Wednesday after Laetare Sunday
Posted on March 13, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. John 6:41-51 (NKJV)
6:41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
Devotion
There are many people who want to know God. They want God to speak to them, but they do not seek Him in the right way. They think that we are able to send our thoughts and desires up to heaven, and then God will speak to us directly through our psyche.
Jesus teaches that we cannot ascend up into heaven to speak with God. Instead, He has descended down to earth to speak with us: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven” (John 3:13). God comes down and communicates with us here on earth. Yet even here, He draws us to Himself through means: the Means of Grace. Our Lutheran Confessions remind us: “The Father, however, will draw no one without means; but he has instituted his Word and Sacraments as the ordinary means and instruments, for this purpose” (Solid Declaration XI.76).
God speaks to you through the preaching of your pastor and through the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Through these Means, God brings heavenly gifts to you here on earth. When we receive these gifts in faith, we have everlasting life.
Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of Thy grace may mercifully be relieved; 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.
