The One Shepherd

The Good Shepherd parable comes on the fourth Sunday of Easter. While it is located in the Gospel before the crucifixion, it interprets the meaning of the events. The message enables the church to see them not as unrelenting tragedy and failure but as signs of victory and hope.

The key interpretation is not that the enemies of Jesus were in control by their ability to take his life. Rather it is that Jesus by an act of the will of God could lay down his life for his followers and take it up again. Their mission is to continue as his flock under his leadership as eternally present. They are to identify his other sheep and bring them into his flock.

The full meaning of the "I am the Good Shepherd" claim could not be understood by the disciples prior to Easter. At that tim…