Wednesday after the First Sunday after Epiphany
Posted on January 11, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. John 6:28-40 (NKJV)
6:28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Devotion
“You do not have to do anything to be saved; all you have to do is believe.” Does that sound easy? It is not. It is impossible for you to believe by your own powers. Belief in the Christ is impossible, unless the Holy Spirit creates in you a new heart. The stubborn unbelief of the Jews shows this. The Jews ask what works they must do and Jesus tells them, in essence, “all you have to do is believe.” And they cannot do it. It is too hard for them. If He had said, “give to the poor,” or, “pray and fast,” they immediately would have done it. But He gives them a command which they cannot do, no matter how hard they try.
If faith is impossible, who, then, can be saved? Our Lord answers in Matthew 19, saying, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (v. 26). The Holy Spirit is able to create faith even in what was formerly an unbelieving heart. The ordinary way He does this is through the sacrament of Baptism, for our Lord says, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). When we trust in Baptism and when we baptize our children, we are trusting in God’s strength to save us, because Baptism is His promise.
Prayer: O Lord, we beseech Thee mercifully to receive the prayers of Thy people who call upon Thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same; 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.
