Exploring the Sunday Gospel – Fourth Sunday of Easter

Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!
Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter.

The Sundays of Easter invite us to encounter and to engage with the risen Christ, and to open our eyes to who Jesus is. John’s Gospel offers a series of helpful clues in the ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus. Today’s Gospel reading opens with
Jesus claiming, ‘I am the good shepherd’. The image of the relationship between the shepherd and the sheep to model the relationship between God and the people of God was already well established in the Old Testament as clearly shown by Psalm 23. Throughout chapter 10 of his Gospel John develops this image to express who Jesus is. For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited you to reflect on the image of shepherd. In today’s picture, Teddy Horsley is enjoying a meeting with sheep on a bright Spring morning. The picture is taken from his book, The Sunny Morning, in which Teddy Horsley celebrates the new life of Easter.

Risen Lord,
you are the good shepherd
and you care for your sheep.
Call your sheep from across the world,
that they may all be united in you,
as one flock with one shepherd;
for time and for eternity.
Amen.

Next Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Easter, continues with the exploration of the ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus in John’s Gospel: ‘I am the true vine’. The image to help us prepare for next Sunday’s theme is the vine. You can find out more about that theme by looking at the Educational Resources and the Preparation Resources

Preparation Resources

Education Resources