Overview Guide for Paschaltide Sunday Gospel Readings: From the Empty Tomb to Pentecost and Beyond

During Paschaltide, moving from Resurrection Sunday to Pentecost Sunday, we read each Gospel reading for Mass as if Jesus were speaking directly to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, as reflected in the Gospel reading for the Third Sunday of Paschaltide (Cycle A)(Luke 24:13-35). This way, our hearts are set on fire to be sent out for respective missions upon Pentecost.

In terms of Paschaltide Sunday Gospel readings, there is a shift upon the Fourth Sunday of Paschaltide, which is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday.  The Gospel readings for the first three Sundays of Paschaltide, including the Gospel readings for Paschal Vigil (Vigil – Matthew 28:1-10(A); Mark 16:1-7(B); Luke 24:1-12(C), Resurrection Sunday – John 20:1-9 (Day); Luke 14:13-35 (evening alternative), Second Sunday (Divine Mercy Sunday) – John 20:19-31, Third Sunday – Luke 24:13-35(A); Luke 24:35-48(B); John 21:1-19(C)), basically describe happenings on the day of resurrection: how the disciples first reacted to the empty tomb and how their fear turned into joy as they encountered resurrected Jesus, and how Peter was reunited with Jesus later. All of these readings for the first three Sundays tell us how gradually the disciples came to appreciate Resurrection as risen Jesus appeared multiple times before his Ascension. On the other hand, on the Fourth Sunday of Paschaltide (John 10:1-10(A);11-18(B);27-30(C)),we break away from Jesus’ appearances upon his resurrection but focus not only who Jesus is but what is his relation to us. And, the Fourth Sunday Gospel readings describe that it is described as the shepherd-sheep relationship.

Then, Gospel readings for Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sundays of Paschaltide are purely on Jesus’ relationship with us in the Christological context, gradually leading to Trinity. The Seventh Sunday may not be celebrated in some diocesan jurisdictions as it is replaced with the feast of Ascension, which is transferred from the Thursday of the Sixth week of Paschal Tide. Nevertheless, it is important to read and reflect on the Scripture readings on the Seventh Sunday of Paschaltide.

This way, we can deepen meaning of Lent and Paschal Triduum, in retrospect, through which we have prepared ourselves to renew and refresh our relationship with Jesus. Not only that, because of this, we can further appreciate why Jesus went through his passion and died. Subsequently, then, we can rejoice and celebrate his resurrection with much deeper meaning in the context of his Paschal Mystery. And this is a very important factor for us to prepare for Pentecost.

On Fourth Sunday of Paschaltide, reading from Jesus’ Good Shepherd Discourse from John 10, we reflect what it means to have Jesus as the Good Shepherd. At the same time, we also deepen our appreciation of the way he laid down his own life as the Good Shepherd was the way he died as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, as Passover sacrifice lamb. So, we see that we are not just sheep to follow Jesus the Good Shepherd but the sheep redeemed by his blood from the bonds of sins, which Satan set up, just as Passover lamb’s blood had saved the Israelites on Passover night. The blood of our Good Shepherd laying down his life, the blood of the Lamb of God, is also reflected as a sign of saintly salvation at the eschaton in Revelation (Revelation 7;14).

In a way, the blood of Jesus, poured out as he laid down his life as the Good Shepherd, and was sacrificed on the Cross as our Passover Lamb of God, reflects the Divine Mercy, as it is for the life of our souls, as Jesus made it clear to St. Maria Faustina (Diary of St. Faustina, 299). And the Divine Mercy has been poured out from risen Jesus to revive the disciples’ souls that were dying with confusion, fear, and grief, when they did not yet understand resurrection with a sign of the empty tomb. As we remember from the Gospel reading on the Second Sunday of Paschaltide (Divine Mercy Sunday) (John 20:19-31), what revived the dying souls of the disciples on the evening of resurrection was the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ gentle breath (John 20:22), and it is Divine Mercy itself. Therefore, there is a parallel between the blood of Christ, the blood of the Lamb of God, the blood that the Good Shepherd poured when he laid down his life, to save us, and the Holy Spirit in his breath. This realization is of critical importance as we journey forward toward Pentecost to receive the Holy Spirit in the powerful wind, remembering Jesus’ blood on Good Friday during Paschal Triduum and remembering the Holy Spirit to revive the souls of the disciples in Jesus’ gentle breath on the evening of Resurrection.

For the Fifth and Sixth Sundays of Paschal Tide, the Gospel readings from Johannine Gospel accounts of Jesus’ discourse at the Last Supper (4^th Sunday -John 14:1-12(A);15:1-8(B);13:31-35(C), 5^th Sunday -John 14:15-21(A); 15:9-17(B);14;23-29(C)) are read to further elaborates the shepherd-sheep relationship between Jesus and us. So, in reading these Gospel texts for these remaining Sundays of Paschaltide, just imagine our Good Shepherd is speaking to us directly in a very intimate manner. Also remember, the narratives in John 13:31-17:26 are what Jesus spoke to the disciples on the night before his death. What Jesus spoke in these narratives are to prepare us to remain in him as one even though he cannot be with them physically all the time. Namely, his purpose was to prepare the disciples for his Ascension and what follows it – namely, Pentecost. And, throughout the First Readings from the Acts of the Apostles during Paschaltide, we recognize how the disciples were acting on their missions beyond Pentecost, for which Jesus prepared them even before his death on the Cross.

Because the physical presence of Jesus is no longer the reality upon his Ascension, how can we remain in him as he remains in us, just as he and the Father are one? This is a good question, and this question cannot be answered unless our thinking and vision can transcend the physical reality. This is a kind of question: how did resurrected Jesus entered the firmly locked and secured Upper Room on the night of his resurrection, to which science cannot answer.

The resurrected body is no longer mere physical, as it is a new body (i.e. 1 Corinthians 13;35-55). Because of its spiritual property, it can transcend any physical and even temporal barriers. Therefore, Jesus can remain with and in us as we remain with and in him, just as he and the Father are one, while we remain with each other as one through our mutual love, even Jesus’ physical body after resurrection is in heaven upon Ascension. And, as we reflect, it is the Holy Spirit, who comes on Pentecost as another Parakletos (John 14:16, 26), who continues to lead us as our Good Shepherd. He is, in essence, the same as the first Parakletos, Jesus himself, the Son (1 John 2:1). And, both our Parakletos and another Parakletos – Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit – are sent from the Father. Thus, through the Johannine Gospel readings on the Fifth and Sixth Sundays, we also recognize Trinity.

So, keep this in mind as we engage in the Gospel readings for the Fifth and Sixth Sundays of Paschaltide.

Gospel reading for the Seventh Sunday of Paschaltide, the very last Sunday of Paschaltide, is drawn from John 17, which is Jesus’ intimate prayer for us, connecting us to the Father through him, as he expresses his desire for us to be one not with one another but with him and with the Father (John 17:1-11(A);11-19(B);20-26(C)). In this prayer of Jesus, you can see the same desire of Jesus for oneness – oneness between Jesus and us, upon our oneness as the Church, filled with the Holy Spirit, being one body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27), just as in the oneness of the Son and the Father.

During Paschal Triduum, we saw Jesus as the Lamb of God, who was made into Passover sacrifice to free us from the slavery of sins. Then, during Paschaltide, we listen to our Good Shepherd, as he leads us toward the Kingdom, where he goes ahead of us and brings us, upon shifting from reflecting on the meaning of his death and resurrection. Thus, the post-resurrection period reflects our spiritual Exodus, which will conclude at the end of the week of Christ the King Sunday. And, as our Good Shepherd continues to lead us to His Kingdom, also through the Holy Spirit, upon Pentecost, we are one body of Christ, the Church, one with each other as one in Christ, just as he is one with the Father, led by and filled with the Holy Spirit.

After all, this post-resurrection Exodus journey, led by the Good Shepherd (i.e. John 10:11), the Parakletos (1 John 2:1), who also comes to us in the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26), upon the Lamb of God’s blood fleeing us from the bonds of sin, is also journey of love, which makes us one not only with each other but truly one with Christ as one body (Ephesians 4:13-16), so that we truly become one with God, as in Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21, reflecting the persistent oneness between the Father and the Son (John 10:30), extended to us through him (John 14:20). And, this oneness is what we are as we enter the Kingdom through the sheep gate, which is Christ (John 10:9), the narrow gate to enter (Matthew 7:13). This way, we will never go astray like lost sheep, as we have before, as long as we follow the Good Shepherd, who is also the only way to the Father (John 14:6), with whom we find the verdant pasture (Psalm 23:2).