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[RCL] Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18 The word “shepherd” comes through strongly this morning. We hear the word a total of seven times, and it’s a familiar image – Jesus as a shepherd is frequently depicted in scripture and art. Psalm 23 is the most familiar psalm, with people often turning…
RCL: Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18 Acts 4:5-12 This passage finds Peter and John having been arrested for teaching the Gospel to crowds of people. When they’re brought in front of the powers-that-be, rather than denying what they were doing or keeping silent, Peter doubles down and reaffirms that the healing…
RCL: Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18 Every year, regardless of the lectionary cycle, we are invited to live in a rich, metaphorical world. A world where there are a whole slew of sheep and one, good, sacrificial Shepherd. It can be a funny world to live in, since not many of…
RCL: Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18 Acts 4:5-12 This is a dangerous moment for Peter and John, having just been arrested after the healing of the crippled man at the Temple and their teaching about Jesus’ resurrection. Peter’s courage in the face of interrogation before the gathered court is striking; he…
Acts 4:5-12 “The stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone” (verse 11). As is often the case, the context of this passage is set in the portion of the text that is not included in the reading. Here, the situation is that Peter and John were preaching and rejoicing…
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Today’s gospel text uses an image that may be lost on many of us, an image that we may know from childhood stories — but not firsthand experience. Jesus, living in the first century, talking to people who know livestock and agriculture in their hearts and bones, tells his disciples, his…
Acts 4:5-12 “The stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone” (verse 11). As is often the case, the context of this passage is set in the portion of the text that is not included in the reading. Here, the situation is that Peter and John were preaching and rejoicing…
The Fourth Sunday of Easter is always Good Shepherd Sunday, and there are always sheep everywhere you look. This year they’re especially thick – we hear two of the most familiar and cherished portions of scripture – the 23rd Psalm and the section from John’s gospel where Jesus says “I am the good shepherd.” Over…
The lessons for this Fourth Sunday of Easter are surprisingly synergistic. The Good Shepherd passage, which is divided up over the three-year lectionary cycle, is just one of several “I am” passages in the fourth gospel. We are so familiar with these passages that it is easy to overlook what would have been perfectly obvious…
As is often the case, what is not included in our lessons may be of utmost importance in our hearing what is going on in these lessons. For instance, in Acts a lame man has been healed, and Peter and John have been hauled before some sort of ecclesiastical court to explain why the lame…
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