Friday after Misericordias Domini Sunday
Posted on April 28, 2023 by under
Scripture: Jeremiah 23:1-6 (NKJV)
23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord. 3 “But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord.
5 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
6 “In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”
Devotion
In verse 4, the Lord promises to His people not one shepherd, but “shepherds”. The Lord Jesus Christ is the chief Shepherd and the Cornerstone of the Church, as verse 5 confesses: “A King [the Christ] shall reign.” But the Christ’s plan for His people is to set up many shepherds under Himself. This is a prophecy of the New Testament, and the “shepherds” are the apostles, evangelists, pastors, bishops, and deacons of the New Testament Church.
It is for your comfort that the Lord of the Church calls men to be His under-shepherds. The Augsburg Confession explains, “That we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments was instituted” (Article 5). The minister’s purpose is to take the promises of Scripture and apply them concretely to you. Scripture promises, in general, that the sins of believers are forgiven; the minister places his hand on you and declares that you are forgiven. Likewise, the Christ commands Baptism; it is the minister who physically pours water on your head in the name of the Triune God. The Lord of the Church wants you to be absolutely certain of your salvation. Therefore, He calls ministers and commands them to apply His promises to individual believers by word and by hand. The minister is Christ’s instrument for your comfort.
Prayer: 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.
