Fourth Sunday of Easter
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III
This is Good Shepherd Sunday, which occurs, as earlier commentary has pointed out, one week later in the new lectionary than in the traditional lectionaries. The Gospel for the Day, in, all three cycles/series/years, comes from John 10, the Good Shepherd chapter of St. John. The Gospel for Cycle B is the traditional Gospel for Good Shepherd Sunday. The altar/apse mosaics in the ancient churches make it patently evident that the church has always seen the risen Lord as the Good Shepherd. He it was who laid down his life at the cross for the sheep; he became a sheep for the slaughter - the Paschal Lamb - in his passion and death. But God raised him up as the Victorious Lamb, who is also, and primarily, the Good Shepherd. It is in this One that David's "Shepherd Psalm" finds its ultimate expression. He watches over his "sheep" - hence the mosaics depicting the risen Lord seated or standing, watching over, protecting, and feeding his "sheep." Because he is the risen and reigning Lord, the faithful can say with confidence, "The Lord is my Shepherd.... I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
Sant' Apollinare in Classe, an old and famous church in Ravenna, Italy (dedicated in A.D. 549) is one of the churches whose mosaics picture Jesus standing as the Good Shepherd. There are sheep at his feet, sheep behind him, and more sheep on either side of the triumphal arch that forms the apse of the church. The large background of the apse is filled with grazing sheep and little lambs. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is at the center of the flock, hands up-raised in the ancient position of prayer and blessing. A large cross, in a field of blue that is studded with stars, is at the top of the arch, directly above Jesus. (The upper mosaic in the nave of this church depicts Christ separating the sheep from the goats, thereby giving an eschatological function to the Good Shepherd.) Numerous ancient churches contain this Good Shepherd motif. It is - and always has been - the primary representation of the risen Lord in the apses of the churches.
(Note: See the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Lectionary Preaching Workbook III, Cycle A, for other comments.)
The Prayer of the Day
The collect for the Fourth Sunday of Easter in the Book of Common Prayer is concise and theologically to the point. The Gospel for the Day proclaims, "I am the Good Shepherd." It reads: "O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know who calls each of us by name, and follow where he leads; who with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, One God, for ever and ever. Amen" The LBW provides two prayers, of which the first is a good shepherd prayer and the second is a "light/darkness" type of collect. (The latter would fit better on a number of other Sundays than it does on Good Shepherd Sunday.)
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 23 (E, L) - All of the liturgical churches assign this psalm to Good Shepherd Sunday (as the Lectionary Preaching Workbook III, Cycle A, reveals), but only the Lutheran Church uses this psalm as a responsory to the first reading in all three cycles. It not only "responds" quite appropriately to the Old Testament reading, but it sounds - so that no one may mistake it - the dominant theme of Good Shepherd Sunday from the perspective of the faithful, who worship the risen Lord. See the Lectionary Preaching Workbook, III, Cycle A, for additional comments.
Psalm 100 (E) - The Book of Common Prayer offers this psalm as an alternate responsory in Year B, and as the only responsory in Year C. (Psalm 23, therefore, is the primary responsory in two of the three liturgical/lectionary years.) It calls for the faithful to "Be joyful in the Lord ... to serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song" - most appropriate sentiments for all of the Great Fifty Days. It specifically magnifies the Good Shepherd theme, giving it a slight twist: "Know this: The Lord himself is God; he himself has made us, and we are his; we are hispeople and the sheep of his pasture." (emphasis mine) Christ is the one whom God has appointed shepherd through his death and resurrection.
Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 16, 28-29 (R) - An Easter psalm, according to its multiple use in the liturgies of Easter, this psalm opens appropriately: "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his mercy endures forever." However, it changes the symbolism and the "shepherd" topology of the Sunday with its reiteration of Peter's quotation in Acts 4, "This is the stone which was rejected by your builders, but which has become the head of the corner." Scholars believe that this particular psalm was used for the annual enthronement in the temple, and was recited when the king entered the temple and ascended the steps of the throne. This ceremony has been interpreted by adding a new stone to the building which never is quite completed - until Jesus Christ rose from the dead. "The stone which the builders rejected, but which has become the head of the corner." It "connects" rather obliquely with the theme of the day.
The Psalm Prayer (LBW)
Lord Jesus Christ, shepherd of your church, you give us new birth in the waters of baptism; you anoint us with oil, and call us to salvation at your table. Dispel the terrors of death and the darkness oferror. Lead your people along safe paths, that they may rest securely in you and dwell in the house of the Lord now and forever, for your name's sake.
The readings:
Acts 4:8-12 (R, C)
The Lutheran lectionary assigned this reading to the Third Sunday of Easter. It was also used (Acts 4:5-12) in the Episcopal lectionary. Homiletical comments were included in last Sunday's study of the readings for this Third Sunday of Easter.
Acts 4:23-33 (L); 4:(23-31) 32-37 (E)
The game of "musical lections" continues with the first and second readings for this Sunday, as a study of several lessons reveals. Acts 4:32-37 was the first reading in the Roman Ordo for the Second Sunday of Easter, Year B. Comments will be found in the homiletical material for that Sunday. When the Episcopal congregations use the longer form of the reading, it overlaps with the Lutheran pericope for this Sunday. Verses 23-31 tell how Peter and John, after they were released from custody by the high priest, went back and told the other disciples about their experience before Herod and his priestly minions. When they heard the story, "They lifted their voices together to God" and recited all that he had done in the creation, in their nation, and in his servant, David. They recounted the events in the Holy City, when Herod and Pontius Pilate - and the Jews as well as the Gentiles - condemned him and put him to death. They saw all of this part of God's plan to save all people. The petition asks for the courage to speak to the world boldly, and for God to use his power to heal and to work signs and wonders in the name of Jesus the Christ. The prayer was immediately answered with a "small earthquake," and "they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness."
Ezekiel 34:1-10 (E)
This is the prophet's lament about the Bad Shepherds, the priests of the temple, who took care (fed) of themselves and neglected the sheep in their charge. It is a bold and harsh word of judgment, which came from God himself, who promised to "rescue my sheep from their mouths." In this reading, God himself is the Good Shepherd, who comes to the world in the person of his "Good Shepherd" Son to call the people, feed, and save them.
1 John 3:1-2 (R, L); 3:1-8 (E)
The first reading of the Common lectionary for last Sunday, the Third Sunday of Easter, covered verses 1-17 of 1 John 3. The Roman Catholic and Lutheran lectionaries concentrate on the first two verses of the reading, which explain that Christians are children of God through grace and love. The world cannot see this because the world, says John, does not know God. Christians may, however, stand fast in the faith despite an uncertain future, because they know that they are God's children (through baptism) and will be forever. In time, the faithful will be "like him," because they will see God as he is.
The longer reading (E), which is about half of the Common lectionary selection, contains a discussion of sin, affirming that Jesus came to "take away sin." Those who commit sin are "of the devil," and, he implies, against God and the Lord Jesus. John declares, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." He has done just that.
1 John 3:18-24 (C)
The Common lectionary picks up where this reading left off on the Third Sunday of Easter. It is also the second reading of the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Lutheran lectionaries for next Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Easter. The first verse of this complicated lection seems to be the key to the whole passage: "Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth." Love, for John, is not simply an emotion or an assertion of devotion to God and his people, but it is a positive action, which specifically and constantly engages the faithful in loving deeds for all other human beings. This, of course, is the difficult part of the Christian faith; it is one thing to declare that one loves God and people, but it is quite another matter to live a life of love and devotion. This is the gift that God offers to people in Jesus Christ, but not very many people really unwrap it. John parallels James with his "faith without works is dead" - so are love without deeds of caring and compassion, and so are declarations of love for God that have no visible practical consideration for the plight of other people. Indeed, it is as John says, "Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth." Then we ourselves will really know whether or not we belong to God and are actually his children.
John 10:11-18 (R, L, C); 10:11-16 (E)
In the reading appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year/Cycle A (John 10:1-9), Jesus gave two "mini-parables," which are then interpreted in this particular reading. When one is aware of this, one can understand why John 10 is cut up into three parts and read in sequence. Each of those parables is interpreted through an "I am the Good Shepherd" saying: first, that "the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep," but the "bad shepherd" cares nothing for the sheep and neglects, even abandons, them and takes care of himself. In the second instance, "I am the good shepherd.... I lay down my life for the sheep." The sheep know the good shepherd, and they follow him. Jesus also speaks of "an expanding flock," which will take in all people in the world: "And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd." And Jesus can say with authority that he knows that the Father loves him because he has laid down his life of his own accord. At the end of this reading, he makes that amazing life/death, cross/resurrection statement: "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father."
A Sermon on the Gospel, John 10:11-18 (R, L, C); 10:11-16 (E) - "Who Needs a Shepherd Today?"
One of the greatest disappointments I have experienced in my years in the church came when a close pastor and friend resigned suddenly from his parish. He had always seemed to be the perfect pastor; he gave himself without reserve to the people of his parish and the community. He responded to every request people made for care and all kinds of help. He regularly made pastoral calls and attempted to know all the members of his large parish. He was possibly the best pastor he could be - from the standpoint of pastoral care and loving concern for the people. And then he resigned, because there was nothing else for him to do in the situation in which he had become embroiled. He had been involved in extra-marital affairs with at least six women in his parish, and somehow or other, the evidence surfaced among the leaders of the people and he was confronted with it. In shame, he admitted his guilt and resigned, not only damaging the people of the parish but nearly destroying his own family - he had always seemed like the ideal father and family man - in the process. One who had seemed to be modeled after the Good Shepherd himself turned out to be one of those "bad shepherds" of which Jesus spoke - and of which we have seen too much lately.
1. There is but one Good Shepherd - and that is Jesus the Christ, who said, "I am the Good Shepherd," and laid down his life for the sheep to prove it. Because he was able "to take it again" in his resurrection, he is the Good Shepherd for all time - and for all people.
2. The church needs shepherds - pastors - women and men who hear his voice and follow him in true faith, proclaiming the Good News to their people and witnessing to the whole world. They, too, have to - in various ways - lay down their lives for their sheep.
3. What the church doesn't need is pastors who are unfaithful to the Good Shepherd and who, accordingly, fleece their flock in one way or another and then flee from them.
4. All of us who hear his voice know him as the Good Shepherd, because he has given himself for us. All of us - not just pastors - will follow in love and obedience and fidelity so that our friends and neighbors and all the world will know that he is our Shepherd and our Savior.
A Sermon on the First Lesson, Acts 4:8-12 (R, C)
A sermon suggestion for this reading appears in the homiletical comments for last Sunday, the Third Sunday of Easter.
Acts 4:23-32 (L); 4:(23-31) 32-37 (E) - "Peter's Probation."
(Note: A sermon on this text would be the second part of a two-sermon series. The preacher would have to review concisely last Sunday's reading/sermon (as well as the reading for the Second Sunday of Easter), fill in the missing verses (13-22), and then treat the text for today (23-32 for Lutherans, adding verses 33-37 for Episcopalians). If I were preaching on these texts, I would develop narrative sermons, taking my cue from the content of the readings for the shape of the sermon. The sermon might look like this.
1. Peter's compassion for the crippled man got him and John into trouble with the religious authorities. They were thrown into jail for healing the man.
2. The High Priest and his associates were put off by Peter's boldness and his accusation. They didn't know what to do with these uneducated men, so they warned them and released them.
3. Peter and John reported the victory that was theirs through the power of God's word. They asked for power to preach boldly and to heal, through Jesus' power, the ills of the world.
4. Here is a model prayer for the church today, which needs to preach and witness with boldness and minister to people's hurts with love and compassion. Our business is to learn, pray, and respond to God's spirit without reservation or restraint.
Ezekiel 34:1-10 (E)
This text might best be included in the sermon above on John 10. The introduction speaks to it, over the Good Shepherd theme. Part three in the development of the sermon is where it fits in quite perfectly. Unless the preacher highlights the last verse of the reading ("I will rescue my sheep from their mouths") in any other sermon that might be developed, the sermon will be heavy on law and have very little Gospel in it. A sermon on this text too easily may become some sort of a moralistic exhortation rather than the proclamation of the Good News.
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, 1 John 3:1-2 (R, L); 1:3-8 (F) - "Children ofthe Heavenly Father."
1. That's what he has called us and made us through Jesus and our baptism.
2. The world doesn't know it, but we know it because we know and love our Father in Heaven and Jesus our Lord.
3. And that's what we will be forever - for God will not let us go. We are his, through Jesus and in our baptism, forever.
(Note: The first part of this sermon may be expanded to include the work that Jesus has done ("destroying the work of the devil") on our behalf. The second part of the sermon could include the fact that the world does not know God. The third would develop the sin/righteousness motif of John, and the last part would emphasize how Christ has made us free from sin and death by defeating the devil. Such development would make the sermon appropriate for the Episcopalian longer reading and give more meaning to a sermon on the shorter pericope.)
1 John 3:18-24 (C) - "What Christian Love Really Is."
1. It is faith in action, not merely a sentiment or a shallow emotion.
2. It is expressed in care, concern, and loving deeds toward other people.
3. It is the embodiment - the incarnation - of Jesus Christ in his people and his church.
4. It is giving oneself for others as Jesus gave himself for us.
Acts 4:(23-31) 32-37 (E)
Comments and a sermon suggestion have already been given in earlier suggestions.
Sant' Apollinare in Classe, an old and famous church in Ravenna, Italy (dedicated in A.D. 549) is one of the churches whose mosaics picture Jesus standing as the Good Shepherd. There are sheep at his feet, sheep behind him, and more sheep on either side of the triumphal arch that forms the apse of the church. The large background of the apse is filled with grazing sheep and little lambs. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is at the center of the flock, hands up-raised in the ancient position of prayer and blessing. A large cross, in a field of blue that is studded with stars, is at the top of the arch, directly above Jesus. (The upper mosaic in the nave of this church depicts Christ separating the sheep from the goats, thereby giving an eschatological function to the Good Shepherd.) Numerous ancient churches contain this Good Shepherd motif. It is - and always has been - the primary representation of the risen Lord in the apses of the churches.
(Note: See the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Lectionary Preaching Workbook III, Cycle A, for other comments.)
The Prayer of the Day
The collect for the Fourth Sunday of Easter in the Book of Common Prayer is concise and theologically to the point. The Gospel for the Day proclaims, "I am the Good Shepherd." It reads: "O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know who calls each of us by name, and follow where he leads; who with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, One God, for ever and ever. Amen" The LBW provides two prayers, of which the first is a good shepherd prayer and the second is a "light/darkness" type of collect. (The latter would fit better on a number of other Sundays than it does on Good Shepherd Sunday.)
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 23 (E, L) - All of the liturgical churches assign this psalm to Good Shepherd Sunday (as the Lectionary Preaching Workbook III, Cycle A, reveals), but only the Lutheran Church uses this psalm as a responsory to the first reading in all three cycles. It not only "responds" quite appropriately to the Old Testament reading, but it sounds - so that no one may mistake it - the dominant theme of Good Shepherd Sunday from the perspective of the faithful, who worship the risen Lord. See the Lectionary Preaching Workbook, III, Cycle A, for additional comments.
Psalm 100 (E) - The Book of Common Prayer offers this psalm as an alternate responsory in Year B, and as the only responsory in Year C. (Psalm 23, therefore, is the primary responsory in two of the three liturgical/lectionary years.) It calls for the faithful to "Be joyful in the Lord ... to serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song" - most appropriate sentiments for all of the Great Fifty Days. It specifically magnifies the Good Shepherd theme, giving it a slight twist: "Know this: The Lord himself is God; he himself has made us, and we are his; we are hispeople and the sheep of his pasture." (emphasis mine) Christ is the one whom God has appointed shepherd through his death and resurrection.
Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 16, 28-29 (R) - An Easter psalm, according to its multiple use in the liturgies of Easter, this psalm opens appropriately: "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his mercy endures forever." However, it changes the symbolism and the "shepherd" topology of the Sunday with its reiteration of Peter's quotation in Acts 4, "This is the stone which was rejected by your builders, but which has become the head of the corner." Scholars believe that this particular psalm was used for the annual enthronement in the temple, and was recited when the king entered the temple and ascended the steps of the throne. This ceremony has been interpreted by adding a new stone to the building which never is quite completed - until Jesus Christ rose from the dead. "The stone which the builders rejected, but which has become the head of the corner." It "connects" rather obliquely with the theme of the day.
The Psalm Prayer (LBW)
Lord Jesus Christ, shepherd of your church, you give us new birth in the waters of baptism; you anoint us with oil, and call us to salvation at your table. Dispel the terrors of death and the darkness oferror. Lead your people along safe paths, that they may rest securely in you and dwell in the house of the Lord now and forever, for your name's sake.
The readings:
Acts 4:8-12 (R, C)
The Lutheran lectionary assigned this reading to the Third Sunday of Easter. It was also used (Acts 4:5-12) in the Episcopal lectionary. Homiletical comments were included in last Sunday's study of the readings for this Third Sunday of Easter.
Acts 4:23-33 (L); 4:(23-31) 32-37 (E)
The game of "musical lections" continues with the first and second readings for this Sunday, as a study of several lessons reveals. Acts 4:32-37 was the first reading in the Roman Ordo for the Second Sunday of Easter, Year B. Comments will be found in the homiletical material for that Sunday. When the Episcopal congregations use the longer form of the reading, it overlaps with the Lutheran pericope for this Sunday. Verses 23-31 tell how Peter and John, after they were released from custody by the high priest, went back and told the other disciples about their experience before Herod and his priestly minions. When they heard the story, "They lifted their voices together to God" and recited all that he had done in the creation, in their nation, and in his servant, David. They recounted the events in the Holy City, when Herod and Pontius Pilate - and the Jews as well as the Gentiles - condemned him and put him to death. They saw all of this part of God's plan to save all people. The petition asks for the courage to speak to the world boldly, and for God to use his power to heal and to work signs and wonders in the name of Jesus the Christ. The prayer was immediately answered with a "small earthquake," and "they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness."
Ezekiel 34:1-10 (E)
This is the prophet's lament about the Bad Shepherds, the priests of the temple, who took care (fed) of themselves and neglected the sheep in their charge. It is a bold and harsh word of judgment, which came from God himself, who promised to "rescue my sheep from their mouths." In this reading, God himself is the Good Shepherd, who comes to the world in the person of his "Good Shepherd" Son to call the people, feed, and save them.
1 John 3:1-2 (R, L); 3:1-8 (E)
The first reading of the Common lectionary for last Sunday, the Third Sunday of Easter, covered verses 1-17 of 1 John 3. The Roman Catholic and Lutheran lectionaries concentrate on the first two verses of the reading, which explain that Christians are children of God through grace and love. The world cannot see this because the world, says John, does not know God. Christians may, however, stand fast in the faith despite an uncertain future, because they know that they are God's children (through baptism) and will be forever. In time, the faithful will be "like him," because they will see God as he is.
The longer reading (E), which is about half of the Common lectionary selection, contains a discussion of sin, affirming that Jesus came to "take away sin." Those who commit sin are "of the devil," and, he implies, against God and the Lord Jesus. John declares, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." He has done just that.
1 John 3:18-24 (C)
The Common lectionary picks up where this reading left off on the Third Sunday of Easter. It is also the second reading of the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Lutheran lectionaries for next Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Easter. The first verse of this complicated lection seems to be the key to the whole passage: "Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth." Love, for John, is not simply an emotion or an assertion of devotion to God and his people, but it is a positive action, which specifically and constantly engages the faithful in loving deeds for all other human beings. This, of course, is the difficult part of the Christian faith; it is one thing to declare that one loves God and people, but it is quite another matter to live a life of love and devotion. This is the gift that God offers to people in Jesus Christ, but not very many people really unwrap it. John parallels James with his "faith without works is dead" - so are love without deeds of caring and compassion, and so are declarations of love for God that have no visible practical consideration for the plight of other people. Indeed, it is as John says, "Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth." Then we ourselves will really know whether or not we belong to God and are actually his children.
John 10:11-18 (R, L, C); 10:11-16 (E)
In the reading appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year/Cycle A (John 10:1-9), Jesus gave two "mini-parables," which are then interpreted in this particular reading. When one is aware of this, one can understand why John 10 is cut up into three parts and read in sequence. Each of those parables is interpreted through an "I am the Good Shepherd" saying: first, that "the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep," but the "bad shepherd" cares nothing for the sheep and neglects, even abandons, them and takes care of himself. In the second instance, "I am the good shepherd.... I lay down my life for the sheep." The sheep know the good shepherd, and they follow him. Jesus also speaks of "an expanding flock," which will take in all people in the world: "And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd." And Jesus can say with authority that he knows that the Father loves him because he has laid down his life of his own accord. At the end of this reading, he makes that amazing life/death, cross/resurrection statement: "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father."
A Sermon on the Gospel, John 10:11-18 (R, L, C); 10:11-16 (E) - "Who Needs a Shepherd Today?"
One of the greatest disappointments I have experienced in my years in the church came when a close pastor and friend resigned suddenly from his parish. He had always seemed to be the perfect pastor; he gave himself without reserve to the people of his parish and the community. He responded to every request people made for care and all kinds of help. He regularly made pastoral calls and attempted to know all the members of his large parish. He was possibly the best pastor he could be - from the standpoint of pastoral care and loving concern for the people. And then he resigned, because there was nothing else for him to do in the situation in which he had become embroiled. He had been involved in extra-marital affairs with at least six women in his parish, and somehow or other, the evidence surfaced among the leaders of the people and he was confronted with it. In shame, he admitted his guilt and resigned, not only damaging the people of the parish but nearly destroying his own family - he had always seemed like the ideal father and family man - in the process. One who had seemed to be modeled after the Good Shepherd himself turned out to be one of those "bad shepherds" of which Jesus spoke - and of which we have seen too much lately.
1. There is but one Good Shepherd - and that is Jesus the Christ, who said, "I am the Good Shepherd," and laid down his life for the sheep to prove it. Because he was able "to take it again" in his resurrection, he is the Good Shepherd for all time - and for all people.
2. The church needs shepherds - pastors - women and men who hear his voice and follow him in true faith, proclaiming the Good News to their people and witnessing to the whole world. They, too, have to - in various ways - lay down their lives for their sheep.
3. What the church doesn't need is pastors who are unfaithful to the Good Shepherd and who, accordingly, fleece their flock in one way or another and then flee from them.
4. All of us who hear his voice know him as the Good Shepherd, because he has given himself for us. All of us - not just pastors - will follow in love and obedience and fidelity so that our friends and neighbors and all the world will know that he is our Shepherd and our Savior.
A Sermon on the First Lesson, Acts 4:8-12 (R, C)
A sermon suggestion for this reading appears in the homiletical comments for last Sunday, the Third Sunday of Easter.
Acts 4:23-32 (L); 4:(23-31) 32-37 (E) - "Peter's Probation."
(Note: A sermon on this text would be the second part of a two-sermon series. The preacher would have to review concisely last Sunday's reading/sermon (as well as the reading for the Second Sunday of Easter), fill in the missing verses (13-22), and then treat the text for today (23-32 for Lutherans, adding verses 33-37 for Episcopalians). If I were preaching on these texts, I would develop narrative sermons, taking my cue from the content of the readings for the shape of the sermon. The sermon might look like this.
1. Peter's compassion for the crippled man got him and John into trouble with the religious authorities. They were thrown into jail for healing the man.
2. The High Priest and his associates were put off by Peter's boldness and his accusation. They didn't know what to do with these uneducated men, so they warned them and released them.
3. Peter and John reported the victory that was theirs through the power of God's word. They asked for power to preach boldly and to heal, through Jesus' power, the ills of the world.
4. Here is a model prayer for the church today, which needs to preach and witness with boldness and minister to people's hurts with love and compassion. Our business is to learn, pray, and respond to God's spirit without reservation or restraint.
Ezekiel 34:1-10 (E)
This text might best be included in the sermon above on John 10. The introduction speaks to it, over the Good Shepherd theme. Part three in the development of the sermon is where it fits in quite perfectly. Unless the preacher highlights the last verse of the reading ("I will rescue my sheep from their mouths") in any other sermon that might be developed, the sermon will be heavy on law and have very little Gospel in it. A sermon on this text too easily may become some sort of a moralistic exhortation rather than the proclamation of the Good News.
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, 1 John 3:1-2 (R, L); 1:3-8 (F) - "Children ofthe Heavenly Father."
1. That's what he has called us and made us through Jesus and our baptism.
2. The world doesn't know it, but we know it because we know and love our Father in Heaven and Jesus our Lord.
3. And that's what we will be forever - for God will not let us go. We are his, through Jesus and in our baptism, forever.
(Note: The first part of this sermon may be expanded to include the work that Jesus has done ("destroying the work of the devil") on our behalf. The second part of the sermon could include the fact that the world does not know God. The third would develop the sin/righteousness motif of John, and the last part would emphasize how Christ has made us free from sin and death by defeating the devil. Such development would make the sermon appropriate for the Episcopalian longer reading and give more meaning to a sermon on the shorter pericope.)
1 John 3:18-24 (C) - "What Christian Love Really Is."
1. It is faith in action, not merely a sentiment or a shallow emotion.
2. It is expressed in care, concern, and loving deeds toward other people.
3. It is the embodiment - the incarnation - of Jesus Christ in his people and his church.
4. It is giving oneself for others as Jesus gave himself for us.
Acts 4:(23-31) 32-37 (E)
Comments and a sermon suggestion have already been given in earlier suggestions.
