4th Sunday of Easter
11th May 2025
Lectionary Readings: Acts 13:14, 43-52; Ps 100:1-3. 5; Rev 7:9, 14b-17; Jn 10:27-30
Theme: When Suffering Gives Way to Joy
Confident joy echoes through the readings of the liturgy of today. The motivation for this joy is the assurance of the grace of our election by God, which is most directly expressed in phrases of the Psalm: “… worship the Lord with gladness … the Lord is God, he made us, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture … his steadfast love endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations!” While we might validly prefer other metaphors or images of this intimacy, we claim this precious relationship with God using the church’s jubilant refrain: “We are God’s people, the sheep of his flock!”
The context for our gospel passage is the feast of Hanukkah, for which Jesus went up to Jerusalem. For eight days the Jewish community commemorated the cleansing and rededication of the temple following its brutal desecration by the Seleucid king of Damascus, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had sacrificed a pig on the altar and spilled its blood on the holy scrolls. Liberated by the Maccabees, the temple was cleansed, then rededicated on the 25th of Kislev in 165 BCE. In 2025, the Jewish community will celebrate Hanukkah, for eight days beginning on the evening of December 14.
In the reading, from Acts, written probably in the 80s of the first century and most likely in Rome, Luke observes that, in the light of Paul’s ministry, “the disciples were filled with joy” (13:52). In the passage from Revelation, John assures his community that “the lamb will be their shepherd … will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (7:17). In the gospel passage, from about the year 95, in his exile on the island of Patmos, John reveals the source of his own joy, in reflecting on the intimacy of Jesus’ relationship with his disciples (his “sheep”): “I know them, they follow me, I give them eternal life, no one will snatch them out of my hand” (Jn 10:27-28).
This joy is not a sheer gift; it comes at a price. In Acts we glimpse the tension that Paul encountered and could not resolve. However, the opposition of the Jewish officials also leads him to see beyond that crisis in the Jewish community in Antioch of Pisidia; he announces that he will turn to the Gentiles. He cites Is. 49:6, “I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles,” as affirming his vocation, but no doubt infuriating the Jewish officials! They stirred up persecution, driving Paul and Barnabas out of the region. Paul seals this episode symbolically, by shaking the dust of Antioch from his feet, and moving on.
The Revelation passage presents a radically different yet complimentary picture. John envisions a multitude of all nations, gathering in homage to the Lamb seated upon the throne of God, the image of the crucified, risen, glorified Christ. Robed in white, they carry palm branches, as symbols of the joy of victory over the agony of “the great ordeal.” Suffering now gives way to celebration. On the Jewish calendar, today might be called “Erev Pessach Sheini” since Monday, May 12, will be “Pessach Sheini,” (the “Second Pessach”) when those who could not celebrate Pessach a month ago, are able to do so now.
For Reflection and Discussion: 1. As you reflect on your own commitment in faith, recall an experience when suffering gave way to joy. How did the suffering affect your life? What changed, to give you joy? How would you state what you learned through this experience.
Bibliography: Coogan, Michael D., The New Oxford Annotated Bible (Oxford University Press, New York: 2001); Levine, Amy-Jill and Brettler, Marc Zvi, editors, The Jewish Annotated New Testament (Oxford University Press, New York: 2011).
This week’s Sunday Liturgy Commentary was prepared by
Diane Willey, Canadian, Bat Kol Alumna: 2005, 2006
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