5th Sunday of Lent                April 7th, 2025

 

Prayer of the Day

God of new life, you have drawn us through the waters of baptism and into your everlasting reign. Through Christ’s life within us, guide us daily through death to sin and brokenness and into new life in grace and love; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.​

 

First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21

This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness, and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

​​

Psalm 126

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
   we were like those who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
   our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
   “The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
   and we are filled with joy.

4 Restore our fortunes, Lord,
   like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow with tears
   will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
   carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
   carrying sheaves with them.

​

Second Reading: Philippians 3:4-7, 8-14

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

​

Gospel: Luke 20:9-20

He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!” Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people. Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.

​​

Sermon Title: "Rejection and Repentance..."

A lot of times, people get so wrapped up in their own personal ambitions, and their own isolated worldview that they push back against anything and everything that is at odds with them, even if those things are absolutely of the Lord! That’s what the tenants of the vineyard did to the servants and to the Owner’s Son. That’s what the people of Israel did consistently to prophets who spoke the Word of God. And that’s what the Pharisees did when Jesus came to preach, heal, and transform the world. Unlike the tenants of the vineyard, we must resist the temptation to reject God’s mission to help us bear fruit. We must not be like the Pharisees and resist the work of the Holy Spirit because it goes against our own view of how things should happen. Rather, we must resist rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit and truly follow the guidance of the Lord! ~PL

​

​