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Easter Season · Fourth Sunday of Easter · Year A

1 Peter 2:20b-25

By His Wounds You Are Healed

April 26, 2026

Ecce Homo, Caravaggio
Ecce Homo, Caravaggio, c. 1605Palazzo Bianco, Genoa
Pilate presents the scourged man to the crowd, and the crowd is us: Pilate looks out of the painting while gesturing back at Christ, who looks down.When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten. 1 Peter describes the bearing, and this is it.CaravaggioThe painter who put street models and raking light into altarpieces, killed a man in a brawl, and changed European painting in under twenty years.Palazzo Bianco, GenoaA Genoese palace on the Strada Nuova, given to the city in 1884 and now part of a street of museums.Palazzo Bianco, Genoa
Roman Lectionary
GospelJohn 10:1-10Jn 10:1-10
Second Reading1 Pet. 2:20b-251 Pt 2:20b-25
First ReadingActs 2:14a, 36-41
Responsorial PsalmPs. 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 (1)Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 (1)

Overview & Insights

“He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross… By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

The reading begins in the middle of a verse, an unusual lectionary cut, and the effect is to lift this christological passage out of the household instruction to domestic slaves that surrounds it (2:18-20) and hand it to the whole assembly. Verses 22-25 are stitched almost entirely from Isaiah 53 in its Greek form: no sin and no deceit in his mouth (Isa 53:9), he bore our sins (53:12), by his wounds healed (53:5), gone astray like sheep (53:6). What 1 Peter adds is the middle term in v. 23, where silence under insult is described not as passivity but as an act of committal, “he handed himself over to the one who judges justly,” using the same verb the passion narratives use for handing Jesus over. The passage ends with a verb of turning back (v. 25) and with two titles for Christ, shepherd and guardian of souls, which the gospel of this Sunday takes up.

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Commentary

Commentary on 1 Peter 2:19-25Commentary on 1 Pt 2:19-25 Working Preacher

A Luther Seminary reading of Christ's suffering as the pattern Christians follow.

1 Peter 2:19-251 Pt 2:19-25 Center for Excellence in Preaching

A Reformed preaching commentary on suffering unjustly and the shepherd who bore our sins.

1 Peter, Lesson 21 Pt, Lesson 2 Agape Bible Study

A Catholic verse-by-verse study covering the household code and Christ's suffering in 1 Peter 2:18-25.

The Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A Catholic Productions · Mass Readings Explained

Brant Pitre's walkthrough of this Sunday's readings, including Peter's call to follow Christ's suffering.

1 Peter 2:18-251 Pt 2:18-25 Precept Austin

A study-note commentary collating multiple sources on bearing unjust suffering as Christ did.

1 Peter 2 Commentary1 Pt 2 Commentary StudyLight

A verse-by-verse commentary on the shepherd and guardian of souls language closing the chapter.

Background & Word Study

1 Peter 2 Interlinear1 Pt 2 Interlinear BibleHub

Greek interlinear text for word-level study of the passage's suffering-servant language.

1 Peter1 Pt BibleProject

An animated overview of 1 Peter's themes of exile and suffering that frame this reading.

The Church Fathers

1 Peter 21 Pt 2 Catena Bible

Patristic comments on 1 Peter 2 collected verse by verse from the early Church Fathers.

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