{"id":59607,"date":"2025-01-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/season\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/"},"modified":"2025-01-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T00:00:00","slug":"fifth-sunday-of-easter-a","status":"publish","type":"lectionary","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifth Sunday of Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Jesus\u2019 departure approaches, he begins to instruct them on the profound connection that they will enjoy with Jesus and the Father after his departure in the flesh. Jesus is the church\u2019s connection to God the Father. Thomas\u2019 and Philip\u2019s questions both have the same answer: Jesus himself. The way to the Father, and even the Father himself, is to be found in Jesus. Thus, the church\u2019s abiding hope: That Christ\u2019s identity with God welcomes them into eternal life. Through this connection, even the power of God to work miracles is available to his church while on earth.

The preacher should focus on the immanence of the church\u2019s connection with Christ. Jesus is not talking about a far off and delayed hope, but rather an immediately available source of intimacy with God himself. Christ, being God and Man is the bridge which welcomes human beings into the life of God. This is more than a future hope, but a present source of comfort and power.
<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"template":"","tax_ctp_lectionary_seasons":[422],"tax_ctp_lectionary_years":[5322],"class_list":["post-59607","lectionary","type-lectionary","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nFifth Sunday of Easter - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fifth Sunday of Easter - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As Jesus\u2019 departure approaches, he begins to instruct them on the profound connection that they will enjoy with Jesus and the Father after his departure in the flesh. Jesus is the church\u2019s connection to God the Father. Thomas\u2019 and Philip\u2019s questions both have the same answer: Jesus himself. The way to the Father, and even Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/\",\"name\":\"Fifth Sunday of Easter - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lectionary\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/%tax_ctp_lectionary_season%\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Fifth Sunday of Easter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fifth Sunday of Easter - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fifth Sunday of Easter - CT Pastors","og_description":"As Jesus\u2019 departure approaches, he begins to instruct them on the profound connection that they will enjoy with Jesus and the Father after his departure in the flesh. Jesus is the church\u2019s connection to God the Father. Thomas\u2019 and Philip\u2019s questions both have the same answer: Jesus himself. The way to the Father, and even Read more...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/","og_site_name":"CT Pastors","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@CTpastors","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/","name":"Fifth Sunday of Easter - CT Pastors","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-01-01T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-01T00:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/easter\/fifth-sunday-of-easter-a\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lectionary","item":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/lectionary\/%tax_ctp_lectionary_season%\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Fifth Sunday of Easter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","name":"CT Pastors","description":"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization","name":"Christianity Today","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","caption":"Christianity Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors"]}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lectionary\/59607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lectionary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/lectionary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lectionary\/59607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59608,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lectionary\/59607\/revisions\/59608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_lectionary_seasons","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_lectionary_seasons?post=59607"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_lectionary_years","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_lectionary_years?post=59607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}