Worship Helps for Easter 5

Artwork: Jesus Christ Washing His Disciples Feet

Artist: Paolo Veronese

Date: 1580s

Worship Theme: Music from the Masters…Motivational speakers… Chicken Soup for the Soul… People look for a boost from many sources. But one need only look as far as the risen Savior. He inspires us not through soothing songs or moving stories, but through his perfect life and sacrificial death. Our risen Lord energizes us to live lives of love.

Old Testament: 1 Samuel 20:12-17

¹²Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel! About this time tomorrow or the day after, when I have tested my father to see if he is favorably inclined toward David, I will send word to you so that you hear about it. ¹³May the Lord punish Jonathan severely and double it, if my father is planning to harm you and I do not disclose it to you and send you on your way, so that you may go in peace. May the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father. ¹⁴You must show the mercy of the Lord to me, not only while I am still alive, so that I do not die, ¹⁵but you also must not cut off your mercy from my house forever—no, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” ¹⁶So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord demand an accounting from David’s enemies.” ¹⁷Then Jonathan had David repeat the oath, because of the love that he had for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

1. In this account, which two friends were knit together in a tight bond of love?

2. In this account, what name does Jonathan say in each verse in which he speaks? Why is this notable?

3. What did Jonathan ask David to show toward him when David took over Saul's throne in years to come?

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13:1–13  

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and have all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give away everything I own, and if I give up my body that I may be burned but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not brag. It is not arrogant. ⁵It does not behave indecently. It is not selfish. It is not irritable. It does not keep a record of wrongs. ⁶It does not rejoice over unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never comes to an end. But if there are prophetic gifts, they will be done away with; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be done away with. ⁹For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, ¹⁰but when that which is complete has come, that which is partial will be done away with. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹²Now we see indirectly using a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I was fully known.

¹³So now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

4. Is love more emotion or action, according to God?

5. How can you tell whether love is real love? (See 13:8a.)

6. In what way is love greater than faith or hope?

Gospel: John 13:31 When he was gone, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. ³² If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. ³³ "My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. ³⁴ "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

7. Jesus spoke these words shortly after Judas left the upper room on the night he was betrayed. How then would Jesus be glorified?

8. Why is Jesus command to “love one another” a new command?

Answers:

1. Jonathan and David were knit together in a tight bond of love (as dear friends, not in a sexual way).

2. Jonathan keeps talking about "the LORD," the God of free and faithful grace. Due to the LORD, Jonathan ha such care for David, whom the LORD had picked to take over Israel's throne after the death of Jonathan's father, Saul. Instead of envying David, as most men in line for a throne would have, Jonathan loved David, for the LORD's sake.

3. Jonathan asked David to show the mercy of the LORD toward Jonathan and his family.

4. Love is more action than emotion, Paul shows. Love is being patient and kind to others. The Corinthian Christians seem to have been hung up on having the most excellent gifts from God, but love is the most excellent way to use whatever gifts God has given. (See 12:31.)

5. Love is real love if it does not quit during hard days. “Love never fails,” Paul says. Shakespeare similarly says, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.”

6. Faith and hope will cease in eternity, but love lasts forever.

7. Judas’ betrayal began the chain of events that led to Jesus glorification. Jesus glorification included his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Through these actions of Christ, we can see God’s glory and give God glory. Through these same actions God gives all glory to his Son.

8. Jesus' command to love is not new. What is new is our motive for loving one another. The disciples will love because they know Jesus and what he has done for them.  Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and the forgiveness it brings changes believers' hearts. In Christ we want to love, to sacrifice for others.

Putting your faith into action

The fifth Sunday of Easter reading from John 13 brings us a message – “Love one another” — that we can find in today’s world repeated on pass-it-on cards, mugs, greeting cards, wall hangings, and figurines. The commercialism of this statement from Jesus found here and in other books of the Bible might water down the original message, or desensitize people to this “commandment.” As we look more closely at this text, we also note the rest of this “new commandment”: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” Modeling Christ-like love is how we, as his disciples, are to live our lives. Love is always giving and shows itself in unconditional acts of service. We “spend ourselves” for God and his church. We can love and serve because we are children of the Heavenly Father, who loved us so much that he sacrificed his only Son for our sins.

A reading from the Book of Concord for Easter 5

Wherever the Church is, there is the authority to administer the Gospel.  Therefore, it is necessary for the Church to retain the authority to call, elect, and ordain ministers.  This authority is a gift that in reality is given to the Church.  No human power can take this gift away from the Church.  As Paul testifies to the Ephesians, when “He ascended … He gave gifts to men” (Ephesians 4:8).  He lists among the gifts specifically belonging to the Church “pastors and teachers”, and adds that they are given for the ministry, “for building up the body of Christ”.  So wherever there is a True Church, the right to elect and ordain ministers necessarily exists.  The statements of Christ testify that the Keys have been given to the Church, and not merely to certain persons, “Where two or three are gathered in My name …”

Finally, Peter’s statement also confirms this, “You are … a royal priesthood”.  These words apply to the True Church, which certainly has the right to elect and ordain ministers, since it alone has the priesthood.

A common custom of the Church testifies to this.  The people elected pastors and bishops.  Then came a bishop, either of that church or a neighboring one, who confirmed the one elected by the laying on of hands.  Ordination was nothing else than such a ratification. – Power and Primacy of the Pope, The Power and Jurisdiction of Bishops (paragraphs 67-70)

492  Son of God,Eternal Savior

1  Son of God, eternal Savior, Source of life and truth and grace,

Word made flesh, whose birth among us, Honors all our human race,

You our head, who, throned in glory, For your own will ever plead:

Fill us with your love and pity; Heal our wrongs and help our need.

2  Come, O Christ, and reign among us, King of love and Prince of Peace;

Hush the storm of strife and passion; Bid its cruel discords cease.

By your patient years of toiling, By your silent hours of pain,

Quench our fevered thirst for pleasure; Stem our selfish greed for gain.

3  Bind us all as one together In your Church’s sacred fold,

Weak and healthy, poor and wealthy, Sad and joyful, young and old.

Is there want or pain or sorrow? Make us all the burden share.

Are there spirits crushed and broken? Teach us, Lord, to soothe their care.

4  As you, Lord, have lived for others, So may we for others live.

Freely have your gifts been granted; Freely may your servants give.

Yours the gold and yours the silver, Yours the wealth of land and sea;

We but stewards of your bounty Held in solemn trust will be.

Text: Somerset T. C. Lowry, 1855–1932, abr., alt.