Fr. Andrew Ricci
4th Sunday of Easter B
Our Response to the Good Shepherd
The Lord is our Good Shepherd, but how do we respond to Jesus in our lives today? The Gospel of John offers three insights which can help us carry out the call of Christ.
Fr. Austin Fleming
4th Sunday of Easter B
Homiletic Pastoral Review
4th Sunday of Easter B
Basilica of the National Shrine
4th Sunday of Easter B
Dominican Blackfriars
4th Sunday of Easter B
Bishop Robert Barron
4th Sunday of Easter B
4th Sunday of Easter B
Caring for Others
It appears to me that in today’s gospel account Jesus isn’t talking about sheep. He isn’t suggesting that we are a bunch of totally dependent dumb sheep who don’t know where they are going or how to get there. He isn’t demeaning us or disrespecting us evening though in some aspects we do need God’s tender loving mercy and care. I know I do!
No, I think rather He is calling us to care for those who in the great scheme of things are placed in our charge. He is calling us to have attitudes like those found in Him, the Good Shepherd of our souls.
Anyone who is in charge of others is called by God to care for those placed in their charge. Who are they? They are parents and grandparents; they are teachers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, priests, ministers, and mentors. Are you responsible in any way for the well-being of others? If you are, Jesus is calling you to shepherd them as He shepherds us.
Fr. Joe Jagodensky, SDS
4th Sunday of Easter B
Jesus, “The Good Shepherd”
We all know about being a shepherd and tending sheep, so I should just stop right here. Of all the titles given to Jesus, I think we’d all agree that that of “shepherd” is the most enduring and tender of the list. “Son of God” has an authoritative ring to it and “Messiah” has a triumphant sound to it. But “shepherd?” That one has a gentleness to it. The picture of Jesus carrying one around his neck touches the hearts of everyone. Even atheists might whisper to themselves, “There something to this man.”
4th Sunday of Easter B
Fr. George Smiga
4th Sunday of Easter B
Being God’s Children
The good news found in the gospel we have just heard is this: this giving of life that leads to a connection out of which worth and sacrifice flow, is not limited simply to us. It also applies to God. God is the one who gave us life and so God is bound to us by bonds that cannot be broken. Just as the Good Shepherd cares for the sheep and is willing to lay down his life for the sheep; God cares for us and is willing to do all that is necessary to help us. Because of this, we should never doubt our value in God’s eyes. Because of this we should never think that God has forgotten us, no matter how difficult our life becomes. God has given life to us and like a mother, can never stop caring for us, can never fail to save us.
4th Sunday of Easter (Year B) Homilies
A Glimpse of God’s Love
One Flock, One Shepherd
The Difference Between Cows and Sheep
A Call to Serve
Selling Onions
Loving from the Inside
Fr. Anthony Ekpunobi, C.M.
4th Sunday of Easter B
Msgr. Joseph Pellegrino
4th Sunday of Easter B
The Voice of the Caring Shepherd
To be a disciple of Jesus demands that we respond to every person the same way the Good Shepherd responds to all. Every person possesses the sacred dignity of being a child of God. Just as every baby born is the most important baby ever born, every person is a unique reflection of the God and deserving of the love and care of the Lord’s presence on earth through us
Msgr. Charles Pope
4th Sunday of Easter B
On this fourth Sunday of Easter, we turn a corner of sorts. Up until now we have been reading of the resurrection appearances themselves. Today we begin to see how the risen Lord ministers to us as the Good Shepherd. In effect, the Lord gives us four basic pictures or teachings of how, as the King of Love, He shepherds us. Here, then, are four portraits of His love:
1. Passionate love
2. Personal love
3. Persistent love
4. Powerful love
Bishop John Louis
4th Sunday of Easter B
Fr. Michael Chua
4th Sunday of Easter B
Life Issues
4th Sunday of Easter B
Good Shepherds
Frank Enderle
To be a good priest one must be well prepared, ready to defend the sheep. He will also have to protect himself from the many dangers that life will throw at him. And, most importantly, he will have to forget himself, looking out for the good of others.
Wanted, Good Shepherds
Antonio P. Pueyo
The early stages of life and the adolescent stage may be a time of self-seeking and self-discovery. However as one matures, more and more one’s concern should be the welfare of others.
The Hired Hand
Proclaim Sermons
Summary: The hired hand as a heroic, perhaps mythic figure, is ingrained into the fabric of American’s history, especially in the West. Often, hired hands were nomadic, working on a ranch in Wyoming in the summer and Arizona in the winter. Jesus mentions the hired hand in today’s gospel reading, so the concept is worth another look. What we find out is that possibly Jesus himself was a hired hand. Or does he really fit this definition? Perhaps there is, as Jesus suggests, a crucial difference between himself as the “Good Shepherd” and a hired hand.
So Much More Than a Hired Hand (Easter 4)
Proclaim Sermons
The risen Lord is our good shepherd, protecting us with self-giving love and gathering an expansive community into his one flock.
SOURCE: LifeIssues.net Homily Archive
Fr. Phil Bloom
4th Sunday of Easter B
First Quality of a Good Shepherd
Bottom line: The relationship with the Father, as Bishop Mueggenborg underscores, is the first quality of a good shepherd.
RELATED HOMILIES:
2015: Disciple Makers Week 4: Smell of the Sheep & Smile of a Father
2012: The Most Inclusive Religion
2009: Basics of Salvation
2006: The Leaders We Deserve
2003: The Shepherd’s Crook
2000: Jesus’ Job Description
Where Are the Shepherds? (Columbine Massacre)
4th Sunday of Easter B
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, Laid Down his Life for US
We honor Jesus today under the title “Good Shepherd.” Jesus gave himself this title, Good Shepherd, as he predicted his passion and death. He is the Good Shepherd because, as he says, he lays down his life for his sheep (John 10:15). He laid down his life for us in his passion and death. Jesus said he would lay it down in order to take it up again (John 10:17). Jesus took up his life again when he rose on Easter Sunday. Jesus is the Good Shepherd because he laid down his life for us on Good Friday to atone for our sins and took it up again on Easter Sunday.
Fr. John Kavanaugh, S.J.
4th Sunday of Easter B
Other Sheep
Ontologically, there is no salvation outside of Christ. It is only by his being the Word made flesh, the Son of God, that we are all indeed made God’s children. It is by the fact of God taking our body, dying our death, and rising in Jesus that our destinies are forever changed. God now looks upon all human flesh and sees the face of the beloved Son.
Psychologically, we may not know such a wondrous thing has happened to us. But the only way to resist this fact would be consciously to reject its possibility.
Today’s Gospel has Jesus say, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.” Could this be applied to all those who are not Christians but are nonetheless open to the fullest reality of Christ? Could it be that the way he leads them and speaks to them is through the very movement of the human heart itself, which has now been reclaimed by the heart of the Word made flesh?
Bishop Frank Schuster
4th Sunday of Easter B
The Blessing and Problem of Freedom
This weekend we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday. Abraham Lincoln has an ironic observation that I think is appropriate for this weekend. I shared this with you before but it is worth considering again. He writes, “The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator. The wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty.” How about that? I’ll say it again because it so very true. “The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator. The wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty.” I mention this because in truth there is a sheep and a wolf inside all of us. One side of us wants to prudently restrict our freedom so to act like children of God and another side of us rebels against restricting our freedom so to cling onto vice, which ironically ultimately enslaves us.
4th Sunday of Easter B