Tuesday after Exaudi
Scripture: St. John 10:22-31 (NKJV)
10:22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. 24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.
Devotion
“Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him ‘How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.’” This is a tactic which false teachers often utilize: when confronted with a clear teaching of Holy Scripture—a teaching which is witnessed in the received practice of the Church—they will still claim that the matter is ‘vague’ or that Scripture ‘doesn’t give a definite answer.’ Consider that the false teachers have behaved in this way with regard to the Baptism of infants, or the presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar: what is clear in Scripture, and attested by the universal practice of the Church is denied because of their prideful private interpretation.
Jesus directly confronted those who tried to hide behind an imagined ambiguity: “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.” They will not receive the Word, because they do not believe. The Church proclaims the Word, and the Holy Spirit creates faith in the hearts of the sheep of His fold.
The Word does not rely on our ‘winsomeness’ to make it effective. The seed of the Word is sown, and we trust that the Lord will grant it fruitfulness according to His gracious will.
We pray: Almighty, Everlasting God, make us to have always a devout will toward Thee, and to serve Thy Majesty with a pure heart; 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.
