On the Second Sunday after Easter, traditionally known as Dominica II Post Pascha, the Church turns our gaze to Christ the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. The readings from 1 Peter 2:21–25 and John 10:11–16 unite in a powerful contemplation of the sacrificial love of Christ and the call for Christians to imitate His meekness, obedience, and charity.
Christ the Suffering Servant — 1 Peter 2:21–25
“Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth.” (1 Peter 2:21-22)
St. Peter speaks directly to the baptized who endure suffering, reminding them that Christ is not only their Redeemer but also their Model. In His Passion, He revealed the path of holy endurance: “Who, when He was reviled, did not revile; when He suffered, He threatened not, but delivered Himself to him that judged him unjustly.” (v. 23)
St. Bede the Venerable offers a beautiful commentary on this passage, saying:
“He who suffered for us also left us an example so that we might bear injuries patiently, so that we might follow Him not only by believing, but also by suffering for righteousness.” (Hom. in 1 Pet.)
The true disciple, then, is not merely the one who professes Christ, but the one who shares in His silence under injustice, who carries his cross, and who suffers not as a rebel, but as one conformed to the Lamb of God.
This idea of redemptive suffering is drawn directly from Isaiah’s prophecy of the Suffering Servant: “By His wounds, you were healed” (1 Pet. 2:24). Here, Peter reminds the early Christians — and us — that our healing is found in the stripes Christ bore. As St. Gregory Nazianzen wrote, “That which was not assumed was not healed.” Christ assumed not only our flesh, but also our condition of pain, rejection, and death, so that by His Passion we might be made whole.
The Good Shepherd — John 10:11–16
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
While the epistle contemplates the Lamb, the Gospel unveils the Shepherd. Yet the wonder of Christianity is that the Lamb and the Shepherd are one and the same. Christ, the Good Shepherd, is not remote from His flock; He walks among them, He defends them from wolves, and — most astonishingly — He lays down His life for them.
St. Augustine reflects deeply on this paradox:
“He is both Shepherd and Door; He protects and leads His sheep, and by Himself opens the way to the fold. He is both Sacrifice and Priest, and He gave His life that we might live.” (Tract. in Joannem 46)
The Lord contrasts the Good Shepherd with the hireling — one who cares little for the sheep because they are not his own. The Good Shepherd, however, owns His sheep not by possession but by love; they are His because He lays down His life for them.
St. Cyril of Alexandria writes:
“The mark of the good shepherd is that he loves the sheep, even to the point of death. This is the crowning proof of his love: to die so that the sheep may live.”
In this same passage, Christ reveals that His mission is not only to the fold of Israel, but to the Gentiles as well: “Other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring.” (v. 16) This speaks to the universality of the Church — the one flock under the one Shepherd.
The Paschal Mystery of the Shepherd and the Lamb
In these two readings, the Church in Eastertide gives us a double vision of Christ — the Innocent Lamb and the Loving Shepherd. In His Passion, He does not retaliate, but submits, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy: “Like a lamb led to the slaughter, He opened not His mouth.” In His Resurrection, He rises as the Shepherd-King, gathering scattered sheep into one flock.
For us, living in the shadow of the Resurrection, these readings are both consolation and commission. We are consoled that Christ knows our sufferings intimately, having borne them Himself. And we are commissioned to walk in His steps — not with worldly strength, but with the patience of the Lamb and the charity of the Shepherd.
St. Leo the Great exhorts:
“Beloved, recognize the dignity of your Christian vocation: since you are made partakers in the Body of Christ, do not rend it by discord. You are sheep of the one Shepherd — follow not the hirelings, but the Voice of the Shepherd Himself.” (Sermon on the Passion)
Conclusion: Learning the Way of the Cross
Dominica II Post Pascha calls us to deeper union with Christ Crucified and Risen. We are summoned not merely to admire the Shepherd, but to follow Him — even when He leads us through the valley of suffering. His voice still calls in the silence of prayer, in the Sacraments, and in the Church’s tradition: “Follow Me.”
Let us, then, in the spirit of Eastertide joy, walk faithfully behind the Shepherd who became a Lamb, that we who were wandering as sheep might return to the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls.
“For you were as sheep going astray; but you are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:25)