Apr 21, 2026 Written by 
Art'working

4th Sunday in Easter

4th Sunday in Easter

4th Easter Sunday (year A)

 

(1 Peter 2:20b–25)

(Psalm 22)

 

1 Peter 2:20 ... But if, whilst doing good, you endure suffering patiently, this is pleasing to God.

1 Peter 2:21 For to this you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his footsteps:

1 Peter 2:22 he committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth,

1 Peter 2:23 when he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that, having died to sin, we might live for righteousness; 

1 Peter 2:25 By his wounds you have been healed. You were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

 

It is a grace for those who know God to suffer unjustly. It is not the suffering itself that is grace, but the opportunity that God grants, through the injustice endured, to be freed from one’s own pride. What glory would there be, in fact, in enduring suffering because we have done wrong? If one suffers because one has sinned, having transgressed the law of God and of men, this affliction or suffering is not by grace, but by fault. This suffering, if lived in conversion, in the patience of Christ, becomes and is transformed into grace. It is grace, however, insofar as it helps to redeem one’s own guilt; it also helps to free us from our pride, if all is accepted in humility. Glory does not lie in punishment, but in the redemption of punishment and in the holiness that arises from punishment redeemed and sanctified by the humility with which it is lived.

“But if, whilst doing good, you endure suffering with patience, this will be pleasing before God.” The Christian must not do evil. The Christian is one who lives in truth, in the holiness of Christ, in the imitation of Christ. He must remain in goodness, and from the goodness in which he dwells he must bear every suffering with patience. This is the path of his sanctification, as it was also for Christ.

Peter now says that this is our calling (v. 21). Suffering is intended to free us from all vainglory, pride and spiritual arrogance. “For Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you might follow in his footsteps”: There is a difference between us and Christ, and it is a great one. We suffer because of our sins and our iniquities. We suffer for ourselves. Christ, on the other hand, did not suffer for his own sins. Christ suffered for us. For our sake, he endured the Passion, the cross and death. By suffering for us, he left us an example, so that we might follow him along the Way of the Cross, carrying our own cross. Christ is our model. He suffered as a righteous man, because of the justice he proclaimed. This is the truth of Christ, and these are the footsteps we must follow.

Jesus always remained in the greatest righteousness: that of loving always, of not repaying evil with evil, or insults with insults, refraining from any threat of vengeance. He responded to evil with good, to hatred with love, to insults with prayer, to abuse with forgiveness. This is the example He has left us. Jesus “entrusted his cause to the one who judges righteously”: it will be the Father who defends his cause. God, however, defends Christ’s cause in the divine way, not in the human way. The divine way is the glorious resurrection of his body and the transformation of his body of flesh into a body of spirit, so that the risen Christ now dies no more.

Christians too are called to entrust their cause into God’s hands. The Lord will know what to do and when to do it to restore the righteous to their rightful place, the righteous who now suffer unjustly because of human sin. Whoever gives their life to God, whether in joy or in suffering, will have their life safeguarded by God. How? No one will ever know this. This knowledge belongs to God alone and to no one else.

Thus Peter continues: “He bore our sins in his body on the wood of the cross”: Jesus is not merely an example of how to endure suffering. He is also the sacrament of eternal life. Jesus did not bear his own sins on the wood of the cross. He was innocent, holy, without blemish. On the cross, in his body, he bore our sins, to remove them from the world. He removed them by hanging them on the cross, nailing them to it, and thus destroyed them forever. Whoever wishes to may now destroy their own sins. They destroy them by having them forgiven in the name of Christ, but also by bearing the root of pride and lust upon the cross of suffering. Every Christian is called to make this truth their own, “so that, no longer living for sin, we might live for righteousness”: Christ bore our sins on the cross to take them away, so that we might no longer live for sin, but for righteousness.

What is righteousness? It is the perfect fulfilment of the Father’s will in our lives. We live to fulfil the Father’s will. We live to realise the Word in our lives. We can do this thanks to Christ who bore our sins on the cross, in his body, to take them away from the world. After Christ died on the cross, anyone who wants and desires it can live without sin; they can live exclusively for righteousness. “By his wounds you have been healed”: We have been healed from the wounds of sin. If we have been healed, we can live as healthy people, and we live as healthy people by doing God’s will. If we have been healed, we can carry the cross as Christ did; we can go all the way in fulfilling God’s will. If we have been healed, we can master and submit to God’s will every impulse of pride, vainglory and arrogance. If we have been healed, we can face suffering by carrying our own cross, just as Christ did.

“You were like sheep going astray”: without Christ, one is like a stray sheep, without a shepherd, a sheep left to its own devices, exposed to every temptation and every sin. This is the condition of those who do not know the Lord. They are without a fold, without a shepherd, without pasture, without a destination, constantly exposed to being killed. Without Christ, one is already in the realm of darkness and evil. “But now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls”: By embracing the faith, by receiving the Word, Christ is welcomed as Shepherd and Guardian, guide and support of one’s soul. With Christ, Shepherd and Guardian, the Christian soul walks in safety. This is why Psalm 22 says: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want; he leads me to green pastures; he restores my soul by still waters. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” 

 

 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

 

(Available on Amazon)

97 Last modified on Tuesday, 21 April 2026 16:25
Rate this item
(1 Vote)
Argentino Quintavalle

Argentino Quintavalle è studioso biblico ed esperto in Protestantesimo e Giudaismo. Autore del libro “Apocalisse - commento esegetico” (disponibile su Amazon) e specializzato in catechesi per protestanti che desiderano tornare nella Chiesa Cattolica.

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Latest from Argentino Quintavalle

Previous
« 3rd Sunday in Easter
Next
5th Sunday in Easter »
back to top
In the middle of the dense forest of rules and regulations — to the legalisms of past and present — Jesus makes an opening through which one can catch a glimpse of two faces: the face of the Father and the face of the brother. He does not give us two formulas or two precepts: there are no precepts nor formulas. He gives us two faces [Pope Francis]
In mezzo alla fitta selva di precetti e prescrizioni – ai legalismi di ieri e di oggi – Gesù opera uno squarcio che permette di scorgere due volti: il volto del Padre e quello del fratello. Non ci consegna due formule o due precetti: non sono precetti e formule; ci consegna due volti [Papa Francesco]
Whoever is inscribed in God's name participates in God's life, and lives. Therefore to believe is to be inscribed in the name of God. Thus we are alive. Whoever has a share in God's name is not dead but rather belongs to the living God. In this sense we should be able to understand the dynamism of faith, which entails enrolling our names in the name of God and in this way entering into life [Pope Benedict]
Chi è scritto nel nome di Dio partecipa alla vita di Dio, vive. E così credere è essere iscritti nel nome di Dio. E così siamo vivi. Chi appartiene al nome di Dio non è un morto, appartiene al Dio vivente. In questo senso dovremmo capire il dinamismo della fede, che è un iscrivere il nostro nome nel nome di Dio e così un entrare nella vita [Papa Benedetto]
As sometimes happens in the Gospel, faced with the trap set for him by his enemies, Jesus, with his response, rises above the contingent controversy and goes far beyond the particular and mutually divergent positions (John Paul II)
Come talora accade nel Vangelo, di fronte al tranello mossogli dai suoi nemici, Gesù, con la sua risposta, s’innalza al di sopra della polemica contingente e va ben oltre le posizioni particolari e tra loro divergenti (Giovanni Paolo II)
This Name clearly expresses that the God of the Bible is not some kind of monad closed in on itself and satisfied with his own self-sufficiency but he is life that wants to communicate itself, openness, relationship [Pope Benedict]
Questo nome esprime dunque chiaramente che il Dio della Bibbia non è una sorta di monade chiusa in se stessa e soddisfatta della propria autosufficienza, ma è vita che vuole comunicarsi, è apertura, relazione [Papa Benedetto]
There, however, in the place that should have been taken up by the encounter between God and man, he found livestock merchants and money-changers who occupied this place of prayer with their commerce […] In the temple's purification, however, it was a matter of more than fighting abuses. A new time in history was foretold (Pope Benedict)
Ma là dove doveva esservi lo spazio dell’incontro tra Dio e l’uomo, Egli trova commercianti di bestiame e cambiavalute che occupano con i loro affari il luogo di preghiera […] Nella purificazione del tempio, però, si tratta di più che della lotta agli abusi. È preconizzata una nuova ora della storia (Papa Benedetto)
«Ask Jesus for the grace to follow him closely», so as not to leave him alone, thus overcoming the temptations of looking at ourselves to «share the cake» of personal interests [Pope Francis]
«Chiedere a Gesù la grazia di seguirlo da vicino», per non lasciarlo solo, superando così le tentazioni di guardare noi stessi per «spartirsi la torta» degli interessi personali [Papa Francesco]

duevie.art

don Giuseppe Nespeca

Tel. 333-1329741


Disclaimer

Questo blog non rappresenta una testata giornalistica in quanto viene aggiornato senza alcuna periodicità. Non può pertanto considerarsi un prodotto editoriale ai sensi della legge N°62 del 07/03/2001.
Le immagini sono tratte da internet, ma se il loro uso violasse diritti d'autore, lo si comunichi all'autore del blog che provvederà alla loro pronta rimozione.
L'autore dichiara di non essere responsabile dei commenti lasciati nei post. Eventuali commenti dei lettori, lesivi dell'immagine o dell'onorabilità di persone terze, il cui contenuto fosse ritenuto non idoneo alla pubblicazione verranno insindacabilmente rimossi.