar would know that the Dedication festival was in December (we know it now by its Hebrew name, Hanukkah), or more simply to explain why Jesus was walking under cover of a portico. The temple had colonnades or cloisters (porch is perhaps a bit misleading) marking the boundaries of the sacred precinct; the one on the east side was the oldest, and said to have been built by Solomon. But I love it because it sounds so much how people tell things that they remember. The whole opening of this passage is a vivid recalling; Jesus was as far as we know, not teaching, or engaged in controversy, but just walking. And as he walked the Jewish leaders gathered around—no, we catch the original better with surrounded or even encircled him—I see them coming up suddenly to stop him as he walked to say: Enough already! Will you tell us plainly what you are about?
The tenth chapter of John records Jesus’ sayings on the theme of the Shepherd and the Sheep, and although our passage today begins a new section, and we don’t know how much time or how little time has passed. Two parables about the Good Shepherd make up the first 18 verses, after which there is a note about a division among the Jews over Jesus’ words. Some thought he was possessed, others that he was mad; a third opinion was a that one who could do what Jesus did—specifically opening the eyes of the blind man—could not have a demon. In the new section we find that some reached another conclusion: these folk who surround Jesus in the temple cloister understood that all this talk about being the Good Shepherd was not just fine talk but a real claim, a claim to kingship, a claim indeed to be God’s representative or Messiah, his anointed one. All through the Old Testament, just as all through the ancient world, kings as the shepherds of their people, guiding them, protecting them, and providing for their welfare. In the 23 Psalm, David, the king who had been a shepherd, saw that the Lord God was the true shepherd, the host who brings his people to the feast. And does not the eightieth psalm say of God himself, Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock? This is why our Gospel today opens with the their demand, How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly. For Jesus to say I am the Good Shepherd, is as much as to say, I am the Messiah, if not to claim that unity with God which ends our reading.
By the way, the words translated as, keep us in suspense, literally mean ‘take away our life’. Now this expression can mean, make us doubt, or keep us in suspense, but it is not a common expression. However, Jesus used the same expression earlier in the chapter, when he said that he lays down his life for the sheep and added, I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me. It is possible that the people who circled around Jesus that winter day had that saying in mind and were casting them back at him. Be that as it may, we now see that their demand makes sense.
But Jesus does not give a direct answer. How could he? That He was the Christ, he had declared to the Woman of Samaria (4.26), and in very slightly veiled terms to the man born blind (9.37). But if He had said it to the folk who circled him that day, either they would have thought he offered himself as the national and political leader against the Romans, or else they will start asking Him what prophesies He would fulfil. To say either Yes or No would be equally misleading. he cannot deny that he is the Christ, but he is not the kind of Christ the people were expecting or seeking. only his chosen disciples had any hope of understanding the new type of Messiahship which he has adopted—the Son of Man must suffer—and even they could clearly not understand what he meant, though they did not scoff at him or turn away.
Yet he had given the answer to the question many times in terms which they cold have grasped, if they had only been schooled by their own teachers and their own scriptures. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me (5.46). Even more, His works—those signs in which power is subordinate to love—are evidence Indeed, some of them had seen this, those who said can a demon open the eyes of the blind? But the ones who challenged him now cannot hear the evidence, however clear is. He had said of sheep, A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they know not his voice [10.4-5], and these challengers show that to them he is a stranger. They are not of his sheep and cannot hear his word (8.43).
Once again he declares that he is the true Shepherd, who keeps his sheep safe, safe for eternity. No one shall snatch them out of my hand. He had used this word ‘snatch’ [ἁρπάσει] before, of the wolf who attacks the flock [10.12]. [The Greek verb also gives us the words ‘harp’, which is played by plucking the strings, and ‘harpy’. The myth tells us the harpies were sent each day to snatch away food set before Phineas king of Thrace ] Nothing can snatch Christ’s sheep from his hand
Here is the message of hope, the Good News, we declare today. If we are truly committed to Christ, no assault can tear us from Him. St Paul wrote, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,? For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, not principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rom 8.35, 38, 39). There’s one thing that can, but we’ll finish commenting on the passage before we come back to it.
These words are implicitly a claim to divine status: now he makes it explicit. The reason why He can confidently say that none can snatch his sheep from His hands is that this is certainly true of the Father—no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand; and what is true of Him is true of the Son; for I and the Father are one [30]. He did not give a plain answer to a plain question, but this is a plain statement. It took centuries for Christians to work out all that this means in light of their faith and experience. Nonetheless it is a stupendous affirmation of union with the Deity, a union that is the only ground for our trust in the Lord Jesus. His hearers tried to arrest him or blasphemy, but he escaped. This claim was blasphemy if it was not true. So much was seen at the time.. But there is another consideration. The claim is ridiculous if it is not true, it is the word of a madman. The fact that no one ever felt an inclination to laugh at it is very strong evidence of its truth, a truth is proved both in the Resurrection and in the lives of Christian men and women.
But I said that there was one thing that can snatch us from Christ’s hand. What can snatch me from him? I can. Our Shepherd does not force us to follow him, and we are perfectly free to turn away from him. And many do, or at least wander off on our own perhaps blithely thinking that it doesn’t matter whether we follow him, whether we listen to him or not. If we are truly committed to Christ, no assault can tear us from Him. But if we are not, or if we ignore him, and stay away from his church, then we open ourselves to assault, we leave a postern gate open for spies and invaders. With such a wonderful promise as we hear in today’s Gospel, how can we be so careless?

Some Notes on the Fourth Sunday of Easter (Mostly for Saint Matthias')

The Theme of this Sunday is “Christ the Good Shepherd”, as may be seen from the Sentence of the Day (used at Massa as the Alleluia verse before the Gospel), the Psalm, the Epistle, and above all the Gospel. The Gospels for this Sunday in all three years are from John 10 and contain Good SHpeherd sayings. In the Prayer Book lectionary, the Good Shepherd Gospel was read on the Second Sunday after Easter (i.e. the Third Sunday of Easter), as was John 10:11-16 in the old Roman Missal
First Reading: The Acts of the Apostles 2:42-47. This passage concludes the account of the first Christian preaching on the Day of Pentecost. The apostles and the Jerusalem crowd have witnessed the coming of the Holy Spirit, and Peter, on behalf of the apostles, has interpreted the event. Many have turned to Christ and were baptised. The chapter concludes with a summary. The first part of Acts is made up of such summaries and example stories. Our reading is the first summary; it gives us a glimpse of the very early church, of the response of the newly baptised.
What is most noticed — or at least most usually commented on — in this passage are the verses, “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds [Gk them] to all, as any had need.” St John Chrysostom once declared that the reason there were no more miracles is that Christians had abandoned this standard and embraced private property. But it is not clear how long,or how strictly this was a rule, and not merely an ideal. In Acts 5, when St Peter condemned Ananias and his wife Sapphira for witholding some of the price they received for selling their land, he said, “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal?” It was in the lie that they sinned. However, while the New Testament does not demand that we live in a commune, it does challenge us to think seriously of why God has given us what we have, and whether we might do more to address the inequalities among members of Christ’s Body.
Psalm 23, a song of trust, expressing confidence in God’s protection, is easily the most beloved of the Psalms. In the biblical text the psalms usually have titles or superscriptions which are omitted in the liturgical psalter. This is one titled “a psalm of David”; nearly half the psalms are ascribed to “the sweet pslamist of Israel” (2 Sam 23.1), though perhaps not all were originally his. The confidence of this psalm does, however, conveythe spirit of David, whom God chose “and took him away fron the sheepfolds; he brought him from following the ewes, to be a shepherd over Jacob his people and over Israel his inheritance” (Ps 78.70-71). From the Gospel passage about the Good Shepherd, Christians have naturally understood this psalm as referring to Christ. So when the Revelation to John says “the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water,” it echoes verse 2 of this psalm. St Augustine put the matter simply when he wrote of this psalm, “The Church speaks to Christ: ‘The Lord feeds me, and I shall lack nothing.’”
Epistle: First Letter of Peter, 2.19-25. The 1 Peter here addresses the situation of a person unjustly afflicted with pain and suffering in order to show us the right thing to do. Some commentators say that this passage uses the shepherd-theme, but it seems to me that the appeal to look to Jesus's patient suffering is reallya use of the theme of Jesus the Lamb of God. (But we may ask ourselves whether these themes are really so far apart.)

True as it is that the first thing we should do in our own times of suffering is to remember Jesus' passion, there are difficulties here, which arise particularly when individuals afflict suffering on one another. We are by no means invited to accept passively any and all suffering. However, the verses preceding this passage show that the readers are addressed as a group within society looked on with suspicion, hatred, and even fear by their neighbours; they are advised to “maintain good conduct” so that even if they are maligned, their good works will be known. The immediate situation the writer has in mind is of the slaves of a cruel master. The pasage ends with the reminder that having been saved by Christ for righteousness, we must respond even to unjust suffering with his patience and righteousness, and reminds us that he is our Shepherd and Guardian.

[Like a sheep I must bleat from time to time. This passage contains a verse which I believe to be badly translated. The New Revised Standard Version, which we read at mass, gives verse 24 as: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” “The cross” here renders τὸ ξύλον, which means “tree, wood, timber” (compare xylophone]. This expression, which in the early Church connected the sacrifice of Jesus to Deuteronomy 21:22-23, is also used in Acts 5.30, 10:39, 13:29, and Galatians 3:13 [NRSV uses “tree” in all these passages]. In this verse the translators have explained a metaphor, as they so often do, rather than allowing us to make the connection. True, the NRSV does offer in a note the alternative, “carried up our sins in his body to the tree.” But my experience is that many people have an inexplicable tendency to skip over footnotes.]
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St John, 10.1-10. In Chapter 9, Jesus has angered some pharisees by healing a blind man on the Sabbath, and added to the offence by saying, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind” (9:39). When they asked, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” (9:40) he replied. “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” (9:41) Thinking themselves worthy makes them unworthy in God’s eyes.
Now Jesus uses image of the sheep-fold to make his point. Both he and his audience were had been brought up on the image of God as Shepherd of his people (cf. Ps 80.1). In Palestine, sheep roamed freely during the day but were confined to a common enclosure at night, to protect them from predators. The owners of the sheep employed a gatekeeper to see that no unauthorized person got at the sheep. Each morning, each shepherd called his own sheep, who followed him to pasture, and then brought them back at night . Throughout chapter 10 Jesus uses a number of different metaphores or titles based on this image. In today’s passage Jesus describes the true shepherd: the one who comes in by the gate, and is admitted by the gatekeeper. The sheep know him and will follow him, unlike the stranger “who climbs in by another way” (10.1-6). That the sheep “know his voice” suggests an ability of God’s people to recognize the voice of the Lord. How may we learn to recognize him for sure?
At verse 7 he describes himself not as the shepherd, or even the gatekeeper, but as the “door of the sheep” (cf. John 14.6: “I am the way, and the truth and the life”).Through the door the sheep find pasture and safety (they “go in and out and find pasture”). Jesus has come that we may have life abundantly. The “strangers” are thieves and brigands. By speaking of those who came before him, he may mean those who had claimed to be the Messiah; the response of the audience at v. 31, however, might more readily suggest that they took his words as condemning the whole religious establishment.
At verse 11 [note that 10.11-18 is the passage to be read next year] he shifts the metaphor and says “I am the Good Shepherd”. Here the contrast is not with thieves and robbers, but with the hireling, who cares nothing for the sheep. The good shepherd lays down his life for them. In Year C, 10.22-30 is read, shifting the metaphor back to the claim that Jesus’ sheep are those who hear his voice and know him.
The changing of the title sand metaphors in this passage is ijnteresting. As we hear the gospel we should bear in mind the complexity of the images of Jesus as at once Good Shepherd and Lamb of God, Priest and Victim, Suffering Servant and Victorious Saviour.
To end, here is a flippant little tale from some centuries back that was told as a warning against teaching the Scriptures too literally. I have modernized the story somewhat.

from A Hundred Merry Tales, ca. 1525
A certain confessor in the holy time of Lent, enjoined his penitent to say daily for his penance this prayer: Agnus Dei miserere mei, which explained was as much as to say in English “The Lamb of God have mercy upon me”. This penitent accepted his penance and departed.
At the same time twelve months later he came again to be confessed by the same priest, who demanded of him whether he had kept up the penance he had enjoined him the year before. The pentient said, “Yes, Sir, I thank God I have fulfilled it. For every morning I have said, “The Sheep of God have mercy upon me.”
The confessor said to him, “No! I told you to say, Agnus Dei miserere mei, that is, the Lamb of God have mercy upon me.”
“Yes, Sir,” said the penitent, “what you say is true. But that was last year. Now it is a twelvemonth later, and it is a sheep by this time. So now I have to say, the Sheep of God have mercy upon me.”
By this tale you may perceive, that if holy scripture be expounded to the lay people only in the literal sense, peradventure it shall do little good.