4th Sunday of Easter (Year: B)
Date: Sunday, April 21st, 2024, 11:00
Old Testament: Acts 4:5-12
Psalms: Ps. 23
5The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem.
6Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family.
7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people!
9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed,
10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.
11He is "'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. '
12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
Acts 4:5-12 (NIV)
Epistle: 1 John 3:16-24
1The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Psalms 23 (NIV)
Gospel: John 10:11-18
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence
20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God
22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
1 John 3:16-24 (NIV)
11"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.
13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me--
15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again.
18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."
John 10:11-18 (NIV)