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Easter Season · Fourth Sunday of Easter · Year A

1 Peter 2:19-25

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
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelJohn 10:1-10Jn 10:1-10
Epistle1 Pet. 2:19-251 Pt 2:19-25
Old TestamentActs 2:42-47
PsalterPs. 23Ps 23

Overview & Insights

“By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

The lectionary begins this reading at v. 19 and so conceals its addressee, since the sentence belongs to instructions given to household slaves (oiketai, v. 18) who are told to endure unjust treatment; the passage cannot be read honestly without that. What the writer offers them is the densest use of Isaiah 53 anywhere in the New Testament, with v. 22 drawing on Isaiah 53:9, v. 24 on 53:5 and v. 25 on 53:6, so that the servant’s silence and wounds are set beside their own. The word translated “example” in v. 21 is hypogrammos, a copybook line of letters that a child traces over, which makes the imitation envisaged closer to tracing than to emulation. The final phrase, returning to the shepherd and guardian of souls, is what fits the reading to the Fourth Sunday of Easter, turning a text about endurance into one about belonging.

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Commentary

Commentary on 1 Peter 2:19-25Commentary on 1 Pt 2:19-25 Working Preacher (Luther Seminary)

Lutheran reading of Christ as example, healer, and restorer amid unjust suffering.

1 Peter 2:19-25 Commentary1 Pt 2:19-25 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed preaching commentary on this exact pericope.

The First Letter of Peter - The Christian in a Hostile World Agape Bible Study

Catholic lesson on enduring unjust suffering, covering this household-code passage.

1 Peter 2:18-25 Commentary1 Pt 2:18-25 Commentary Precept Austin

Evangelical verse-by-verse commentary matching this reading almost exactly.

1 Peter 2 - Coffman's Commentaries1 Pt 2 - Coffman's Commentaries StudyLight.org

Additional commentary voice on the household-code and suffering material in chapter 2.

Background & Word Study

1 Peter 2 Interlinear1 Pt 2 Interlinear BibleHub

Greek interlinear for word study of 'shepherd and guardian of your souls' and related terms.

Book of 1 Peter SummaryBook of 1 Pt Summary BibleProject

Overview video situating this household-code passage within the letter's design.

The Church Fathers

Catena on 1 Peter 2Catena on 1 Pt 2 catenabible.com

Patristic comments on the chapter containing this reading.

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