Cantate
Sunday, May 18 (The Fourth Sunday after Easter)
O sing unto the Lord a new song, alleluia:
For He hath done marvellous things, alleluia.
His righteousness hath He openly showed
In the sight of the heathen, alleluia, alleluia.
His right hand and His holy arm:
Hath gotten Him the victory.
—Psalm 98:1a, 2b, 1b
A writing for the Holy Gospel, John 16:5–15:
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
—John 13:13-15
Our charismatic brethren often mischaracterize the work of the Spirit, and they have, in turn, distorted the image of Christ. They cling to the relative ambiguity with which Scripture speaks on the Holy Spirit, emphasizing the gifts of the Spirit in the Christian life and undervaluing the boldness with which the Spirit testifies to Christ. Our Lord reminds us that the Spirit does not speak on His own authority, but only according to Christ’s name.
The Spirit did not come to make Himself our foundation. Rather, the Spirit came to glorify our risen Lord and Savior, whose death and resurrection are the foundation and cornerstone of faith. The Spirit condescends Himself to glorify and magnify the Son. He belittles Himself, so to speak, in order that Christ be made our sure foundation. Anything He does is not done by His own authority, but by the authority of the Son, the fruits of whose death and resurrection are the foundation of the Christian life.
This self-condescension of the Holy Spirit does not mean that He is subordinate to or unequal with the Father and the Son. Instead, the Spirit’s work and testament to Christ demonstrates the divine interworking of the Trinity and underscores God’s self-revelation to mankind in the Person of Christ. Our God and Lord is made known to us by faith, which is granted to us when we are blessed with the water and the Word, through the Spirit is given to us in baptism. He causes us to rejoice by declaring to us the love of God by revealing the precious gift of God’s Son.
It is therefore appropriate that the Fourth Sunday after Easter is named after the Latin word Cantate, which means “to sing.” This particular form of the Latin verb is the imperative. We must sing, for the Lord has done marvelous things. Through the Spirit, God has made known to us His perfect love in His Son. The Spirit declares to us the full forgiveness we have in Christ, for the Spirit takes of Christ’s glory and grants it to us. The fruits of Christ’s death and resurrection are declared to us by the Spirit.
In the Spirit, the harmonious unity of the Trinity is revealed. For all that the Father has is Christ’s, and all that Christ has is given to the Spirit, so that the Spirit might declare to us the glory and majesty of Christ’s name. A little while the Son has departed from our eyes, yet through the Spirit His bounteous gifts and innumerable blessings are handed down to us.
By the Spirit’s inspiration, Holy Scripture has been written for our instruction and for the nourishment of our faith. Through the Spirit’s work in us, the fruits of sanctification are made manifest in us on account of Christ. With the Spirit’s aid, we are brought to understand the will of God and the love of the Father shown in His only-begotten Son. Hence we appropriately hear, during this Easter season, of the incomprehensible blessings of the Holy Spirit, for these blessings are granted to us on account of Him who died for us and rose again for our justification.
We must therefore remember that in the Spirit we have every reason to sing, to rejoice, and to give thanks. For He has declared to us the glory of Christ. He takes all that the Son has and grants it to us for the sake of Christ’s name. We rejoice, confident that Christ has not left us. He has not abandoned us. Certainly, He has not forsaken us. The Spirit has called us His own, and by this calling we know that we belong to Christ. All that the Spirit does brings comfort to the troubled heart, for in the Spirit we are pointed solely to Christ.
Sing, dear Christian. Sing, because the Spirit guides you into all truth. Sing, because the Spirit has declared to you the glory and honor of Christ’s name. Sing, because in the Spirit we have the guarantee of the fruits of the death and resurrection of our risen Lord. We sing because we have been guided into all truth by Him who died for us and by Him who has been sent to reveal God’s glory to us. Let us sing out with rejoicing, for God has done wondrous things.
Luther on John 16:5-15:
Reason may do other things; for instance, know how to judge in worldly and human matters and affairs, how to build cities and houses, how to govern well, and the like. In such matters one may easily be able to judge and decide more wisely than another. Of this, however, we do not speak here, but of judgment in the significance of what is right or wrong before God. Here the Holy Spirit concludes thus: Every judgment of reason is false and worth nothing. Everything that is born of man and is not born from above, must be rooted out and crucified, so that no one may boast of it and depend upon it. Again, whatever the world considers as wisdom, that which it votes as wisely and intelligently devised and accomplished, is foolishness before God. In short, whatever the world does, is useless and cursed, unless it proceeds from Christ, the Lord, and is of his Word and Spirit, as he teaches us. If it does not proceed from him, it is surely mere blindness and there is no good in it.
Therefore everything that the world considers good is debased.
Everything is evil because it does not proceed from the Word and the Spirit, but from the old Adam, who is nothing more than a blind fool and sinner. And why? Should not your wisdom and reason be foolishness and count for nothing, since the most exalted one, who has all the power and wisdom of this world in the highest degree, is condemned? For, without doubt, there is no one in the world so wise, shrewd and rational as the devil, and no one is able to make a more pious appearance. And all wisdom and holiness that do not proceed from God, as well as the most beautiful things in the world, are found in their highest degree in the devil. Since he is a prince and the ruler of the world, the wisdom and righteousness of the world must proceed from him; here he reigns with all his power. Therefore, Christ says: Since the same prince of the world is condemned, with all that he has and can do, the world is ever blind because it considers that to be good which has been condemned already, namely his wisdom and piety.
We must, therefore, pass a correct judgment, such as Christ passes, if we are to guard against everything that the world considers and declares precious in order that it may appear before God prudent, wise and pious. If people who have not the Word and Spirit of Christ, desire to teach and govern, everything is already condemned; for in this way one accomplishes no more than to make the old Adam stronger and to establish him in his opinion that his works, his piety and prudence are to avail before God.
Thereby one must work himself deeper and deeper into the devil’s kingdom.—Martin Luther, Sermon on Cantate Sunday, John 6:5-15 (taken from the Lenker edition of The Sermons of Martin Luther).
Hymn of the Day for Cantate:
1. Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice,
With exultation springing,
And with united heart and voice
And holy rapture singing,
Proclaim the wonders God has done,
How His right arm the vict'ry won,
What price our ransom cost Him!
2. Fast bound in Satan's chains I lay;
Death brooded darkly o'er me.
Sin was my torment night and day;
In sin my mother bore me.
But daily deeper still I fell;
My life became a living hell,
So firmly sin possessed me.
3. My own good works all came to naught,
No grace or merit gaining;
Free will against God's judgment fought,
Dead to all good remaining.
My fears increased till sheer despair
Left only death to be my share;
The pangs of hell I suffered.
4. But God had seen my wretched state
Before the world's foundation,
And mindful of His mercies great,
He planned for my salvation.
He turned to me a father's heart;
He did not choose the easy part
But gave His dearest treasure.
5. God said to His beloved Son:
"It's time to have compassion.
Then go, bright jewel of My crown,
And bring to all salvation.
From sin and sorrow set them free;
Slay bitter death for them that they
May live with You forever."
6. The Son obeyed His Father's will,
Was born of virgin mother;
And God's good pleasure to fulfill,
He came to be my brother.
His royal pow'r disguised He bore;
A servant's form, like mine, He wore
To lead the devil captive.
7. To me He said: “Stay close to Me,
I am your rock and castle.
Your ransom I Myself will be;
For you I strive and wrestle.
For I am yours, and you are Mine,
And where I am you may remain;
The foe shall not divide us.
8. “Though he will shed My precious blood,
Me of My life bereaving,
All this I suffer for your good;
Be steadfast and believing.
Life will from death the vict'ry win;
My innocence shall bear your sin,
And you are blest forever.
9. “Now to My Father I depart,
From earth to heav'n ascending,
And, heav'nly wisdom to impart,
The Holy Spirit sending;
In trouble He will comfort you
And teach you always to be true
And into truth shall guide you.
10. “What I on earth have done and taught
Guide all your life and teaching;
So shall the kingdom's work be wrought
And honored in your preaching.
But watch lest foes with base alloy
The heav'nly treasure should destroy;
This final word I leave you.”
Text: Martin Luther, 1483-1546.
Collect of the Day for Cantate:
O God, who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will, grant unto Thy people that they may love what Thou commandest and desire what Thou dost promise, that among the manifold changes of this world our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are to be found.
The following Collect is said after the Collect of the Day until the Vigil of the Ascension.
O God, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the Lord’s resurrection: mercifully grant that through the temporal feasts which we keep we may come at last to eternal joy; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.