Preparing for Worship - April 24, 2022

This is the Second Sunday of the Easter season. For the next six weeks, in place of the usual Old Testament lesson is a reading from the Book of Acts, the history of the early Christian church. The only Old Testament reading for this week is the Psalm, Psalm 148. This psalm calls upon all of creation, from the angels, the hosts in the heavens above and the sun, moon, and stars, to all that exists on the earth, including us human beings, to praise the Lord. He is the Creator and Preserver of all, and especially He is praised for “”raising up ”the “Horn” of salvation for us, our victorious Savior, Jesus Christ. (See Luke 1:68-70, 77-79.)

The Gospel lesson is from John 20:19-31. We hear that the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples on Easter evening and showed them He had truly risen from the dead. Thomas was not there, though, and would not believe that Jesus had risen until he saw Him about a week later, along with the other disciples. Then he called Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” We also hear that these and all Scriptures were written so that we too could believe that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,” and “have Life in His Name.”

The Epistle lesson is from Revelation 1:4-18. John, one of those apostles, had been exiled later in his ministry to the island of Patmos because of sharing “the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” Jesus, now the Risen Lord in the glory of heaven, appeared again to John and told him to write down what he saw and heard and send it to seven designated churches, representing all of God’s believers and churches. Jesus affirmed that He is “alive forevermore” and has the “keys” for overcoming death and giving eternal life (to all who believe in Him and His saving work and in the Father and the Holy Spirit).

The reading from Acts is Acts 5:12-20 (21-32). The apostles in the early church were preaching and teaching in Jerusalem and were enabled by the Lord to do healings and other miracles. More men and women were coming to believe in Jesus, and the high priest and the Sadducees (who were jealous and did not believe in resurrections and life after death) had the apostles arrested and put in prison. An angel miraculously helped them escape and told them to keep teaching about Jesus. Again, the authorities brought them in, and Peter and the other apostles said that they had to “obey God rather than men” and would keep telling others about the Risen Lord Jesus and “repentance” and “forgiveness of sins” that came through Him.