Book of Common Prayer Lectionary
Acts 4:23-37
Psalm 23
1 John 3:1-8
John 10:11-16

Revised Common Lectionary
Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 23
1 John 3:16-24
John 10:11-18

Reflection and Response
Prayer Starter

Today’s readings assure us of God’s constant, shepherd-like care. In his sermon in Acts, Peter preaches that salvation is to be found in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, crucified, but raised from death by God. The author of 1 John tells us that, because of God’s love shown in Jesus, we are now God’s children. In the gospel, Jesus explains how he, as our Good Shepherd, lays down his life because he cares for his sheep.

First Reading: Acts 4:23-37 (BCP)
After their release from prison, Peter and John gather the Christian community for discussion and corporate prayer. The believers base their prayer on Old Testament models (see, for example, Isaiah 37:15-20) and use the first two verses of Psalm 2 in their prayer. Probably originally written for the king, this psalm was, by the first century B.C., applied to the expected Messiah.

The Church follows in Jesus' footsteps. He is the "servant" (or child) of God (vv. 27, 30), and they are the "servants" (or slaves) of God (v. 29). The empowering of Pentecost is renewed as the place is "shaken" (v. 31) signifying God's presence with them.

Although the care of the needy was always a feature of Christian communities, the important issue was not a particular economic principle, but the expression of the community's unity in love. The believers had one source and center of life and were one in outwardly visible lifestyle.

Acts 4:23-37
After their release
Peter and John went back to their own people
and reported
what the chief priests and elders had told them.
And when they heard it,
they raised their voices to God with one accord
and said,
"Sovereign Lord,
maker of heaven and earth
and the sea and all that is in them,
you said by the holy Spirit
through the mouth of our father David,
your servant:
Why did the Gentiles rage
and the peoples entertain folly?
The kings of the earth took their stand
and the princes gathered together
against the Lord and against his anointed.’
Indeed they gathered in this city
against your holy servant Jesus
whom you anointed,
Herod and Pontius Pilate,
together with the Gentiles
and the peoples of Israel,
to do what your hand and your will
had long ago planned to take place.
And now, Lord, take note of their threats,
and enable your servants
to speak your word with all boldness,
as you stretch forth your hand to heal,
and signs and wonders are done
through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
As they prayed,
the place where they were gathered shook,
and they were all filled with the holy Spirit
and continued to speak the word of God
with boldness.
The community of believers
was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed
that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.
With great power the apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
There was no needy person among them,
for those who owned property or houses
would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.
Thus Joseph,
also named by the apostles Barnabas
(which is translated "son of encouragement"),
a Levite, a Cypriot by birth,
sold a piece of property that he owned,
then brought the money
and put it at the feet of the apostles.

First Reading: Acts 4:5-12 (RCL)
According to Luke, the arrest of Peter and John is instigated by the Sadducees. The Sadducees held only to the written law, rejected the oral tradition followed by the Pharisees and did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. The Pharisees taught a future general resurrection, but Peter and John proclaim resurrection as a present and life-giving reality in Jesus.

The rulers, elders and scribes make up the members of the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish court responsible for internal affairs. The appearance of the apostles before this body parallels Jesus' examination by the Sanhedrin. As Jesus had promised, the Holy Spirit empowers the apostles to answer.

Acts 4:5-12
On the next day,
their leaders, elders, and scribes
were assembled in Jerusalem,
with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander,
and all who were of the high-priestly class.
They brought them into their presence
and questioned them,
"By what power or by what name
have you done this?"
Then Peter, filled with the holy Spirit,
answered them,
"Leaders of the people and elders:
If we are being examined today
about a good deed done to a cripple,
namely, by what means he was saved,
then all of you and all the people of Israel
should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ
the Nazorean whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead;
in his name this man stands before you healed.
He is ‘the stone rejected by you, the builders,
which has become the cornerstone.’
There is no salvation through anyone else,
nor is there any other name under heaven
given to the human race
by which we are to be saved."

Psalm: Psalm 23
This psalm is probably the most familiar and popular psalm of all. It celebrates God’s loving care for us under the guise of a good shepherd who provides food, security and protection from all dangers. God guides us on our journey through life so that we might "dwell in the house of the Lord."
Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff–they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
my whole life long.

Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-8 (BCP)
Today’s reading again takes up the theme of Christians and sin, this time in the context of their adoption as "children of God" (v. 1). This special relationship to God was formerly extended to Israel as a people and especially to the king as Israel's representative. Here this intimate relationship is proclaimed as a present reality for all who believe that Jesus is the Christ.

In Hebrew idiom, "to be the child of" meant to exhibit the characteristics of one's father. Christians are truly God's children now, yet they are also still in the process of growing into resemblance to God by imitating Christ. Our resemblance to God is evidenced in the realm of behavior.

1 John 3:1-8
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed
we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him
makes himself pure,
as he is pure.
Everyone who commits sin
commits lawlessness,
for sin is lawlessness.
You know that he was revealed
to take away sins,
and in him there is no sin.
No one who remains in him sins;
no one who sins has seen him or known him.
Children, let no one deceive you.
The person who acts in righteousness
is righteous,
just as he is righteous.
Whoever sins belongs to the devil,
because the devil has sinned from the beginning.
Indeed, the Son of God was revealed
to destroy the works of the devil.

Second Reading: 1 John 3:16-24 (RCL)
These verses discusses the mark of a Christian’s life–love. This love is the proof that Christians have passed from death to life. Refusal to love one another is tantamount to murder. True love for one another is manifested in action, modeled upon the experience of Jesus’ love for us. It is shown as self-sacrifice at the heroic level and in the daily exercise of generosity. Deeds, not devout protestations or guilty feelings, will reveal our true standing before God, who knows us better than we know ourselves.

1 John 3:16-24
The way we came to know love
was that he laid down his life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
If someone who has worldly means
sees a brother in need
and refuses him compassion,
how can the love of God remain in him?
Children, let us love
not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.
Now this is how we shall know
that we belong to the truth
and reassure our hearts before him
in whatever our hearts condemn,
for God is greater than our hearts
and knows everything.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God
and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments
and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name of his Son,
Jesus Christ,
and love one another
just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments
remain in him,
and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us
is from the Spirit that he gave us.

Gospel: John 10:11-18
In the Old Testament, God is called the Shepherd of Israel, as is David or the Davidic Messiah. Today's reading develops the figure of the shepherd of the sheep. Jesus is "the good shepherd" (v. 11). The word good more literally means "beautiful," as in an ideal of perfection. Here it might be rendered as model. Jesus is the model shepherd, both because of his willingness to lay down his life and because of his intimate knowledge of his flock.

The intimacy between the shepherd and his flock parallels that between the Father and the Son. The purpose of this mutual knowledge is to bring Jesus' followers, both the flock of Israel and the Gentile flocks, into union with him and with one another.

John 10:11-18
I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd
lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man,
who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming
and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay
and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine
and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me
and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep
that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead,
and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life
in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me,
but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down,
and power to take it up again.
This command I have received
from my Father."

Reflection and Response
In today's readings, we meet with an image that can be difficult to understand. The metaphor of the shepherd has at times been sentimentalized and at other times abused.

Given that tension, what can we learn from today's gospel? One of its most heartening aspects is the utter commitment of the Shepherd. Some of us might resent being diminished by the comparison to witless sheep. Yet all of us can respond with gratitude to a committed friend. The special people in our lives who know when we need a joke or a nudge, a compliment or a challenge; those who can both laugh and cry with us; those who give us perspective when we've lost ours: they are gift. To have as guide One who is the source and inspiration of all those gifts is blessing indeed.

We have been fortunate in our own day to see models lay down their lives for others. Martyrs in Central America and Africa are dramatic examples. Yet in unspectacular ways, ordinary people sacrifice daily for their children, their coworkers, their friends and relatives. Laying down one's own life may be as simple as pausing to hear the leisurely unfolding of another person's story when time pressures mount. Or it may be as complex as financing another's education. But the surrenders we can observe so often around us prove that giving one's life is both possible and practical.

A second noteworthy element is the lack of coercion exerted by the Shepherd. His voice is all, and it is enough. We often meet with resistance when we try to persuade another. We also witness the remarkable change that inner motivation can produce. Jesus knows well the drawing power of love and the strength of people driven by love.

Quietly consider:
Who in my circles longs to hear the Shepherd’s voice,
and can hear it only through me?

Prayer Starter
Lord, you stay with me, even in my sheepish confusion...