Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Saturday after Misericordias Domini

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: St. John 6:41-59 (NKJV)

41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

Devotion

“The Jews then complained about Him.” There seems to be a lot of that going around when we read the Bible. But isn’t that just how sin works. We need only go back to the Garden of Eden. God confronts Adam with his sin, and Adam complains to God, “The woman You gave me.” The very people whom Jesus had fed of the five loaves and two fish are now complaining about Him because He told them that He is “the bread of life.”

Like their forefathers, they were in the wilderness and God fed them. Jesus had compassion on them, yet they choose to complain and murmur at His teaching. Jesus only wanted the best for them, that best being Him. He wishes to give of Himself, to give them life. But the more He preaches, the more they complain about Him.

As Christians, we need to always be on guard that the troubles we encounter in our daily lives do not turn into murmuring and complaining against God. God is always there for us. God the Father has given us to Christ. Every day the Holy Spirit leads us to seek His kingdom and His righteousness by bringing us to repentance and the forgiveness of sins, even the sins of murmuring and complaining against Him.

“Lord Jesus, think on me and purge away my sin; from earthborn passions set me free and make me pure within. Lord Jesus, think on me with many a care opprest; let me Thy loving servant be and taste Thy promised rest.” Amen

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