Ask for All Things in His Name
Rogate Sunday is the sixth Sunday of Easter, also known as the fifth Sunday after Easter, and is the Sunday immediately prior to Ascension, which falls on a Thursday precisely forty days after Easter Sunday.
Through Eastertide, the Church becomes familiar with her Lord in a new way. Beginning on Easter, the Gospel lessons describe a string of Jesus’ miracles that involve him demonstrating his glory in surprising new ways: he reveals himself in the Scriptures, in the breaking of bread, by appearing in locked rooms, through the miraculous catch of fish, and even by fabricating new fish (Luke 24).
But on this Sunday and the preceding Sundays, the lections have shifted to take us through the pericope in John 16 in which Jesus bids his followers to pray to the Father in his name. “The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father,” (John 16:25) he instructs the disciples. This hour, according to the Gospel of John, is the time of Jesus’ passion, starting in the upper room (Jn. 13:1). “Jesus knew that his hour had come…” It is at the crucifixion, the Rev. Petersen explains, where we see Jesus’ glorification, where we see plainly that the Father loves us and that we can ask for all things in his name.
All days, but especially this Sunday, we remember that the Father has been reconciled to us and that anything we ask of the Father in Jesus’ name will be granted to us. Not only that, but that the Father is the perfect giver of gifts. He does not give us simply what we ask for; he gives us more! Just as a good father would not give his son a stone in place of bread or a snake when asked for a fish, our Heavenly Father knows even better what to give his dear children (Matt. 7:9).
“In the cross, in the self-giving of the Son for the life of the world, reveals that the Lord Jesus Christ came in mercy from the Father in order to save us:
that the Father himself also loves us.”
– The Rev. David Petersen
Brief History
With confidence, we can as ask the Father as his dear children for anything in his name as Dr. Luther comforts and encourages us in his Small Catechism.This is why the Church has always devoted herself to prayer (Acts 2:42) at every gathering and, in so doing, offers her prayer to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Likewise in the family, the father or any of its members may offer up the thanksgiving and petitions for the sake of the family and the world.
Because of the special attention that people pay in this time of year to sowing and making provision for the crops of the earth, the Church’s Rogation Days arose. There are two sets of Rogation Days. The first we cover in this post about the Major Rogation, which takes place on St. Mark’s Day, April 25th.
The second set of Rogation Days occur on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday between Rogate Sunday and Ascension (Thursday).
“Rogate” comes from the Latin word meaning “Ask!” or “Pray!”, a theme certainly present in the lessons for this Sunday. Rogation Days are consequently the historic days (since the fifth century!) of prayer when Christians pray the litany, ask for God to bless the crops, and pray other Psalms and petitions.
Collect
O God, from whom all good things do come: grant to us, Thy humble servants, that by Thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be right and by Thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost: ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Lessons
Resources
Issues, Etc. interview with the Rev. David Petersen on Rogate Sunday
Propers found in Daily Divine Service Book: A Lutheran Daily Missal, edited by the Rev. Heath Curtis
References:
1. Lindemann, the Rev. Fred H. The Sermon and The Propers, Volume II: Pre-Lent to Pentecost. Concordia Publishing House. 1958.
2. Braden, Fr. Mark. “Rogate and Rogation Days,” Gottesdienst. 2020.
Images:
1. The Bronze Serpent, Ferraù Fenzoni, Italy, ca. 1600.
2. The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, Netherlands, 1618-1620.
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[…] Rogate Sunday denotes the beginning of what are known as the Rogation Days, a three-day period that falls on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday leading up to Ascension (which is always on a Thursday). The words rogate and rogation both come from the Latin root meaning “ask” or “pray,” so naturally the Rogation Days are special days set apart for just that: Christians praying, petitioning our Father in heaven. […]