Preparing for Worship - April 26, 2026

This 4th Sunday of Easter in the One Year Series of readings is known as Jubilate Sunday. This Latin word means “to rejoice,” “to sing and to make a joyful noise” to the Lord, as we are called to do in Psalm 95:1-2. Psalm 96:1-2, and Psalm 100:1, praising our Lord for His steadfast love and saving work for us. In the midst of the penitential season of Advent, we have a “Rejoicing Sunday,” when our candle is pink, symbolizing the hope and joy of the coming birth of our Savior. Now, as the Easter season moves on, we rejoice in the Easter victory of our Lord Jesus, but are reminded in our readings that there will also be difficult and challenging days ahead - though our confidence and joy in the Lord remain.

The psalm is Psalm 147:1-11, which reminds us that it is good and fitting to keep singing praises to our Lord. There may be times when we are “brokenhearted,” dealing with “wounds,” and feel like “outcasts” in our lives. Our Creator and Preserver is still with us, though, and provides for us in His wisdom and understanding. “His delight” is not in our human strength and ability. He will lift us up, as we humbly “hope in His steadfast love” and “sing to Him with thanksgiving” for the blessings He does give.

There are two choices for the Old Testament lesson. The first is Isaiah 40:25-31. People in Israel were focusing on themselves and saying, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God.” They were forgetting that “their Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all things.” His “understanding” does not always make sense to them, but He does not “faint or grow weary" like even strong young people sometimes do. He gives “power” and “strength” to people as He knows best, as they wait for Him. He will help them to “run” and “walk” according to His plans.

The alternate Old Testament reading is from Lamentations 3:22-33. This whole portion of Scripture is about times when we “lament,” when we are sorrowful and troubled by difficult circumstances in our lives - some our own fault and others beyond our control. We are called to “wait quietly” for the Lord in these difficult times, when we wear “a yoke” of trouble and our “mouths are in the dust,” humbled by our circumstances. Others might even strike us and insult us in these weak times, as they did even our perfect Lord Jesus, as He suffered for our sake. (See Matthew 26:67 and 1 Peter 2:23.) We often don’t understand why these hard times come, but the great promises of the Lord are still there for us to carry us through. He allows us times of grief, in His wisdom, or just because we are sinful people in a very sin-filled, fallen world. He does not “cast His followers off forever,” though, but will have “compassion,” in His steadfast love. “He does not afflict from His heart.” He wants, most of all, to give us His “steadfast love and mercy that never come to an end.” The Lord is our portion,” the most important part of our life. His blessings are ours, day after day, and we have great hope in His promises, no matter what. We live by faith and say to the Lord, along with the author of Lamentations, "great is Your faithfulness!”

Why do we have these readings about sorrows and difficulties, right in the middle of the joyous season of Easter? Our Gospel lesson for today, John 16:16-22, helps us with this question. Even before His suffering and death and resurrection, Jesus was preparing His disciples for what was to come, telling them about these things, but they clearly admit that they did not understand. Jesus even uses the word “lament” to describe the sorrow and weeping that would come upon them when Jesus died and before He rose from the dead. Jesus used the example of a woman expecting a child and having sorrow and pain and anguish during the pregnancy and the delivery, until her child was born. Then she has only joy in her child, forgetting the anguish, and often even being willing to go through more of this anguish, in giving birth to other children later on. The disciples' sorrows would be great when Jesus died, but the joy of His resurrection was so great. He was only gone for a little while, and then they would see Him again. That joy in Christ and His love and forgiveness earned for them would be with them through this life and on into eternal life, as well. (Jesus was also preparing the disciples for His ascension into heaven, when He would still be with them, though in ways different from before.) These are very comforting Words of promise for us, too, who have not seen Jesus face to face as the disciples had, and yet have been brought to confident faith in Him. He promises us help, too, in our own struggles in everyday life, and one day to take us to everlasting life when we die.

There are two choices for the Epistle lesson. The first is from 1 Peter 2:11-20. Peter says that because Jesus has done His saving work for us, we are now only sojourners and exiles in this life on earth. We are called, though, to seek to live in an “honorable” way until “the day of visitation,” when Christ comes for us, and be a good witness for our Lord. We now live in two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and an earthly kingdom, where we are to be subject to the earthly authorities and their necessary right to keep peace and order and punish those who do evil. In Peter’s day, there were also servants and slaves, and the call is to respect “masters,” even those who are not very good ones. Christians are to try to do “gracious things,” things right in the sight of God, even if it means sorrow and suffering unjustly, at times, as certainly happened with Jesus Himself. Since many around us are unbelievers, we can expect people to speak against us, as if we were the evildoers. Hopefully, though, some may see and hear our good Words and deeds in Christ and come to believe in and glorify the One True Triune God and trust in Jesus, too, by God’s grace. That is seeking to follow in the steps of Christ our Savior, as we heard last week (1 Peter 2:21ff).

The alternate Epistle reading is 1 John 3:1-3, which speaks so clearly of the Father’s love for us in sending His Son, Jesus, to do His saving work for us in His perfect life in our place, His death on the cross in payment for our sins, and His mighty resurrection and ascension. We really are now the children of God, through the gift of faith given to us in Christ. (See 1 John 5:11-13 for one of the clearest statements of that fact.) Many in the world cannot recognize this because they do not know Christ. There is much we do not know about eternal life, either, but we will be with Christ, and we will see as He is, as our Risen Lord. (See Philippians 3:20-21.) In the meantime, we are called to try to live in this life in a Christ-like way. We are already counted righteous in God’s eyes through Christ’s righteousness and the gift of faith brought to us through the Word of God and our baptism. We are continually being purified, too, by confessing our sins and receiving God’s forgiveness and through the forgiveness of Christ’s presence in the Lord’s Supper.
And we keep listening to The Scriptures, the Word of God, for the strength and hope and direction they give to us, in Christ.

These readings have been especially comforting and helpful to me. As you may know, I have been living with a kidney stone. A few days in the hospital and various treatments, including a stent, have gotten my kidneys working better again. There is still some pain, at times, but it is better. The stone is still there, though, and I will likely need another procedure later this week to get the stone out. This is a minor problem compared with what many of you have dealt with and may still be dealing with. But the questions come. Why this and why now and why me? It is great to hear again this week of the amazing work and sacrifices Christ has already made for you and me, more than we could ever ask or imagine. And how good to be assured that whatever the circumstances, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).