It is the seventh Sunday of Easter. Today’s Bach cantata is “Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn” (Step upon the path of faith):

Today’s Gospel reading is John 17:1-11:

Jesus Prays to Be Glorified

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

The text of today’s piece is available here. It contains these words:

The Savior is destined
in Israel for destruction and resurrection.
The noble stone has no flaw;
even if the evil world
injures itself so sorely upon it,
indeed, hurtles over it to hell,
this is because it wickedly runs at it
and God’s grace
and mercy will not recognize!
Yet blessed is
a chosen Christian,
who grounds his faith upon this cornerstone,
since through this he will find salvation and redemption.

. . . .

The clever world is annoyed,
since God’s Son
has left His exalted throne of honor,
since He has clothed Himself in flesh and blood
and suffers in human form.
The greatest wisdom of this earth
must, before the counsel of the Highest,
become the greatest foolishness.
What God has determined
reason cannot possibly fathom;
this blind guide misleads the spiritually blind.

Happy listening! Soli Deo gloria.