Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B

John 10:11-18

Among the John 10 texts selected in this pericope series for the Fourth Sunday of Easter (the Great Shepherd of the Sheep Sunday), we have this year in Series B the central text. It is the only one of the three (John 10:1-10 in Series A, John 10:11-18 in Series B, and John 10:22-30 in Series C) that focuses clearly on the Johannine Jesus as the Great Shepherd of the Sheep. It is therefore the premier text among these three.

Although it is certainly the Johannine Jesus rather than the Jesus of history who speaks here, in the deepest sense we are confronted by the Jesus of history in this text, since there is much evidence within our tradition that the Jesus of history functioned as a great shepherd of the sheep among his fellow oppressed Jews who because of his courageous advocacy for God and for people — particularly for people who were in need of much help and protection — was tortured and crucified by the Romans. Jesus could have avoided that torture and crucifixion if he had discontinued his work or possibly if he could have explained carefully to Roman authorities that he was in no way encouraging his fellow oppressed Jews to try to use force or violence to improve their condition.

Once Jesus had been delivered over to the Roman crucifixion squad by the group of bodyguards (goons) who were employed by Caiaphas, there was no opportunity for Jesus to explain anything to the Roman authorities. Jesus’ followers also could not rescue him at that point, at least not short of a planned, concerted suicidal massive frontal attack on the Roman garrison, and there is no reason for us to think that the Jesus of history would have desired such an attack and the heavy loss of life that would have occurred in such an attempt to rescue him. He would have continued his work after such a rescue, and a second arrest would have been inevitable.

Actually, what Jesus was doing by proclaiming that soon the Lord God would in some way come and that after that only the Lord God would be ruling over the oppressed Jews in Galilee and in Judea was giving hope for freedom that did pose a threat to the Roman security forces in Jerusalem. What Jesus was doing before he was seized, tortured, and crucified was “liberating” in every way. Whenever the oppressed have hope of being set free, their oppressors are unavoidable threatened. It cannot be otherwise. In that sense, the Jesus of history did put down his life for the sheep, did go to the cross, or, as we say in our time, did “go to the wall” for them, and for us. It seems that the best people in every age “go to the wall” for us!

Of course, in a different sense it is not the Jesus of history during his work prior to his crucifixion who speaks in this John 10:11-18 text. Instead, it is the Sovereign Lord of the Johannine community who voluntarily put down his life for his sheep (the members of the Johannine community) and has the power to take it up again who speaks in this text. Actually, it is leaders in the Johannine community, inspired by God, who speak in this text and throughout the Fourth Gospel. For the Johannine community and its leaders, Jesus as the Risen Christ was the Sovereign Lord with divine power. The Fourth Gospel is an expression of what the members of the Johannine community believed about Jesus raised from the dead as the Sovereign Lord, but, true to the “gospel” genre, this expression is in a “ministry of Jesus” framework. The events of the Gospel According to John chapters 1-19 are presented as pre-Easter events, but actually in terms of what the community and its leaders believed about Jesus as the Sovereign Lord the entire Fourth Gospel is post-Easter. The Fourth Gospel reveals more about what happened to the people who became the Johannine community after the crucifixion of the Jesus of history than it reveals about what happened to the Jesus of history before he was crucified by the Romans. For the members of the Johannine community, Jesus as the Risen Christ was the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, the Light of the World, the True Bread from Heaven, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, etc., even though it is not likely that the Jesus of history ever made such claims for himself. The Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels never talks that way. John 10:16 in this text and John 17:20-23 in the “High Priestly Prayer” are indications of the desire of the members of the Johannine community to draw the “other sheep” from the Synoptic communities into the Johannine fold where there would be one flock with one shepherd.”

1 John 3:16-24

The writer of 1 John made believing in God’s Son Jesus the Christ and loving one another within the Johannine community of faith a commandment of God. It is consistent with much of the thought of the Fourth Gospel to consider faith and love to be commandments. Perhaps as a result of the experiences of the leaders of the Johannine community with the people of the Johannine community, it appeared to them to be necessary to command faith and love rather than merely to exemplify faith and love in their own lives as appropriate responses to our gracious God. Shall we exemplify faith and love or shall we command faith and love where we are as leaders in the Church and in our congregations today?

Acts 4:5-12

In this text the Lukan writer brilliantly portrays the belief that God has raised Jesus from the dead. It is entirely proper for us along with the Lukan writer to emphasize that we are saved from sin and from eternal suffering in the name of Jesus as the Christ. We can emphasize this belief today without making the exclusivist “one way” claim that God acts only in Christ or only in us. There is, of course, only “one way” for us, and that is God’s way!

We should always proclaim that God provides salvation for us in Christ. That is “good news” for all of the people of the world. There is no necessity for us to proclaim that there is salvation only in Christ, for that is “bad news” for most of the people of the world. The exclusivist “one way” claim made here by the Lukan playwright and by the leaders of the Johannine community in John 14:6 comes across to many people, including many Christians, as irrational, arrogant, and imperialistic. It causes many people not to want to be associated with people who make that claim. Therefore, it hampers rather than enhances the effectiveness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a minority claim within the New Testament documents, made in only two verses, John 14:6 and Acts 4:12, which become the favorite Bible verses of some Christians, often of Christians who want to assert their control and their understanding of Christianity over all other Christians and over all other people who live in this world. Let us respond to them in Christian love with the suggestion that, yes, there is indeed only one way, God’s way, and let us seek that way together with them and with all of the other people of the world.

Psalm 23

It is most interesting to compare the psalmist’s perception of “the Lord” as “my shepherd” with the Johannine community’s perception of Jesus raised from the dead as its “Great Shepherd of the Sheep.” The Risen Christ in the New Testament texts for this Fourth Sunday of Easter is essentially what “the Lord” is for the psalmist in Psalm 23.