Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Friday after Misericordias Domini

Posted on April 20, 2018 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: St. John 6:30-40 (NKJV)

6:30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'”

32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Devotion

The Jews were focused on bread, Moses, words, works, and signs, but they failed to see the real focus of all those things, which is Jesus Christ.

From the beginning of time (recorded in the first book of Moses) God was working through His holy Word. He performed gracious works for His people, gave them miraculous signs and wonders, and taught them the ways of faithfulness and righteousness. All these were focused on His Word of promise that the holy Seed would come and defeat sin, death, and the Serpent of Old.

As Jesus said, Moses and the bread in the desert (which was given by God, not Moses) also were focused on Him. Likewise, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was given to Israel by God, through Moses, for the express purpose of reminding them of the signs, wonders, and mercy that He showed to them as He saved them from Egypt.

Jesus is the Christ; the one who saves the true children of God. As the Bread of Life He gives Himself to the people of God entrusted to His care. With the greater use of unleavened bread our Lord gives the Church His very flesh to eat, and in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood He makes us able to proclaim His atoning death on the cross in this Supper until He comes again in glory!

We pray: God, who by the humiliation of Thy Son didst raise up the fallen world, grant unto Thy faithful ones perpetual gladness, and those whom Thou hast delivered from the danger of everlasting death do Thou make partakers of eternal joys; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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