But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him." And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 23 ( Ps 23: 13a, 3b4,
5, 6):
R. The Lord is my shepherd; I not shall want.
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.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil; for Thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
You prepare a table before me
In the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Today's Epistle is from the 1st Letter of Peter, beginning at the 2nd Chapter, and the 2nd Verse (1 Peter 2:20b-25):
But if when you do right and suffer for it you take it patiently, you have God's approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
+ A Reading from the Gospel of John, beginning at the 10th Chapter, and the 1st Verse (John 10:1-10):
"Amen, amen, I say unto you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber; but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, "Amen, amen, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
If we were naming Sundays
the way the Orthodox do, this would be "Good Shepherd Sunday". All
of the readings except the first mention sheep and the Shepherd.
I, personally, find sheep
boring as creatures -- and only slightly smarter than chickens. They
were, however, a staple of Jewish life from the time of Abraham onwards.
Along with cattle, the number of sheep a man had determined his wealth
Thus the shepherd, with
his patience and faithfulness in protecting and causing the sheep to increase,
was a figure of virtue and merit in Israel of old. King David was
a shepherd boy before he became king, and his shepherd's skill with the
sling brought down Goliath.
The
oldest representation of Christ that I know of is from sometime in
the 2nd Century, in the Catacombs of Rome, and shows him as the Good Shepherd,
with a lamb on his shoulders. Interestingly enough, it also shows
him clean-shaven and short-haired, unlike later portraits.
Borrowing from the pastoral
imagery of the Psalms, we have always celebrated our Savior as the Shepherd
who protects and causes us to increase before the Lord. Humans can
be sheepish, and follow herd instinct over metaphorical and physical cliffs
-- but He, His Rod and His Staff are there to guide us to green pastures
beside still waters.
We are taught by the Apostles, and their successors in every age since to emulate Him who is our Savior -- to be steadfast in our belief and in our care for others. We are saved through Him, and enter His fold through Baptism.
Let us pray that we may be among those sheep who enter into heaven, and not the goats cast out into darkness . . .
In the Name of the Father + And of the Son + And of the Holy Spirit + Amen.