Easter 4, Year B: Christ as Shepherd and Cornerstone

Amy L. Dalton

The lectionary texts for the Fourth Sunday of Easter bring into focus what Guidance might be available to all who find ourselves facing down the forces of death, violence, division and hate. It just so happens that many of the folks that I am encountering who are doing this just now with the full force of their being do not identify as “religious.” I think it is a notable coincidence, then, that the texts from this week draw out the humanist or “non-theist” aspects of the Christian path – which are in fact doctrinally integral, but have often been “picked and refused” by the builders of the church. Viewed in this way, the Easter story provides all people with a template for a Way of living that has the effect of dismantling the power of death-dealing.

The scriptures for this week disclose this Way through the figures of the “Good Shepherd” and the “Cornerstone.” Understanding how these two aspects of the Transcendent are woven together in the story of Jesus allows us to perceive Christianity in a different way:

• The Good Shepherd is a person who lays down his life to respond to the needs around him (John 10:11). He is able and willing to “put down” or sublimate his human motives to prioritize the protection of his person and his sense of identity, and put the needs of others first.

• Because he repeatedly chooses this, the Shepherd is honored by the Transcendent, and also misunderstood by humans, most of whom are operating in a “self-first” modus operandi. The force of their misunderstanding can be strong, and the Shepherd then becomes like “the stone that the builders refused, which has become the chief cornerstone.” (Psalm 118:22)

• This Shepherd wants us to do and be exactly as he has done and been: He wants us to lay down our lives for one another (1 John 3:16), despite that this will also put us in the position of being misunderstood and rejected.

• When we do follow this Way, we then manifest both the Good Shepherd and the Cornerstone aspect of Christ: We are given the power to heal and be healed (Acts 4:10), freed when we are imprisoned (Acts 4:7), are honored when we are discarded by those positioning themselves as builders (Acts 4:11).

• This process by which Guidance is both needed and rejected by humans, and through this process goes on to empower more Guidance, is at the heart of the Christian path.

In order to perceive the above fully, I find it helpful to read Psalm 23 first, so in my Commentary on each scripture, I will use a nontraditional order. Below that, the Teaching and Preaching Ideas identify several “hermeneutical danger zones” that can crop up when reading these texts, and suggest ways to creatively counter them.

Commentary

• Psalm 23

  The familiar words of Psalm 23 serve as a gateway for perceiving the nature of the Good Shepherd aspect of the Divine. Though the beloved poem has traditionally been read in a way that emphasizes the idyllic, pastoral imagery in its opening lines, the full text actually contains the shadow side of “wildness” too. John August Swanson’s serigraph on the Psalm helps to bring these two sides into conversation, reminding us that the “valley of the shadow of death” is in fact the setting of the whole process of finding our way to peace. The Psalmist is in need of the Good Shepherd’s guidance because he finds himself forced to travel through “the valley of the shadow of death.” Especially just now, as we are so surrounded by death, we should bring the harrowing experience captured by verse 4 into focus.

  Swanson’s notes on the creative unfolding of his artistic representation of this Psalm, as well as the quotations that accompany, are worth digging into.

• John 10: 11-18

  The gospel text goes deeper on who this Good Shepherd is, and contrasts it with the “hired hand.” The is generally understood to be metaphor for the spiritual leaders who are more motivated to serve the dominant system than to respond to the needs of others. When people with this motivation set have power, the masses of people are put in mortal danger, literally.

  In verse 16, Jesus says: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.”. At first glance this is a somewhat odd statement; who are these other sheep, and why has Jesus just mentioned them now? They may be people of other religious backgrounds, people coming from different worldviews, people with exposure to different forms of struggle. Perhaps they even include nonhumans — perhaps the Shepherding Force of Guidance builds relationships with other creatures in a similar way that it builds relationships with us.

  I think they most definitely include also humans who do not identify as religious — the “nones” as they are sometimes referred to now. This reality was pointed at by Father Paul Washington when he chose to name his memoir for this passage. In Other Sheep I Have, Fr. Washington documents decades of experience ministering to those gathered through secular racial and gender justice movements, a ministry that included offering physical sanctuary to multiple Black Power gatherings that welcomed folks who otherwise had nothing to with religion into the protective walls of the church.

• 1 John 3:16-24

  The epistle reading begins with the incredibly strong statement about who Jesus is and what he wants from us: “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”

  It is interesting to consider the relationship between this verse and John 3:16. John 3:16 is generally considered to represent the heart of the mainstream Christian understanding of who Jesus was: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” This verse points to a very high Christology, and it accepts the sacrificial understanding of the crucifixion.

  But 1 John 3:16 – just one little “1” different — represents a very different Christology, one that focuses on the human aspect of Christ, focuses on Jesus’ love, and in almost the same breath calls on all humans to love exactly as he did. 1 John 3:16 is like the shrouded shadow-side core of the Christian faith. And in its weaving, we are all asked to do and be just as Jesus did and was. When we do this we will be children of God just as Jesus is. Howard Thurman points to this understanding of the heart of the gospel in Jesus and the Disinherited:

  “For the privileged and underprivileged alike, if the individual puts at the disposal of the Spirit the needful dedication and discipline, he can live effectively in the chaos of the present the high destiny of a son of God." (Jesus and the Disinherited, 1996 version, p108-9).

  The passage goes on to ask, “How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action” (1 John 3:17-18).

  Though there are many other passages that express this sentiment that love must be lived out among humans, this verse is particularly compelling in its pairing of “truth and action.” For me this resonates with the work that activists of all faiths, including those who do not identify with any faith, are doing right now to try to stop the genocide in Gaza. Though many political and church leaders may seem to want to be seen to be “saying the right thing,” they then turn around and continue to enable the behavior and keep the silences that have allowed this situation to develop in the first place. The people who are showing up for this organizing are not focused on saying the right thing, but focused on loving “in truth and action.” This reality can only be known fully by getting involved in organizing that is trying to respond to the needs of those the most traumatized by this situation.

• Acts 4:5-12

  The Acts passage portrays apostles Peter and John mimicking Jesus’ ministry and words. The healing story that takes place in Acts 3, just prior to this scripture, closely approximates Jesus’ healing work as reflected in the gospels. In response to helping this person, the apostles experience critique from the ruling elders and high priests — just as Jesus did when he healed people. And just as Jesus faced down these critiques verbally, Peter defends their healing, and in doing this he repeats words that Jesus preached to the disciples in Luke 20:17-18, which in turn is a quote that Jesus drew from Psalm 118:22:

  “This Jesus is 'the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.'”

  The tradition then continues to weave, as Peter, we know, means “Stone” and this name was given to him by Jesus to represent the role he will play in building the church. Far from there being only one Cornerstone or one Shepherd, these rather are models that are given to us for how it is that we can choose our behaviors and shape our identities to help build the kingdom of heaven on earth.

  The Acts passage, particularly the last verse (4:12) can be and has been used to perpetuate a sort of Christian-centrism that positions all other faiths as illegitimate. This becomes much more toxic when the “high priests and elders” in the passage are understood to represent all Jewish people, and the disciples (Peter and John) are understood to represent “Christians.” This reading stems from two key closely related confusions: First, we forget that everyone in the story is Jewish — in fact the word “Christian” did not even come into play until centuries after these events — and second, we misunderstand the power dynamics going on in the between the characters in the passage. The interaction is between Jewish people who had different stations in society. The “high priests and elders” had formal power as well as what we would call today “privilege.” The disciples were without formal power, had relatively little privilege, and had in fact been put in prison because of their efforts to communicate their deviant political-spiritual beliefs. The text portrays these “riff-raff” as brazenly informing the powerful that the only way they can be healed is through acknowledging the authority of a prisoner whose execution they just enabled. Imagine if anti-death penalty protesters had been brought out after the execution of Troy Davis (to name one of too many contemporary examples) and when asked to justify their actions, had asserted to the judges and elected officials that their identities could only be made right through the embrace of the saying of Troy Davis’s name — “I am Troy Davis” was the mantra of this movement. This imagined scenario will generate a more accurate understanding of the interaction the scripture portrays than the imagination of most privileged readers of the text.

  In his article “The Most Misused Scripture in the World,” blogger D. Mark Davis provides a helpful textual exegesis of the entire Acts passage, pointing to a key translation issue in which the Greek word σῴζω is sometimes rendered as “heal” and other times as “save,” and in this passage is translated in both ways at different times, which Davis asserts is disingenuous and a key contributor toward the continued toxic use of this scripture. He also challenges us to consciously shift who we identify in the text, which is a key step in the process of detoxifying our relationship with scripture. He writes:

  “It seems to me that those of us living on this side of history cannot simply parrot Acts 4:12 as if we are one with Peter and John. The church, too often, has been the ruling institution on the wrong side of the judgment bench. It seems like the worst form of irresponsible ignoring of history for someone today to simply repeat Acts 4:12 without any regard for how far away we have moved from the position that Peter and John were in.”

  I think Acts 4:12 should be read to include the names “Christian” and “Episcopalian” and “Pastor” and “The Very Reverend” and any other name we might put on and flaunt like a fancy cloak. These names and affiliations do not save us. The only salvation right now likes in the ability to recognize and name the Good Shepherd and Cornerstone aspects of Christ as they show up in our world, and the ability to fuse our identities with them. In this spirit, I dedicate this reflection and give my heartfelt thanks to all shoe showing up in “truth and action” for Gaza right now, including the non-theist “nones.” May the Good Shepherd protect, empower and magnify their efforts.

Teaching and Preaching Ideas

Treat Sheep and Shepherds as Real Subjects

There is a deep danger in the shepherd-sheep imagery. It can feel as though the sheep are powerless needy creatures and the shepherd is the ultimate benevolent dictator, graciously deciding to save them from otherwise inevitable doom. Using this relationship as a metaphor for the relationship between people and the Force of Guidance leads to a preference for passive following as the way to live a faithful life. Unfortunately, this is widely accepted amongst Christians as the accurate understanding of the relationship between ourselves and God. But is this really an accurate understanding of the felt connections between sheep and shepherds? In exploring this question I’ve been reading some blogs by people who work as shepherds. When working to dismantle the confusing ways that metaphors get mobilized, it is always helpful to remember that the “objects” of metaphors are also and actually subjects of life in our world. Sheep and shepherds are real subjects with their own identities. And by the accounts of actual shepherds, the relationships between them are much more nuanced than dictator-follower! Kim Goodling, who blogs at livingwithgotlands.com, describe her sheep as clever creatures with will and personality that she must work to understand on a daily basis. Moreover, she identifies “humility” as one of the core qualities of a human who wants to work with sheep. In Kim’s writings, you can find some support for the use of sheep/shepherd as metaphors for humans/God, and Kim herself draws from this metaphor at times. But you will not find support for an understanding of either relationship to be one of caricatures or simple power over relationship. Let us commit to seeing sheep, as well as ourselves, as much more than needy followers – even as we acknowledge and respond to our primordial need for Guidance from Beyond ourselves.

Singing Jesus Down to Earth

This week’s texts provide a unique ability to dethrone “High Christology” and perceive the shrouded shadow-side core of the Christian faith which asserts that for every height that Jesus reached, he did so through becoming unified with the very ground of earthly experience. Moreover, he wanted us to continue the work of manifesting the Good Shepherd and the Cornerstone aspects of the Divine in the world.

Perceiving this is easier said than done, so strong is the influence of High Christology. For me, music has helped me to rewire my brian in this way. Two songs in particular come to mind:

• “I Would Die 4 U” by Prince and the Revolution is an unabashed exploration of the experience of identification with Christ. Though many traditional hymns use the “I” to sing about the subjectivity of God (such as “I the Lord of sea and sky,” “I am the resurrection and the life,” to name a few), it is a relatively rare experience to hear this artistic experiment being broadcast on secular pop radio channels. That the intention is to explore this space of shared subjectivity is undeniable given the opening words, which mirror the artist’s actual journey with nonbinary gender identity: “I'm not a woman, I'm not a man, I am something that you'll never understand…” For me, I find that experiencing this song as reflective of Prince’s devotional journey helps me understand more fully the instruction in 1 John 3:16: “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” And perhaps the best way of understanding the offering of these highly gifted musicians who died so young due to illness directly connected to the pressures of the performer’s life is as such an offering.

• “Cornerstone” by Bob Marley and the Wailers gives voice to the experience of struggle and rejection by those who follow Jesus’ Way. In the lyrics, the singer and spiritual leader identifies with Jesus by confessing himself as a stone that is at constant risk of being “picked and refused.” Bob speaks for so many when he pleads with his assessors not to “pick and refuse” him, because “the things people refuse, are the things they should choose.” Both the 2012 documentary “Marley” and the 2024 biopic “One Love” shed light on the biographical experiences behind this song, as well as the spiritual process by which he continued to lay down his life for the needs of the people in spite of these experiences. Robert Nesta Marley manifested the Good Shepherd and Cornerstone aspect of Christ in his conscious efforts to contribute to peace and unity in Jamaica and worldwide, as well as the reality that his music has ministered to and shepherded millions across the globe to spiritual healing. Indeed, it is perhaps the case that his lyrics have exposed more people to deep relationship with biblical scripture than the Bible itself. Both of the above mentioned films, as well as footage available online of his inspired online performances, can provide insight as to what it looks like when someone consciously lives out the journey of an Anointed in the public sphere today.

Sources and Resources

D. Mark Davis “The Most Misused Scripture in the World,” https://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2012/04/most-misused-scripture-in-world.html

Kim Goodling, livingwithgotlands.com

Matthew W. Humphrey, “Sheep Are Not Sexy” Radical Discipleship, https://radicaldiscipleship.net/2018/04/19/wild-lectionary-sheep-are-not-sexy/

Bob Marley and the Wailers, “Cornerstone” Audio with lyrics: https://youtu.be/j5XwCv12KZk?si=YTqUoM2F97RMaxjQ

Noel Moules, “Good Shepherd” Radical Discipleship https://radicaldiscipleship.net/2017/05/04/wild-lectionary-good-shepherd/

Prince and the Revolution, “I Would Die for You” Lyrics and audio at: https://genius.com/Prince-and-the-revolution-i-would-die-4-u-lyrics

Leah D. Schade, “When Psalm 23 Shepherded Me,” https://www.patheos.com/blogs/ecopreacher/2017/05/psalm-23-shepherded-me/

John August Swanson’s serigraph on Psalm 23 https://johnaugustswanson.com/catalog/psalm-23/

So Sinopoulos-Lloyd, “Toward a Multispecies Apocalyptic Shepherdcraft” Queer Nature https://www.queernature.org/criticalnaturalistblog/shepherdcraft

Paul M. Washington, “Other Sheep I Have” The Autobiography of Father Paul M. Washington, https://alt.library.temple.edu/tupress/titles/1036_reg.html

Learn more about Troy Davis at https://youtu.be/8T3ZFkeX6mU?si=FH710carG8fX-TNS

Contributor Biography

Amy L. Dalton is a faith-rooted scholar-activist and community organizer living in the Lower Hudson Valley watershed, the traditional home of the Ramapough Lenape Nation. She serves as the Executive Director of the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice (clbsj.org), Board Treasurer of Proyecto Faro, a local immigrant organizing initiative (proyectofarorockland.org), and foot soldier for the newly formed Rockland for Ceasefire (instagram.com/rockland4ceasefire). She spends most of her time trying to keep up with her 7 year old daughter.