4th Sunday of Easter 2026 - Year A

Jeff Bagnall • 21 April 2026

The first reading repeats the introduction from last week so as to make sense, for there follows a continuation of the previous words spoken to the crowd by Peter. The people have been moved by the accusation of putting Jesus to death, and they want to know what they can do. Peter calls upon them to be baptised. As John the Baptist seems to have preached to his listeners, Peter begins with the need for repentance and the need for baptism. You could feel sorry for the past but this repentance means ‘change your attitude to life.’ Baptism is a washing symbolic of starting with a clean sheet; here it is for starting a new life caught up in the life of the risen Christ. In his life our past is transformed; those baptised will have the forgiveness of past sins. The words translated ‘forgiveness of’ could equally well be translated as ‘release from,’ meaning a freedom from the debilitating affects of past sins. Those baptised will share in the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit of God. God wants people of all kinds to come into this communion with Him.

The First letter of Peter is written in good Greek and unlikely to come from the pen of Peter himself, but whether or no it is a work inspired by God written in the first century and accepted into the Christian Bible. It has a great deal to say to us. Our reading presents us with food for thought, a high ideal and an enormous challenge. It tells us that when we undergo suffering even though we are doing good deeds, this shows God’s favour for us. Indeed this is actually what being a Christian involves – following Christ’s example, who Himself suffered for our benefit and as an example for us to follow. The writer has in mind a prophetic poem (maybe of the 4th century BC) from the book of Isaiah (chapter 53). The suffering of Christ has often been seen as a sacrifice to appease God for sin and folk’s falling short of expectations, and this imagery was drawn ultimately from the Jewish sacrifices and sin-offerings, for it is not at all easy to find ways of making some sense of Christ’s suffering (and even of any innocent’s misfortune). But God is not like a human self-opinionated superior person, who requires compensation when offended in any way; not like us when we seek what can only be called revenge for any damage done to us or even to our belongings or property! Jesus came to show us a better way to live our lives, a very challenging way reported in Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:38-48): we shouldn’t be wanting “an eye for an eye,” for revenge and treating evil with force doesn’t bring freedom and joy to the world. As we celebrate the resurrection of Christ from death, after a painful and totally unjust execution, we need to learn that the way to the higher life, to sharing in the life of Christ, is not so much a bed of roses, as of thorns. There is a deep and inner joy in following the difficult path of the life of Christ, which we should and could take part in. And at this time we celebrate this joy of the new and higher way of living.

The Gospel is helpful after the challenge of the second reading. For we easily and often fall short of the ideal and go astray. But we need to think of God as a shepherd. In those days the shepherd would spend most of his life with his flock, leading them to good pasture, gathering them into a safe place and staying with them throughout the night for their protection. This image of God has been deservedly very popular over the last two and a half millennia; many people know and love the psalm and hymn that we had for our responsorial psalm after the first reading; in John’s gospel this image is expanded and Jesus is God the shepherd, and it is through Him, as through a gate, that we can not only share His way of life, but benefit from his help and protection.

see Jeff’s Jottings – Listen to Judas

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Jeff Bagnall was a lecturer for many years at Craiglockhart College teaching RE to many future Catholic Primary teachers.

6th Sunday of Easter - 2026 - Year A

by Jeff Bagnall • 8 May 2026

The first reading is from the point in Acts where Luke tells of the extension of Christianity beyond the confines of Judea and the limits of the Jewish religion. Christianity is spread by Philip, one of the ‘deacons’ appointed to help the Hellenists in Jerusalem (see last week’s first reading). He goes to the Samaritans, who had become separated from the Jewish faith when they intermarried with non-Jews centuries earlier, and who were despised by the Jews. We have mixed reports about them in the Gospels: Jesus sent the chosen twelve out saying “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans” (Matthew10:2-6); Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25ff); and in John’s Gospel (Chapter 4), Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman and many Samaritans come to believe in him through her testimony. Philip had been commissioned through the laying on of hands by the Apostles specifically to pastor the Hellenists in Jerusalem, but now we see him as a missionary (sometime translated as an evangelist – one who preaches the Good News) to the Samaritans. He is successful Luke tells us, because of his words and the miracles attributed to him; many of them are baptised; we recall that Peter had told the Jews, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38f). Peter’s words imply that baptism brings the gift of the Holy Spirit and is open to “whomever God will call.” But when the Apostles in Jerusalem hear of this they send Peter and John to lay their hands on the Samaritans for them to receive the Spirit. Behind this we might detect some edginess between the ‘mother’ church’s leaders and the successful evangelist, Philip, though it is not made explicit, for Luke when he was travelling with Paul stayed with Philip at his house in Caesarea (Acts 21:8-10). We learn from this reading about the growth of the Church both as a community of the Spirit and as an organised body (of Christ); the process will always be difficult and is still going on in the worldwide context of the Church to this day – we all play a part in this.

5th Sunday of Easter - 2026 - Year A

by Jeff Bagnall • 1 May 2026

In the reading from Acts ( Acts 6:1-7 ) we have an example of the early development of the institutional aspect of the Church. The instigation for this was the increase in the number of Christians from among the Hellenists – Jews who lived in the Diaspora, that is, outside of the Jewish homeland. The need for development resulted from a complaint from these Hellenists that the pastoral care of the members of their community was not being met because of a shortage of staff who might provide this. There was a general meeting and the Twelve leaders said that their particular responsibility was for prayer and preaching the word of God, and so they suggested that seven other people should be selected for the pastoral work that was needed. Those selected should have the appropriate qualities: good reputation, wisdom, and a life with God’s Spirit. They were selected by the people, and the Eleven laid their hands on them to commission them for this task. The passage concludes with Luke again telling us of the increase in numbers – the growth and development of the Christian communities was the main instigation for the writing of the Acts of the Apostles. We learn from this that the Church needs to develop and adapt to the different needs and circumstances that arise; this is much more complex and yet also more urgent now, for the church as we know it now is not only broken into different denominations but also is spread worldwide and the most numerous of all religions.