Fourth Sunday of Easter

Year B

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Images

 

Sheep following a shepherd

Shepherd risking his life

Points to note

As mentioned in the leaflet for Easter 3, this is part of a four-week journey that John is leading us.  You may wish to read that leaflet to set this Sunday in context.

This is one of the most endearing images of Christ: Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  In many ways, there are two images of the Good Shepherd.  First, as a leader after whom his disciples will follow.  And his disciples include us.  His disciples will follow him because we know him.

You may also want to reflect on the accessory of a bishop.  The staff that a bishop carries is called a crozier.  It represents the staff of a shepherd.  The crook at the end of the staff enables the shepherd to hook the necks of straying lambs.

The other image is that of a shepherd risking his life for his sheep, fighting off wolves and the like.  Jesus, however, not just risked his life for us, he laid down his life for us.  For younger children, you may not wish to emphasise this image.

Liturgy

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the Good Shepherd, says the Lord;

I know my own sheep and my own know me.

Alleluia!

Gospel

The Lord be with you.

All:   And with your spirit.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St John

All:   Glory to you O Lord

(Jn 10:11-18)

Jesus said:

“I am the Good Shepherd:

the Good Shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep.

The hired man, since he is not the shepherd

and the sheep do not belong to him,

abandons the sheep and run away as soon as he sees a wolf coming,

and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep;

this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep.

I am the Good Shepherd;

I know my own and my own know me,

just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;

and I lay down my life for my sheep.

And there are other sheep that I have that are not of this fold,

and these I have to lead as well.

They too will listen to my voice,

and there will be only one flock and one shepherd.

The Father loves me,

because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me;

I lay it down of my own free will,

and as it is in my power to lay it down,

so it is in my power to take it up again;

and this is the command I have been given by my Father.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Discussion

Anyone has a dog?  Does your dog come when you call?  Explain that sheep flocks in the Middle East tend to be small and the many flocks need to search for scarce grazing land.  Grazing grounds generally overlap and flocks tend to mix freely.  Interestingly, though, when the shepherds leave at dusk, each has no problem in identifying his sheep and leading them home.  The sheep all knew their master and each will respond only when its master calls and not another, very much like how dogs recognise their masters.

Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd and that his sheep, i.e., we, know him and will follow him when he calls.  How do you think he will call us?  By our names.  Discuss those who God called by their names:  Abraham, Samuel, etc.  Discuss how Mary Magdalene did not recognise Jesus at the tomb until he called her by her name.  A good example of the sheep who knew the shepherd.  How would Jesus call you? This is a good opportunity for everybody in the group to share his or her name.  Make sure that each gives his name out loud to the group and not just to the facilitator. 

Have you seen how cows are branded?  With a red hot metal rod, which then imprints the owner’s name or sign on the side of the cow.  Cows are branded so that everyone knows to whom those cows belong.  Explain that cows are very big so they don't feel it much.

If we are Jesus’ sheep, do we also need to be branded like the cows?  Yes!! Like the cows, we are branded with Jesus’ name on us.  We are all called Christians.

Is there any way other people can know that we belong to Jesus?  Discuss that following is not just to physically to follow a person somewhere like the sheep following the shepherd.  A follower also follows what his or her master does.  When other people see that we are doing the same thing as our master, they know that we are followers of our master.  Discuss the things we should be doing so that people will know.

Link this up with last week’s reading:  Anyone who says ‘I know him (God)’, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar.  (1 Jn 2:4).

Third Sunday of Easter

Year B

Third Sunday of Easter

Theme

Loving in obedience

Points to note

The second reading in all the Sundays of Easter in Year B is from the first letter of St John.  John is the only one of the Twelve who was not martyred and lived to a ripe old age of over ninety.  At the end of his life, John was exiled to an island where it was said he had all the time to reflect on and to understand the manifestation of God as love.  Little wonder that the tone of his letter is very much on the themes of love and God.

To John, Jesus left us with only one commandment, the commandment to love (Jn 15:12).  This is discussed much more in depth in Easter 6, where in both the second and the Gospel readings, St John culminates his teaching on these twin themes.  As such, the next few Sundays are part of a short journey to that understanding in Easter 6.

In each Sunday, John wants us to understand that we cannot love without God and, if we have God, we cannot do anything but love.  We start off with the idea, therefore, of obedience in this reading, followed by the ownership of God over us and God’s expectation from us of this ownership in the next few Sundays.

When discussing the concept of love, it is easy to lose focus and end up with very broad ideas instead.  It is critical to anchor the discussions on very concrete examples of action and the daily life events that children understand.  If possible, end up with commitments from the children on how they should make real in their lives what they have heard in the readings.

 

Liturgy

There is no the Gospel Acclamation as the Gospel is not read.  For the same reason, there is no opening dialogue.

Reading

Explain to the children that John was probably the youngest of the Twelve Apostles, the only one not to be martyred and that he lived to a ripe old age.  In the Gospel he wrote, he always referred to himself as the beloved disciple.  So, this must really very much be someone who have felt the loving power of Jesus and knows he is loved by God.  The story goes that when he was teaching his own disciples at the end of his life, he was asked by one of them why he always talked to them about love and nothing else.  John stared out into the distance for a while and replied, “Because there is nothing else … but love … love … and love.”

A Reading from the first letter of St John

(1Jn 2: 1-5)

I am writing this, my children, to stop you sinning;

but if anyone should sin, we have an advocate with the Father,

Jesus Christ, who is just;

he is the sacrifice who takes our sins away,

not only ours, but the whole world’s.

we can be sure that we know God only by keeping his commandments.

Anyone who says “I know him”, and does not keep his commandments,

Is a liar, refusing to admit the truth.

But when anyone does obey what he has said,

God’s love comes in perfection in him.

This is the Word of the Lord

Discussion

Is there anyone among us who is perfect?  Discuss the idea of perfection and only God is perfect.  Is there any among us who sometimes wished that we have done something that we omitted to do or wished that we did not do something that we did?  You may wish to allow to children to talk about mistakes they made.  Gently weed out those mistakes that are merely incorrect (eg., giving an incorrect answer in a test) from those that are wrong (wrong from a moral angle).  Such wrongs are sins.

Point out that often when we do a wrong, someone else has warned us against it.  When we end up fighting with our brother or sister, Mom would surely have warned us against it.  So, when we do a wrong, it is often an act of disobedience against someone.  That is why when we fight with our brother, it is not just our brother who is upset with us, but Mom too. 

Expand it to the idea of sin.  God is very much a parent in our whole Christian family, very much like Mom in our little family at home.  When we sin, even if it is against someone else, it is a disobedience against God.  Both God and that someone else are upset with us and we have to apologise to both God and that someone else.  Therefore if we say we want to be obedient to God, we cannot sin against anyone else too, not just God. 

Illustrate these points using events from children daily lives.  I always find fighting with our brother a good example but there many countless more.