For Sunday the 21st of April, 2024 (Fourth Sunday of Easter)
As we gather for worship this Sunday the readings clearly proclaim the Gospel that Jesus laid down his life for sinners. He gave himself into their hands so that by his death on the cross he could save them from their sin. His life was not taken from him by force but willingly given, for you and for me and for a world of sinners, and then after three days taken up again. It’s this love for lost sheep which defines Jesus as the Good Shepherd. May God grant us his Spirit to see and ever believe that, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).