Easter The feast of Easter lasts 50 days concluding with Pentecost and it includes Ascension 40 days after Easter. The synoptic accounts of Easter morning rotate through the different series (A-Matthew, B-Mark, and C-Luke) as the main lesson and John's account is appointed for sunrise services. The first two lessons for the rest of the festival are taken primarily from Acts and the Revelation to St. John. The Sunday Gospel lessons for series C all come from the Gospel of John.
Fourth Sunday of Easter. In the three-year lectionary series the fourth Sunday of Easter is always Good Shepherd Sunday. The Psalm is Psalm 23 and the Gospel lesson is one of three portions of Jesus discourse on the Good Shepherd recorded in John 10. This year it is from John 10:22-33. There Jesus says he knows his sheep (his followers) and that no one can take them from him or his Father and that he that he and the Father are one. The Epistle lesson is Revelation 7:9-17--John’s vision of a multitude standing before God in white robes, praising him. They have come through persecution and martyrdom with faith intact and have been purified by the blood of Christ. The first lesson, Acts 20:17-35 is Paul’s farewell and warning to the Ephesian elders.