4th Sunday of Easter 2026

Sermon: 4th Sunday of Easter 2026

Texts: Acts 2:42-47; John 10:1-10; 1 Peter 2:19-25

Grace, Peace, and Mercy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that He is the gate of the sheep, and that He calls His sheep by name, and the sheep listen to His voice. But then there are the voices of the thieves and bandits, who call along only to steal, kill, and destroy. How important it is to recognize the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd! For in the world, there are many out there who don’t know the sheep’s names, they call seducing the sheep with all kinds of empty promises. They seek to lead the sheep through gates of death, enriching only themselves. But Jesus has come so that we might have life and have it abundantly.

How do we learn to recognize the voice that leads to life? It is when the voice that we listen to, amidst the cacophony of voices, leads to a Christ-shaped life, and it is Christ and His life that marks the difference. I believe today many have heard of an uptick of conversions to the church, especially among the younger generations who have expressed interest in the spiritual life. To which I say, thanks be to God! It is a gift to have more folks get close to Jesus and receive God’s grace. I remember the late Pope Francis, when he would encourage the young: “hagan lío!”, the equivalent in Spanish of the late John Lewis who encouraged folks to do “good trouble”. Indeed, having more people listen to the voice of Jesus creates the opportunities for the Kingdom to radically show up and bring abundant life.

However, considering the conflicts that afflict our society today, considering the mass confusion which has brought together contradicting ideologies, even claiming things

as part of the Gospel of Christ which are in fact so far away from Him, I’ve had to ask about what has brought to Church this new wave of believers. I’ve heard from other clergy, that they’ve been in the position to turn away new converts precisely because what is drawing them to church is not the life of Christ, but something else entirely. It is trying to enter the gate of the Good Shepherd through an alternate one which actually leads elsewhere and does not have Christ as the goal of their conversion, but rather something else. I do not doubt the Lord brings us through many different needs and roads, but we should always rectify what the priorities are. As followers of Christ, our priorities stem from Christ, but Christ is not the stepping stone, He is the focus of our striving and faith. We’ve been encountering, promoted by the voices of others, people saying become a Christian because our politics demand such an affiliation. Become a Christian because you will find a traditional husband or wife. Become a Christian because it will give you order and tradition. Become a Christian because with God you are assured financial success. Become a Christian because the tradition is against something that you are against. All these things are not good reasons to become a Christian, because Christ has His own demands, and often the graces that Christ gives us lead us to ways of life and being that may contradict many of the pre-existing ideas that many might attach to the Church. Interesting enough, when we go back to our gospel text, to emphasize listening to the voice of Christ implies that we are in movement with Him. It is not a settled place that is unchangeable forever and it coincides with the hard lines one might draw about what is right. We listen to Christ calling and we follow Him because He knows us before any of the things we prioritize before Him, we follow Him because His voice leads to

where there is pasture, wherever that may be, He knows the way of eternal life. The pastures and the terrain might change, what doesn’t change is the Shepherd of the sheep. For it is one Gate and one Shepherd. To listen to Christ is to move about where He leads. So be careful with other voices tempting you with your desires, and then leading you astray! Be careful of attaching to the Shepherd the voices of others who have other agendas that are not the Kingdom of God, rooted in the love and mercy of God for all people. Seek Christ first, and seek God’s love and His presence, and He will reveal to you what your heart is actually yearning for. As St. Agustine said, God knows us more intimately, than we could ever know ourselves. Thus our hearts are restless, until they rest in Him. Indeed, if you have seen many images of the Good Shepherd, often you see Christ holding a sheep in His arms, close to His heart. For that is the action of Christ in our lives, He embraces close to His chest, and we feel that feeling we all seek that makes everything worth living for, that beating heart that says to us: “I love you, you are mine, I give my life to seek you out”

Christ then has left us a clear reminder to distinguish His voice among the many. Throughout our scriptures today He reveal the signposts of His presence in the world. When we seek Christ, meaning to look at the ultimate meaning of our life and existence, He leads us to a community! And not just any kind of community. The Book of Acts gives us a glimpse of what this community did that reflected their Christ-shape:

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had

need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.”

This community of people were brought together by Christ, and it was not just one class of people, it was a cross-section of the society, that in disposition to the way of Christ, were willing to leave behind the things that divided them: their status, their wealth, their power, their nationality, their citizenship, their every worldly honor; and instead sought to hold close to their hearts those that Jesus had called together, and those that Jesus called them to serve. By listening to the voice of Jesus, they could understand that their ultimate meaning did not lie in what they thought was right, instead it resided in the Christ presence that formed in the community of the beloved, in the poor, in the sick, in the destitute and the imprisoned. The world would lead them to other gates, but the gate of the resurrected world, the gate of the new creation by God resided in the radical hospitality of this small gathering of people, led by Christ to love their neighbors.

When we seek Christ, He also leads us to love. And not just love when things are easy, a love that is sustained even when things are difficult. In 1 Peter, we heard said how in our following the voice of Jesus, we might be led to endure suffering for doing good. For the love of God is one that is not compromised. The love of God cannot be bought. The love of God withstands the harshest trial for the sake of what is good and just. And it does not pay back as often we are inclined to do so. For “when he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.” When we listen to the Shepherd, we are

strengthened to act in ways that reflect Him. We strive to represent the new world ushered in by the Gospel, not tied down by the logic of this world, but rather a life by which the Kingdom of God can be glimpsed through. When we are pastored by the Shepherd, we are led by the light of the Resurrection, lighting through a path through every dark valley or shadow of death.

Therefore, beloved, seek Christ and listen to His voice! Seek the quiet place in your heart where He wanders. Follow Him to the streams of living water and replenish your weary soul. Allow Him to reveal to you the joys of a community of self-giving love, allow Him to reveal to you the rightness of divine justice, allow Him to reveal to you that the essence of divine life is the fact that our ultimate meaning and therefore our ultimate priorities, are rooted in God’s Love and Mercy for all of Creation. Indeed, the perspective of the Resurrection is that although we wander and tremble, although we fall in the ditch and roam astray, we are being sought, called, and uplifted in the arms of the Good Shepherd, who holds us close to His heart. Therefore, hold the world He seeks to love, close to yours as well. Be a people with the beating heart of the Shepherd. Let us pray: