We are well into our Easter Season and our readings this weekend help us continue to walk with the early disciples as they reflect on what it means to live in the light of the Resurrection of Christ.  Our first reading from the Acts of Apostles is actually astounding when you consider, again, the fear and failure of the disciples during the death of Christ.  Here, shortly after, they are being criticized for healing someone and Peter just lays it all out there and tells the leaders (most of whom probably played a big part in having Jesus crucified) that this person was healed in the name of Jesus Christ, “whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.”  Wow – what courage and bravery!  What a transformation! 

Our reading begins by saying that Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit.”  I would say so!  What an astounding statement of faith and witness in an uneasy religious and political sphere. There is nothing stopping him now!  This is the transforming power of the Trinity at work in concrete ways in his life. Again, Peter’s transformation here is something that is such a witness to me of the power of the Resurrection and life in the Spirit.

Our Gospel passage from John is called the Good Shepherd discourse.  Actually, this, too was part of a sticky situation when we read this in the context of what comes before and after. Jesus’s discourse is geared towards the Pharisees after He heals the man born blind in the previous chapter. He is really criticizing them for rejecting the man born blind and turning it around to show them that, really, they are the ones who are “blind” to the work of God.  Later in this same chapter of the Good Shepherd discourse, the Jews pick up rocks and are ready to stone Jesus.  Both His claim of intimacy with God and His scathing convictions of them merited their ire. Jesus, like Peter above, does not mince His words or skirt the facts to preserve His safety.  Jesus continues to be and to teach who He truly is, despite the cost!

Within this confrontational situation, we have this beautiful passage about who Jesus really is – the Good Shepherd. Twice, Jesus states the He will lay down His life for His sheep.  We know that this is a reference to His Crucifixion – how He will die on the Cross for all. But this passage urges us to see that the Good Shepherd who will give His life for His sheep entails more than just doing that at His death.  Jesus’ whole life is God self-emptying and humbling Godself to become one of us!  The Good Shepherd lives a whole life of laying down His life, not just at his death.  It is in knowing His sheep, in caring for them more than just as a hired hand.  It is in the work of having them come to know the love, concern  and protection of the Good Shepherd.  It is in seeking out sheep that are not part of that flock. The self-emptying love of God did not only manifest itself at the death of Christ, but truly in His whole life and ministry, His very incarnation, and even back to creation where the self-emptying love of God began for us. The Good Shepherd not only gives His life for us in His death, but also in the very living of His life FOR US all along.