The One Who Asks Us to Receive:

           

The Fourth Sunday of Easter 2026 

April 26, 2026

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Acts 2:36-41; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:20-25; John 10:1-10

 

When Peter tells the Israelites that they put Jesus to death, they realized what they had done and asked, “What should we do to remedy our error?” In the second reading, Peter tells us that those who went astray returned to their guardian and shepherd. The Gospel passage tells us that Jesus is the one to be trusted because his care is genuine. He will care for those who want to receive his voice. He knows there are other voices who speak as a shepherd and they repeatedly show they do not have the shepherd’s heart. Jesus offers us life abundant life in its fullness.

 

How do we receive the offer that Jesus makes to us? We are trained in our spiritual life that it is far better to give than to receive. So, we do things like serving, sacrificing, and fitting morally good activities into our schedules. We feel comfortable in this realm, but there is a tension we have to face. Receiving can be much harder than giving and that makes us uncomfortable. We have great and subtle tensions around gift giving as well. When we pray, we ask for grace, which is a gift, and sometimes we are not comfortable receiving the gifts God offers. 

 

Resistance rises for different reasons. Some people say, “I don’t need help. I can do it on my own.” Pride stops us from receiving the fullness of the gift. Or, receiving the gift (or grace) puts us in a position of dependence, and our control issues arise. We are taught self-sufficiency. A primary resistance is a sense of unworthiness where we feel we have not done anything or enough to warrant a gift. Or, perhaps we wonder about the unknown, unforeseen strings that may be attached. Why would God offer me this gift? What further thing will God demand of me? Think about our personal history of receiving compliments. How well do you simply receive the goodwill someone offers?

 

Christ offers us salvation. God offers us new life. We need to see that Christianity is not something that we do, but something that we receive. Why me? Forget about the question and learn to accept the gift. Think about those events in our life where we are offered grace, mercy, or forgiveness. These are all gifts that are undeserved, and none of them are earned. We have to ask ourselves: Do I really want what I ask in prayer? We can also turn to Peter who resisted getting his feet washed. He wanted to be the one who gives, but Jesus insisted that the relationship demanded that Peter received what Jesus offered. Unless you let me serve you, you cannot share in me. The moral of the story is: refusing the gift actually blocks the relationship.

 

Receiving makes us uncomfortable because it makes us vulnerable. A part of our core self is exposed when we are vulnerable, which makes receiving love, forgiveness, or genuine care so difficult, but this is where intimacy begins, and Jesus calls us into deeper friendship, deeper intimacy. We want it and we resist. We have a problem. God does not operate on our time. God does not wait until we are ready or deserving. God is a persistent giver. God will also offer these gifts before we are ready, and we have to ask, “Are we willing to accept what God is freely offering?”

 

The Good Shepherd is offering us new life. We have nothing to prove. There is nothing we can earn. How willing am I to let go of my resistances so I may receive in abundance these gifts that are generously offered even before we ask for them?