Thursday after Judica (Passion) Sunday
Posted on March 21, 2024 by under
Scripture: Exodus 32:30-34 (NKJV)
32:30 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”
Devotion
While Moses was up on Mount Sinai meeting with God and receiving the Ten Commandments, down below the Israelites had made an idol in the shape of a golden calf and worshiped it. As Moses came down from the mountain, God proposed, “Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation” (Ex. 32:10).
As a true and faithful leader for God’s people, Moses shows his love and devotion to his task and does not accept God’s proposal. In response, Moses had held up God’s promise saying, “Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Your own self…” (Ex. 32:13). On the next day, Moses approached the Lord and sought to “make atonement” for their sins. He even offers to be their substitute, saying, “Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”
The Prophet Moses could not make atonement as their mediator. “‘For there is one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim. 2:5), who is the only Savior, the only high priest, advocate, and intercessor before God (Rom. 8:34)” (Augsburg Confession XXI, 2). Without faith in Christ, each must die for his own sin, as God said in verse 33. But with faith in Christ, “…we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ” (1 John 2:1).
Collect: We beseech Thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon Thy people, that by Thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Season of Lent
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hatest nothing that Thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; 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.
