Thursday after the Sunday after Christmas
Posted on January 5, 2023 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
The Word finally became flesh, and the long Old Testament wait was over. God and man have come together in one Person. The Infinite has dwelt bodily in the finite. But we must ask: “How can the Word, who fills all things, who made all things, who is before all things, now limit Himself? How can He become ‘bone of our bone’ and ‘flesh of our flesh’ and yet still remain God?”
Here is where reason must bow in humility, just as the shepherds bowed before the manger; and just as we must bow at the altar before the bread that is His Body and the wine that is His Blood. We are in no better position to understand that sacramental mystery than we are the mystery of Christmas. In fact, the two are inextricably linked. Just as we cannot separate the Body of Christ from the bread of His Supper, we cannot separate the eternal Word from the Babe of Bethlehem.
So, do you want to see God? Do you want to behold His glory? Do not be like so many others, who look up into space or grope inside their heart. Go to the Babe in the manger, as the shepherds did. Go to the young Child in the house, as the wise men did. Go to the Man on the cross, as the disciples did. But since we can’t literally do those things today, go to the Word and Supper, where the Son of God manifests Himself, so we can both perceive and receive our Savior.
Prayer: Almighty and Everlasting God, direct our actions according to Thy good pleasure, that in the Name of Thy beloved Son, we may be made to abound in good works; 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.
