Wednesday of Rogationtide
Posted on May 17, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. John 17:1-19 (NKJV)
17:1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.
9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”
Devotion
You may have noticed that the readings this week all deal with prayer, as did the Propers from this past Sunday, Rogate Sunday. These three days leading up to the Ascension of our Lord are sometimes known as “Rogationtide”. They are days of prayer in the Church which prepare us for our Lord’s Ascension to the right hand of the Father.
On this last day of Rogationtide we hear the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. He had come into the world to redeem the world from sin, death, and the devil. He took upon Himself our flesh and did the will of the heavenly Father, perfectly fulfilling the Law of God on our behalf. He completed that which we were unable to begin. On the night before His crucifixion He prays that all those who would come to Him—who come to the truth of salvation in Him—might remain in the truth.
These words are fitting for us on the day before our Lord’s Ascension, for they remind us that our Lord Jesus has never left us or deserted us, but has continually done all things for our benefit that we might remain in Him, and His Word might remain in us. Through faith in the works that our Lord Jesus has done on our behalf, we remain in Him and He remains in us.
Prayer: Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that we, who in our affliction put our trust in Thy mercy, may ever be defended by Thy protection against all adversity, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, 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.
