April 2023 – A Preacher’s Ponderings

In or out?

Fourth Sunday of Easter; 30 April 2023; Easter 4A (RCL); Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; a Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10.

The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is one of our favorites (we’ve all seen stained-glass windows depicting the shepherd carrying home the lost lamb on his shoulders), and the Fourth Sunday of Easter is always Good Shepherd Sunday. The collect evokes that image, and we always have a reading for the tenth chapter of John’s Gospel — the Good Shepherd discourse.

Reading scripture

Third Sunday of Easter; 23 April 2023; Easter 3A (RCL); Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17; Luke 24:13-35.

The story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus is one of the most familiar in all of the Gospels, lending itself as it does to easy depiction. One of the charming aspects of the story is the Cleopas’ unnamed companion. I believe Luke’s leaving him unnamed serves as an invitation to the reader to see her or himself in the story, walking with Cleopas and Jesus to Emmaus.

The wounds of Christ

Second Sunday of Easter; 16 April 2023; Easter 2A (RCL); Acts 2:14a, 22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31.

The Second Sunday of Easter is often called Thomas Sunday, as we always have this reading from John’s Gospel. However, I think this passage has less to do with Thomas (who provides a literary foil for John’s purpose) than with the wounds of Christ. Thomas doesn’t doubt; he refuses to believe, unless and until he sees and touches the wounds.