Laetare
Sunday, March 30 (Lent IV)
Rejoice ye with Jerusalem,
And be glad with her, all ye that love her.
Rejoice for joy, all ye that have been sorrowful:
That ye may rejoice and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations.
I was glad when they said unto me:
Let us go into the house of the Lord.
—Isaiah 66:10–11a; Psalm 122:1
A writing for the Holy Gospel, John 6:1–15:
“Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.”
John 6:15
The feeding of the five-thousand is a familiar devotional text. It is one of the most recognizable accounts from the four Gospels. Jesus fed an entire crowd—about 5,000 men, totaling around 15,000 people including women and children—with only five loaves of bread and two fish. In an intricate parallel to the Eucharist, Jesus gave thanks, blessed the food, and distributed it to the multitude.
The feeding of the five-thousand is about many things. It is about sustenance, provision, and physical and spiritual nourishment. Such themes often characterize preaching on this Gospel text. Yet this account is also about contentment, equanimity, and trust. The multitude received an unimaginable gift from Jesus—He could turn five loaves of bread and two fish into an overabundance of food. Every man, woman, and child could eat plentifully.
God’s provision is our daily bread. He fed the five-thousand with an overabundance of food, yet our daily bread may not appear to be so plentiful. Our Lord knows how we ought to be sustained in this life. Some days our plate may run full, while others our portion may be slim. The Lord knows when richness in abundance or contentment in scarcity shall be our portion.
Our daily bread may not always seem apparent. We may not find in God’s gifts the overabundance bestowed to the multitudes when Christ fed the five-thousand. For this reason, we are led to believe that in those moments, God is not providing. If we, too, are not treated like the five-thousand, we are not being kept in God’s watchful care at all. Such is the shortcoming of this sinful flesh.
The Lord provides in many and various ways. The Lord knows when our cup must run dry; when our baskets must be emptied; when our portion must be scarce. For even when trial overtakes us, the Lord is at work in us. Even when our cup runs dry or our baskets are emptied, nevertheless they overflow with abundance. Whatever temporal ills befall us, God’s love endures forever. Even when we suffer in this life, God’s grace is sufficient.
We are confident that we will receive our daily bread. We trust that while the flesh is weak, the spirit is willing, for the Spirit of God is in us. Our daily bread finds its culmination in the Eucharist, where the cup of Christ’s blood overflows and the basket of Christ’s body abounds in a miraculous overabundance. In the Eucharist, Christ feeds His Church with the life-giving gift of His body and blood. There, and in every blessing that comes from the Father’s gracious and merciful hand, life, forgiveness, and salvation are found.
Luther on John 6:1–15:
The five loaves signify the outward, natural word formed by the voice and understood by man's senses; for the number five signifies outward things pertaining to the five senses of man by which he lives; as also the five and five virgins illustrate in Mt 25, 1. These loaves are in the basket, that is, locked up in the Scriptures. And a lad carries them, that means the servant class and the priesthood among the Jews, who possessed the sayings of God, which were placed in their charge and entrusted to them, Rom 3, 2, although they did not enjoy them. But that Christ took these into his own hands, and they were thereby blessed and increased, signifies that by Christ's works and deeds, and not by our deeds or reason, are the Scriptures explained, rightly understood and preached. This he gives to his disciples, and the disciples to the people. For Christ takes the Word out of the Scriptures; so all teachers receive it from Christ and give it to the people, by which is confirmed what Matthew 23, 10 says: “For one is your master, even the Christ,” who sits in heaven, and he teaches all only through the mouth and the word of preachers by his Spirit, that is, against false teachers, who, teach their own wisdom.
The two fishes are the example and witness of the patriarchs and prophets, who are also in the basket; for by them the Apostles confirm and strengthen their doctrine and the believers like St. Paul does in Rom 4,2-6, where he cites Abraham and David etc. But there are two, because the examples of the saints are full of love, which cannot be alone, as faith can, but must go out in exercise to its neighbor. Furthermore the fishes were prepared and cooked; for such examples are indeed put to death by many sufferings and martyrdoms, so that we find nothing carnal in them, and they comfort none by a false faith in his own works, but always point to faith and put to death works and their assurance.
The twelve baskets of fragments are all the writings and books the Apostles and Evangelists bequeathed to us; therefore they are twelve, like the Apostles, and these books are nothing but that which remains from and has been developed out of the Old Testament. The fishes are also signified by the number five (Moses' books); as John 21,25 says: “Even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written” concerning Christ, all which nevertheless was written and proclaimed before in the Old Testament concerning Christ.
—Martin Luther, Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, John 6:1-15, taken from Martin Luther’s Church Postils.
Hymn of the Day for Laetare Sunday:
1 Jesus, priceless treasure,
Fount of purest pleasure,
Truest friend to me.
Ah, how long in anguish
Shall my spirit languish,
Yearning, Lord, for Thee?
Thou art mine,
O Lamb divine!
I will suffer naught to hide Thee,
Naught I ask beside Thee.
2 In Thine arms I rest me;
Foes who would molest me
Cannot reach me here.
Though the earth be shaking,
Ev'ry heart be quaking,
Jesus calms my fear.
Lightnings flash
And thunder crash;
yet, though sin and hell assail me,
Jesus will not fail me.
3 Satan, I defy thee;
Death, I now decry thee;
Fear, I bid thee cease.
World, thou shalt not harm me
Nor thy threats alarm me
While I sing of peace.
God's great pow'r
Guards ev'ry hour;
Earth and all its depths adore Him,
Silent bow before Him.
4 Hence, all earthly treasure!
Jesus is my pleasure,
Jesus is my choice.
Hence all empty glory!
Naught to me the story
Told with tempting voice.
Pain or loss,
Or shame or cross,
Shall not from my Savior move me
Since He deigns to love me.
5 Evil world, I leave thee;
Thou canst not deceive me,
Thine appeal is vain.
Sin that once did blind me,
Get thee far behind me,
Come not forth again.
Past thy hour,
O pride and pow'r;
Sinful life, thy bonds I sever,
Leave thee now forever.
6 Hence, all fear and sadness!
For the Lord of gladness,
Jesus, enters in.
Those who love the Father,
Though the storms may gather,
Still have peace within.
Yea, whate'er
I here must bear,
Thou art still my purest pleasure,
Jesus, priceless treasure!
Text: Johann Franck, 1618-77, tr. Catherine Winkworth, 1827-78.
Collect of the Day for Laetare Sunday:
Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who for our evil deeds are worthily punished: by the comfort of Thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through 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.
Liturgical significance of Laetare Sunday:
Laetare Sunday is a liturgical peculiarity. Alongside Gaudete Sunday, Laetare is a brief reprieve from the penitential nature of its liturgical season. The icipit of the Introit for Laetare, “Rejoice ye with Jerusalem” (Latin: Laetare Jerusalem), points us to the imminent joy Christians have even amid our sadness. The subdued nature of Lent is momentarily interrupted by the joyful character of Laetare Sunday.
Easter is in sight. The light of the empty tomb awaits down the road. Laetare’s placement before Judica Sunday, the fifth Sunday in Lent, however, is especially appropriate. On Judica Sunday, Passiontide begins, at which point the Gloria Patri and Nunc Dimittis are omitted and all images are veiled. Passiontide is the point at which the Passion of our Lord comes fuller into view. The subdued nature of Lent intensifies, and its penitential somberness increases.
On Laetare Sunday, the church may opt to utilize rose paraments and vestments. Rose, a lighter shade of the color violet traditionally used during Lent and Advent, signifies that the joy to which the Church clings on this day occurs within the greater context of its penitential season. Nevertheless, the Church recognizes that even amid our saddened pilgrimage in this fallen world, we look to the joy that awaits us in the glory of the world to come.