Fourth Sunday of Easter (Year A) 2026
On the Fourth Sunday of Easter, we always reflect on the Gospel where Jesus is presented as the Shepherd. I’ve always loved that image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, carrying a sheep on his shoulders. When we think of shepherding, we might picture lambs grazing on beautiful rolling hills, gentle sheep, and a calm, peaceful kind of work. But in the time of Jesus, it wasn’t like that at all—it was really a matter of life and death.
In first-century Palestine, several families would keep their sheep together in a common sheepfold, especially at night. There would be a gatekeeper to guard the sheep, someone who knew the shepherds well. And this is the key point: the true shepherd enters through the gate. Both the gatekeeper and the sheep recognize him. The sheep belong to him. He calls them by name, and they follow him because they know his voice.
The thief, by contrast, climbs in some other way. He does not belong. He does not come for the good of the sheep. He comes to steal, to scatter, to destroy.
Already, we can sense that here, Jesus is not simply talking about agriculture. He is talking about leadership. He is talking about those who guide the people of God.
And, implicitly, he is critiquing the leaders of his own time. The priests, the Pharisees, those who were meant to shepherd Israel but had, in many ways, failed. As the Gospel of Mark tells us, they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Into that situation, Jesus steps and says something astonishing: “I am the gate.” And again, “I came so that they might have life, and have it abundantly.”
Now, this is a strange shift. He is not only the shepherd; he is also the gate.
But in the ancient world, this makes perfect sense. In some sheepfolds, there was no physical gate. The shepherd himself would lie across the entrance.
He became the barrier.
Nothing could enter without going through him. And suddenly, the meaning becomes clear.
Jesus is saying: Your life is guarded by me. Your salvation comes through me. If anything is going to destroy you, it must first confront me.
And this brings us directly to the Second Reading. “He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross… by his wounds you have been healed.”
This is the heart of the matter.
Jesus is not an honorable shepherd simply because he teaches well or leads effectively. He is honorable because he lays down his life. He does not run from danger. He does not protect himself. He absorbs the full force of sin, suffering, and death.
Because Jesus our good Shepherd who lays down his life rises again. And now he stands as the living gate, the entrance into a new kind of life. That is why Psalm 23 resounds with such confidence: “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want… even in the dark valley, I fear no evil.”
Why no fear?
Because the Shepherd has already gone into the valley of death and come out the other side.
And so, Peter stands up in the Acts of the Apostles and proclaims with boldness: “God has made him both Lord and Christ.” And the people are cut to the heart.
They ask, “What must we do?”
And Peter says, “Repent… be baptized… receive the Holy Spirit.”
In other words, enter through the gate.
Friends, this Gospel is also a challenge for us today, especially when we think about leadership in the Church, in our communities, even in our families.
What kind of shepherds are we?
Do we lead with self-interest, climbing in “another way,” seeking control or advantage? Or do we lead like Christ, entering through the gate, known, recognized, willing to give ourselves for others?
And even more fundamentally: whose voice are we listening to?
Jesus says, “The sheep hear his voice… and they follow him.”
There are many voices in our world, many claims to authority, many promises of life. But only one voice leads to true life. Only one shepherd lays down his life and takes it up again.
So today, let us listen carefully. Let us recognize his voice.Let us follow him.
And let us trust this profound truth at the center of our faith:
We are not abandoned. We are not unprotected.
We belong to an honorable Shepherd— who stands at the gate of our lives and says:
“I have come that you may have life… and have it abundantly.”