4th Sunday of Easter
First Reading: Acts of the Apostles 4:8-12
Peter, filled with the holy Spirit, said: "Leaders of the people and elders: If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, namely, by what means he was saved, then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. He is 'the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.' There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved."
Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-2
Beloved, see what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Gospel Reading: John 10:11-18
Jesus said: "I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father."
Reflection: Fr. James Theophilus
Jesus gives the characteristic marks of the hired man and the good shepherd. They are the identity marks in fact they are the differentiating marks of these two. Hired man works for money and has no concern for the sheep. Hired man runs away when he sees problem for the sheep. In short, hired man is selfish and self centred.
Jesus affirms himself to be the good shepherd. The adjective good brings with it all the qualities that one should want to find in a shepherd. He is totally concerned about the sheep. This is not mere external concern but this concern extends to the knowledge of the sheep and its name (John 10:3 - knowing the name is making the sheep a person with due respect and reverence). His concern is visible in his readiness to lay down his life for the sheep. All this concern and knowledge is similar to that of the father.
