Fifth Sunday of Easter
(29 April 2018)
Acts 8:26–40; Ps. 150:1-6; 1 John 4:1–11, 12–21; John 15:1–8
Entrance: LSB 837 Lift High the Cross
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Of the Day: LSB 474 Alleluia! Jesus Is Risen
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Offertory: LSB 611 Chief of Sinners Though I Be
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Distribution: LSB 633 At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing;
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LSB 706 Love in Christ Is Strong and Living
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Closing: LSB 768 To God the Holy Spirit Let Us Pray
Jesus Christ Is the True Vine Who Bears Much Fruit in Us
“God is love,” and He has manifested Himself to us by sending “his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9, 16). By the ministry of the Gospel, “he has given us of his Spirit,” so that we also believe and confess “that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” In this way, we “abide in him and he in us,” and we “love one another” (1 John 4:2, 7, 13). Such divine love is exemplified in Philip’s preaching of “the good news about Jesus” to the Ethiopian eunuch. And when “they came to some water,” the eunuch was baptized into the very Gospel that Philip had preached (Acts 8:35–38). That Ethiopian was thereby grafted into “the true vine,” Jesus Christ (John 15:1), just as we are. Already we are clean because of the Word that Christ has spoken to us and by the washing of water with His Word. We now abide in Him by faith in His forgiveness. As He abides in us, both body and soul, with His own body and His blood, He “bears much fruit” in us (John 15:3–5).
Dr. Martin Luther:
FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER - John 15:1–8 (April 29)
“Your suffering is not the cleanness itself, and you are not declared clean in the sight of God because of it. But it does serve to drive man to grasp and hold the Word with a better and firmer grip, in order that in this way faith may become active. The Word is itself the purification of the heart if the heart adheres to it and remains faithful to it.” Luther's Works 24:211
Courtesy: LCMS (CPH for certain hymn videos)
Looking Forward to Sunday Morning (3 Year Lectionary): Fifth Sunday of Easter — Dr. Carl Fickenscher — Issues Etc.
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Dr. Carl Fickenscher, Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Ind., discusses the readings and propers with Pr. Todd Wilken on Issues Etc. (mp3, 57:16, 23.1 MB, 2015-Apr-27)
Lectionary Podcast - Easter 5 - Series B - John 15:1-8 with Dr. Walter Maier III
Dr. Walter Maier III, Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Ind., discusses the Gospel lesson from the Greek text.
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John 15:1-8 (SBLGNT)
1 Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή, καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ γεωργός ἐστιν·
2 πᾶν κλῆμα ἐν ἐμοὶ μὴ φέρον καρπὸν αἴρει αὐτό, καὶ πᾶν τὸ καρπὸν φέρον καθαίρει αὐτὸ ἵνα ⸂καρπὸν πλείονα⸃ φέρῃ.
3 ἤδη ὑμεῖς καθαροί ἐστε διὰ τὸν λόγον ὃν λελάληκα ὑμῖν·
4 μείνατε ἐν ἐμοί, κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν. καθὼς τὸ κλῆμα οὐ δύναται καρπὸν φέρειν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ ἐὰν μὴ ⸀μένῃ ἐν τῇ ἀμπέλῳ, οὕτως οὐδὲ ὑμεῖς ἐὰν μὴ ἐν ἐμοὶ ⸀μένητε.
5 ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος, ὑμεῖς τὰ κλήματα. ὁ μένων ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ οὗτος φέρει καρπὸν πολύν, ὅτι χωρὶς ἐμοῦ οὐ δύνασθε ποιεῖν οὐδέν.
6 ἐὰν μή τις ⸀μένῃ ἐν ἐμοί, ἐβλήθη ἔξω ὡς τὸ κλῆμα καὶ ἐξηράνθη, καὶ συνάγουσιν αὐτὰ καὶ εἰς τὸ πῦρ βάλλουσιν καὶ καίεται.
7 ἐὰν μείνητε ἐν ἐμοὶ καὶ τὰ ῥήματά μου ἐν ὑμῖν μείνῃ, ὃ ἐὰν θέλητε ⸀αἰτήσασθε καὶ γενήσεται ὑμῖν·
8 ἐν τούτῳ ἐδοξάσθη ὁ πατήρ μου ἵνα καρπὸν πολὺν φέρητε καὶ ⸀γένησθε ἐμοὶ μαθηταί.
Literal Translation
(1) I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser.
(2) Every branch in Me not bearing fruit, He takes it away; and each one bearing fruit, He prunes, so that it may bear more fruit.
(3) You are already pruned because of the Word which I have spoken to you.
(4) Remain in Me, and I in you. As the branch is not able to bear fruit of itself, unless it remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.
(5) I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one abiding in Me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit, because apart from Me you are not able to execute, nothing.
(6) Unless one remains in Me, he is cast out as the branch and is dried up; and they gather and throw them into a fire, and they are burned.
(7) If you remain in Me, and My Words remain in you, whatever you desire you will ask, and it shall happen to you.
(8) In this My Father is glorified, that you should bear much fruit; and you will be disciples to Me.
Scripture quotations marked SBLGNT are from the SBL Greek New Testament. Copyright © 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software. Holmes, M. W. (2011–2013). The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition. Lexham Press; Society of Biblical Literature.