The Tuesday of Whitsun-Week
Posted on June 10, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. John 3:16-21 (NKJV)
3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Devotion
The return of Christ on the Last Day is preached in two ways. On the one hand, it is a day of wrath and fear as Jesus comes to punish the unrepentant wicked. However, it is also a day to which believers look forward in their salvation. Jesus returns to bring salvation and eternal life.
In today’s reading, St. John speaks of the first coming when the Father sent His Son into the world. That first coming could also be understood as a coming for either condemnation or salvation. That first coming did arouse quite a bit of fear and trembling. The demons cried out, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” (Matt. 8:29). At the beginning of His life Herod sought to kill Jesus, as He was viewed as a threat. The religious authorities finally did have him killed, lest He take away their position before the people. For those practicing evil, the coming of the Light required an executed plan to extinguish that Light.
Nevertheless, Jesus’ first coming was not to condemn the world, but to save the world. The world was already condemned by its sin; He came to live perfectly for us and to die sacrificially, that “the world through Him might be saved.” Belief in Jesus Christ rescues from condemnation and secures everlasting life after death.
Collect: O God, Who didst teach the hearts of Thy faithful people, by sending to them the light of Thy Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort; through 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.
