Worship Helps for Epiphany 5




Artwork: The Miraculous Draught of Fishes
Artist: Konrad Witz
Date: 1445

Worship Theme: In today’s gospel Jesus calls Peter away from his former career as a fisherman. From now on he will fish for people. Still today, God calls us to trust in Jesus. How does God call? Via strange feelings that pop up within us? No. God calls by messengers who speak his Word, by the power of his Spirit.

Old Testament: Judges 13:6-24
6The woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and he looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. 7But he did say to me, ‘Listen! You will be pregnant and give birth to a son. So now, do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat anything unclean, because the young man will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from his mother’s womb until the day of his death.’”
8Then Manoah pleaded with the Lord, “Please, Lord, the man of God whom you sent—please let him come to us again, to teach us what we are to do for the young man who is to be born.”
9God heard the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God returned to the woman while she was sitting in the field. Once again her husband Manoah was not with her. The woman ran quickly and told her husband. She said to him, “Come, see! The man who appeared to me came to me again today.”
11Manoah then got up and followed his wife. He came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”
He answered, “I am.”
12Manoah said, “Now, when your words come true, what will be the rule for the young man and his actions?”
13The Angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “The woman must be careful concerning everything that I said to her. 14She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine. She must not drink wine or beer, and she must not eat any unclean thing. Everything that I commanded her she must observe.”
15Manoah then said to the Angel of the Lord, “May we persuade you to stay, so that we may prepare a young goat for you?”
16But the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Even if you keep me here, I will not eat any of your food, but if you make a burnt offering, offer it up to the Lord.” (Manoah did not yet know that he was the Angel of the Lord.)
17Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we can honor you when your words come true?”
18The Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask about my name? It is wonderful.”
19Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering, and he offered them on the rock to the Lord, who did something wonderful as Manoah and his wife were watching. 20As the flame rose from the altar toward the sky, the Angel of the Lord ascended upward from the altar in the flame. Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell facedown to the ground. 21The Angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah and his wife again, but now Manoah knew that he was the Angel of the Lord.
22Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die, because we have seen God.”
23But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, and he would not have shown us all these things, nor would he have let us hear this message at this time.”
24The woman gave birth to a son, and she named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him.

1. Manoah and his wife found out about their son Samson via the angel of the LORD. Who was he? (See 13:22.)

2. Why was Samson to be a Nazirite, set apart for God from birth? (See 13:5.)

Epistle: Romans 10:13–17  
13Yes, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14So then, how can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one about whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news of peace, who preach the gospel of good things!”
16But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who believed our message?” 17So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.

3. Who will be saved from God’s judgment on the Last Day?

4. Paul does not envision preachers suddenly feeling “called” into ministry in God’s church. How do they start preaching?

5. How does saving trust in Jesus first arise?

Gospel: Luke 5:1–11  
One time, while the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. 2He saw two boats there along the lakeshore. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3Jesus got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. He sat down and began teaching the crowds from the boat. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.”
5Simon answered him, “Master, we worked hard all through the night and caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were about to tear apart. 7They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, because I am a sinful man, Lord.” 9For Peter and all those with him were amazed at the number of fish they had caught, 10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Have no fear. From now on you will be catching people.”
11After they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

6. How did Jesus end up on Simon Peter’s boat?

7. After Jesus finished preaching, what did he ask Peter to do, and what was Peter’s answer?

8. What happened when they let down the nets?

9. When Peter saw the great catch of fish how did he react, and what did Jesus say to him?


 Answers:
1. The angel of the LORD is God himself, Manoah realized. (From 1 Corinthians 10:4 we deduce that the angel of the LORD in the Old Testament is God the Son.)

2. God wanted Samson to be a Nazirite because God’s plan was for Samson to begin to deliver Israel from the hands of their oppressive neighbors, the Philistines.

3. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved from God’s judgment on the Last Day.

4. Paul says preachers cannot preach unless they are sent.

5. Saving trust in Jesus comes from the power of God’s Word to change hearts. Hearing that Jesus lived and died for us is the way faith arises.

6. Jesus was preaching to a crowd so large that he asked Simon Peter for the use of his boat so that the people could see and hear him better.

7. Jesus asked Peter to put down his nets for a catch of fish. While Peter suggested that they wouldn’t catch anything, he did it anyway because Jesus said so.

8. When they let down the nets, there was such a great catch of fish that the nets began to break.

9. In amazement and fear Peter fell at Jesus feet and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” But Jesus had compassion on Peter and called him and his colleagues to be fishers of men.


 Putting your faith into action
Maybe you love to fish. You might not bring home many fish, but catching seems to be beside the point. It is the fishing that counts. When we are “fishers of men,” we perform an act of stewardship. We use all the gifts God has freely given to us: time, talent, money, and possessions to demonstrate to others God’s great love and forgiveness of sins through the precious blood of Jesus. We may not always see the results of our fishing. Sometimes we will feel like Simon, that we work hard and catch nothing, but if we follow Jesus and continue to fish as he directs us, the nets will be filled with souls for him in eternity.


A reading from the Book of Concord for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
First Commandment: "You shall have no other gods."
You shall have me alone as your God. What does it mean to have a god? Or, what is God?
Answer: A god means that from which we are to expect all good and in which we are to take refuge in all distress. So, to have a God is nothing other than trusting and believing Him with the heart.
A person's entire heart and all his confidence must be placed in God alone and in no one else. For to "have" God is not to take hold of Him with our hands or to put Him in a bag like money. Instead, to "have" Him means that the heart takes hold of Him and clings to Him, to trust in Him entirely. For this reason God wishes to turn us away from everything else that exists outside of Him and to draw us to Himself (John 6:44). For He is the only eternal good (Matthew 19:17). It is as through He would say, "Whatever you have previously sought from the saints, or for whatever things you have trusted in money or anything else, expect it all from Me. Think of Me as the one who will help you and pour out upon your richly all good things."
This is the meaning of true honor and worship of God, which pleases God, and which He commands under penalty of eternal wrath. The heart knows no other comfort or confidence than in Him and must not allow itself to be torn from Him, but risk and disregard everything. (paragraphs 1,2,13-16) – Large Catechism, Park I: The Then Commandments (paragraphs 1-4)




1  I hear the Savior calling! The gospel comes to me.
My eyes once closed in blindness Are opened now to see
That I myself was helpless To live eternally,
But, dying, Christ did save me, And now he calls for me!

2  I hear the Savior calling! He leads a soul to me,
A soul in bitter anguish, One needing to be free.
The gift I have to offer Is Christ, my Lord’s decree
That all have been forgiven—My Savior calls for me!

3  I hear the Savior calling! He gives this charge to me:
To serve the best I’m able, Whate’er the call may be.
Thus hand in hand with others Who share the gospel key
We spread the gospel tidings—My Savior calls for me!

4  I hear the Savior calling! He changes hearts for me.
From door to door I witness To bring my Savior’s plea;
Yet nothing can be added, No word on bended knee,
Beyond the simple gospel—My Savior calls for me!


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