The Thursday after the Festival of the Epiphany of our Lord
Posted on January 9, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. John 1:9-13 (NKJV)
1:9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Devotion
A star led the wise men to the Christ, and they found a Redeemer and a Savior in the newborn Lord Jesus. It is He who is the true Light which gives light to all those who receive Him, who believe on His name. Those who cling in faith to Him and His works and merits, who cling to His sacrifice upon the tree of the cross, are children of the Lord God. These ones are not children in a fleshly way, not born of flesh and blood. They are children by faith. It is by the will of the Lord God alone that they are born from above, that they are made children of the heavenly Father.
These have received the light of salvation through faith in the Christ. But those who reject the Lord Jesus, who think that by being a good enough person or doing enough good works will earn them salvation, remain in darkness. These are the ones who do not know Him, who do not receive Him and therefore remain in darkness. They have not the Light of the world.
The wise men were the first of the Gentiles to see the Light of the Christ and through faith come to Him. Much of the Gentile world has rejected the Christ and remains in darkness. This is why the Church continues to do the will of the Lord and preach about the Christ to this dark world, so that men may hear and believe.
Collect: O God, Who by the leading of a star didst manifest Thine Only-begotten Son to the Gentiles: Mercifully grant, that we, who know Thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of Thy glorious Godhead; 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.
