Fourth Sunday of Easter April 26, 2026

Prayer of the Day
O God our shepherd, you know your sheep by name and lead us to safety through the valleys of death. Guide us by your voice, that we may walk in certainty and security to the joyous feast prepared in your house, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Gospel: John 10:1-10 [Jesus said:] 1 “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

SERMON
Some religious people speak about God’s maddening penchant for being indirect— Jesus shares a family trait here. My brother would call such indirection “taking the long way around the barn”. Jesus’ opponents express exasperation when they press him on whether or not he’s the Messiah—-“just tell us plainly, already”, they say.

Jesus’ followers like Nicodemus (well, eventually) and the disciples don’t get all the figures of speech Jesus relies on to describe who he is and what he’s about.

The occasional pastor, like this morning’s preacher, gets a bit flummoxed too— Are we talking shepherds here or are we talking gates? Who are these thieves and robbers?

Since we’re in the season of Easter, let’s look at Jesus’ words through the lens of the resurrection. After Jesus has been raised from the dead his people don’t recognize him. Hardly surprising because in our experience the dead stay. The last person people expect to see is Jesus.

Mary Magdalene’s new life as the first preacher and evangelist comes when she hears Jesus call her by name.

Jesus walks through a locked door and breathes a spirit of peace upon his fearful followers.

Jesus shows Thomas his wounds—well he offers to. We really don’t know if Thomas takes him up on that.

On the road to Emmaus (the story from Luke’s Gospel) Jesus teaches two of his followers—they figure he’s not from these parts so isn’t up on current events. That night he accepts their kind offer of hospitality—and he breaks bread and blesses it and suddenly the travellers know exactly who this companion is.

What Jesus says and does after the resurrection might remind us of things he did and said before the resurrection.

He calls Lazarus by name and the man comes back to life.

If you were to read today’s Gospel reading and leaf back a page or two you would find the story of Jesus healing this person blind from birth. Jesus speaks, saying “wash the paste from your eyes and you will see”. The person might have thought someone was pranking him. Instead he hears and follows. When some religious experts grill him about who did the healing the person doesn’t really know; all he knows is some guy put a mud paste on his eyes, told him to wash it off—All he knows is that he started they day like every other in his life with unseeing eyes. Now he sees. Go figure. How truly sad that in response the religious experts write him off calling him an irredeemable sinner.

Jesus words about shepherding, thievery and about being the gate to abundant life immediately follow the healing story story, which ends with a dust up between Jesus and these judgy religious leaders—the ones who don’t see newly sighted person as a person—they just slap the label “sinner” on him and effectively swipe left so they don’t have to deal with him. Jesus sees a human being made in God’s image who suffers, who is excluded and judged—Jesus heals the person’s brings him into his community.

A few years back a Christian denomination in the U.S. called the United Church of Christ put out banners saying “God still speaks”. More now than ever we pray that God still speaks. We pray that the risen Christ still speaks, summoning us by name and calling us to follow in God’s work of blessing and loving the world.