The First Reading shows Peter fearlessly proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. He asserts that the stone they rejected (Jesus) has become the cornerstone of a new building. The risen Jesus is the one and only Saviour.

The Second Reading reflects on the wonderful love God has shown for us by making us his children. Our future state will be like that of the glorified Jesus. This reading invites us to rejoice in our state as God’s adopted children.

The Gospel presents Jesus as the good shepherd who knows his sheep intimately and is known by them. Unlike the hireling, he is willing to die to protect his sheep.

For the early Fathers of the Church, the Good Shepherd – who searches for the lost and who lays down his life for his sheep – is an image of Christ as he relates to his Church.

The human race, every one of us, are Christ’s sheep – often lost in the desert and no longer knowing the way home to the Father, home to our true identity of sons and daughters of God.

The Son of God will not let this happen; he cannot abandon humanity to such a fate. He leaves the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep, all the way to the Cross.

Jesus takes us all upon his shoulders; he carries all humanity. And in the words of today’s Gospel, he is “the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.”