Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Lectionary summaries provided by LCMS.
FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
(26 April 2026)
Acts 2:42-47
I Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10
The Crucified and Risen Lord Jesus Christ Is Our Good Shepherd
Although we “were straying like sheep,” the Lord Jesus Christ has willingly suffered
and died for us, bearing our sins “in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24–25). We are healed by His wounds (1 Peter 2:24), and in His resurrection He gathers us to Himself as our Good Shepherd, by
whose righteousness we “have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Now through other shepherds whom He calls and sends in His name, He guards and keeps us in the green pastures of His Church,
leading us beside the quiet waters of our Baptism and spreading the feast of His table before us. Since He has called us by the Gospel to be His own dear sheep, we also “hear his voice” and “know his
voice” (John 10:3–4) in the faithful preaching of His Gospel, and we follow Him by faith. When we receive His Gospel, we have the abundant life and common unity of the entire flock under one Good
Shepherd, in “the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship” and in “the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42)
Acts 2:42-47
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and
the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the
apostles.
44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as
any had need.
46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they
received their food with glad and generous hearts,
47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their
number day by day those who were being saved.
Psalm 23
1 The
Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s
sake.
4 Even 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.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with
oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I
shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
I Peter 2:19-25
19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering
unjustly.
20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do
good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you
an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but
continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of
your souls.
1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another
way, that man is a thief and a robber.
2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads
them out.
4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his
voice.
5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of
strangers. ”
6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying
to them.
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the
sheep.
8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find
pasture.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it
abundantly.
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