The Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, for regardless of liturgical cycle, our Gospel reveals Jesus as the Good Shepherd. As Tony explains, in our own time and place, the image of the Good Shepherd can be misused to distort our understanding of Who Jesus Is. But a careful examination of our Gospel for this Sunday demonstrates how by using the image of the Good Shepherd to describe Himself, Jesus reveals Himself precisely as the Incarnate Son of God Who defeats the human family’s enemies of sin and death.
Mass Readings:
Reading 1: Acts of the Apostles 4:8-12
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29
Reading 2: 1 John 3:1-2
Gospel: John 10:11-18
Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.
Tony’s academic publications can be found here.
Thank you, Tony! You challenge us to think about how we can imitate Christ the Good Shepherd as Christians that “lay down [our] life for [our] sheep”
Wha t a beautiful explanation of what The Good Shepherd does for us all. Thanks, Tony!